742 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inches from the level of the floor, the floor itself being usually exca- 

 vated to a depth of two or three inches beneath the stone. At a 

 height of about four feet above this primitive griddle is a large 

 rectangular hood which is extended above the roof in the form of 

 a chimney made of bottomless pots, one resting on the other. 

 Kneeling in front of the stone and supporting her body with her 

 left arm, the woman coats the stone with the thin batter of corn 

 and water with the fingers of her right hand. After a few seconds' 

 time she lifts the waferlike sheet from the stone and transfers it 

 to a mat which is made for this special purpose. For some time 

 the piki remains soft and pliable, and while in this condition she 

 rolls or folds the sheets according to her custom — some folding, 

 others rolling it. It is a curious sight on the feast days of certain 

 ceremonies to see women gathering from all quarters of the vil- 

 lage at an appointed house, each carrying a tray heaped high with 

 rolls of this paper bread. 



The Hopis are among the foremost potters in North America, 

 when we take into consideration the fineness of the clays used and 

 the character of the decoration. But in many respects, especially 

 in form, their ware is much inferior to that of the ancient Mexi- 

 cans and Peruvians. They make pottery to-day as they did hun- 

 dreds of years ago, but the quality of the work has greatly de- 

 teriorated and the earthenware now produced is not to be compared 

 with that found in near-by Hopi ruins. It should be kept in mind, 

 however, that the specimens found in the ancient graves are to a 

 certain extent ceremonial, and consequently better made and more 

 ornate in their decoration than those which were made simply for 

 household purposes. Still, there are a fineness of texture and a deli- 

 cacy of coloring in the ancient ware which can not now be produced. 

 It is to be noted, also, that the Hopi woman of to-day can not de- 

 cipher the designs on the earlier pottery, although she often copies 

 them. The demand for earthenware vessels, however, is nearly as 

 great at present as it was in prehistoric days, for you may search 

 the homes of Oraibi for a long time without finding a tin pan or 

 an iron pot. Tlius it is that every Hopi woman must be a worker 

 in clay, and one of the occasional sights is that of a woman on her 

 " front porch " surrounded by vessels of all sizes and in varying de- 

 grees of completeness. The process of pottery-making is somewhat 

 as follows: " After the clay has been worked into a plastic mass she 

 draws out from it a round strip the size of one's finger and about 

 five inches in length. This is coiled flat in the bottom of the tray, 

 and forms the base of the vessel. Other clay strips are kneaded 

 out of the mass, and these are coiled in a gradually increasing spi- 

 ral, the desired shape and proportion being acquired at the same 



