NO. 1887. CENSERS AND INCENSE OF MIDDLE AMERICA— HOLG 11. 125 



drawings in the Manuscript Troano figured by ^rcGuirc.* Tliis pipe 

 censer is found on ancient sites in the region west of tlic Rio Grande 

 and south of the great breaks in New Mexico and Arizona. It is a 

 hollow, truncated cone, usually of tuff, often showing traces of red 

 and 3'ellow ])igment and from G to 14 inches in length, the diameter 

 varyijig from 1^ to 4 inches. It was found in the larger rooms of 

 ruins, associated with small ])ainted mortal's, decorated slabs, and 

 other cult apparatus, and which almost invariably show traces of fire. 

 Its connection with the small tubular "pipes," either straight or 

 frequently bent at a slight angle, found north of the "breaks" and 

 in use at the present day in religious ceremonies by the Pueblos, has 

 been suggested by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, who says that by interpre- 

 tation of the Ilopi name it is a "cloud blower." Dr. P^ewkes 

 informs me that the large pipe used in the Winter Solstice ceremony 

 jiud called the "great snow pipe" is made especially for the ceremony 

 and has a capacity of about half a pint of the sacred tobacco mixture. 

 It is of cla}', not decorated, and the object of its use is to create a big 

 smoke cloud as a petition for snow, exemplifying the "gesture prayer." 

 The writer has observ^ed the use of such tubes in Ilopi ceremonies, 

 where the celebrant fills the pipe with aromatic herbs, lights it from 

 the kiva fire, and, inhaling, blows a compact cloud of smoke as an 

 offering to the rain gods or other beings who move in the sky behind 

 cloud masks. The connection is obvious, but often the large size of 

 the southern blower would prevent individual use as above, and some 

 other method of producing the smoke or incense cloud is indicated. 

 Several specimens in the National Museum have orifices through the 

 wall of the blower in its lower half, and one specimen found by the 

 Museum-Gates exploring expedition of 1905 has a series of holes 

 around the base near the lower edge. These orifices may be designed 

 to promote the draft, which may have been increased by the inser- 

 tion of a reed tube, and they are analogous to the triangular cuts 

 through the basin of the incensarios found in theCalle de las Escalcrillas 

 and in other parts of Mexico, as well as those vase forms from the 

 Lacandones, the ancient Mayas of Yucatan, and the ancients of the 

 Peninsula of Nicoya, Costa Rica. This resemblance, wliich may 

 seem a mere detail, is significant. 



A specimen of the tubular cloud-blower in the National ^[useum 

 is made of friable tufa deeply colored by the effects of fire. The 

 cavity has been drilled from both ends, the upper portion of the 

 cavity being much larger than the lower, as in the smaller pipes. A 

 shoulder is formed in the upper extremity of the pipe, and through 

 tlus shoulder a diagonal hole has been perforated into the bowl of 

 the tube, in this way resembling very much the treatment of a Hopi 



' Pipes and Smoking Customs of the American Aborigines, Ann. Rep. U. S. Nat. Musi, 1887, p. 371, 

 and frontispiece. 



