26 BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



and plates. This art extends from Ziiiii north to the Puerco River 

 to the mouth of that river above Holbrook, Arizona, and reappears 

 in the valley of the Blue and Tularosa rivers. Beads in quantity 

 made of travertine and shell. Small zooic carvings and beads of 

 dark-blue steatite (Woodruff, Arizona). 



PROCESS OF BEAD MAKING. 



The process of making beads appears to be as follows : 



Pieces of selected stone were rubbed into flat plates of uniform 

 thickness, these bits were then taken between the thumb and fingers 

 and the edge rubbed, turning the stone at intervals, thus leaving a 

 polygonal figure six or more sided ; the hole was drilled through this 

 more or less regular disk; the disks were then strung tightly and 

 drawn over a grinding surface, perhaps being rubbed to and fro by 

 the hand, then were finished more accurately by being drawn through 

 a groove between two fine-grain stones. "Wliile still strung they were 

 polished by rubbing on skins, using fine gritty dust as a medium. 



Most of these steps of the process are verified by specimens found 

 in an incomplete state and by present observation as follows : 



The Zufii bead worker's materials, methods, and tools are very 

 simple and consist of plates of turquois, calcite, and shell, a gritty 

 lap stone for grinding, a pump drill with flint point, two grooved 

 plates of stone for equalizing the beads, and string of sinew, cotton, 

 or yucca fiber for assembling the finished product. The bead mate- 

 rial employed commonly occurs in thin equal masses or plates from 

 which the blanks are broken with a small stone and subsequently 

 ground smooth on the flat sides and the edges finished roughly on the 

 lap stone. The blanks are then held with the fingers on a flat stone 

 anvil resting on the knee of the bead maker and drilled first on one 

 side and then on the other. Sometimes a mistake is made in center- 

 ing, the two cavities not accurately meeting. In this connection, let 

 me add that the ancient bead worker drove two slanting holes into 

 the flat side of a tablet or button-like object which he wished to sus- 

 pend, and when the drill holes met a practicable passage for the cord 

 was made. The next step was to string the beads tightly together 

 on a strong cord and pull this rather rigid column of beads between 

 two grooved strips of fine-grain sandstone, using plenty of water. 

 This ground every bead to even size and gave a polish which was 

 brought to a high brilliancy by wear around the neck of the Pueblo 

 Indian. 



The work on small ornaments or fetiches of stone is of a superior 

 order like that practiced in fitting the parts of arrows. The ex- 

 amples, shown in fig. 43, page 28, would tax the skill of a lapidary 

 supplied with the best tools and machinery of his art. On the orna- 

 ments mentioned, drilling, graving, the production of small circular 

 depressions, etc., are found, and the workers manifestly had a keen 



