112 



BULLETIN" 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



A pipe or small cloud blower made from altered serpentine, the 



exterior polished and the interior bored out with a flint drill is 



shown in figure 249. Judging from the bore the 



stone was difficult to work. The lower portion of the 



tube is ground off diagonally on account of fracture 



of the stone, or from preference. (Cat. No. 170535, 



U.S.N.M. Diameter, 1 inch ; length, 2 inches. Tula- 



rosa Eiver, New Mexico. Collected by Henry Hales.) 



Another small cloud blower is made of fine tufa, the 



surface smoothly finished and bearing traces of paint. 



The specimen is unfinished. A hole is drilled in 



the lip near the orifice. (Fig. 250, Cat. No. 170534, 



Pig. 249.— Pipe OF U.S.N.M. Diameter, 1] inches; length, 2f inches. 



SERPENTINE FROM TularosR Eivcr. New Mexico. Collected by Henry 



TuLAEOSA River. -^^ , , ' ^ j 



Hales.) 

 Among the objects whose numufacture requires more than ordi- 

 nary skill are the large tubes of stone which are called cloud blowers. 

 Although made of comparatively soft material, usually 

 tuff, they must have entailed a great deal of patient 

 labor, especially in driving the central orifice through 

 the tube. In some cases this was accomplished by 

 repeated thrusts with a stone implement, the specimen 

 showing on the interior many scorings. In many 

 smaller tubes the boring was accomplished, appar- 

 ently, with a large stick and sand. 



Cloud blowers are usually Jarge and are of two 

 forms, one having a shoulder cut around it at the 

 upper third, and tapering from thence to the orifice; 

 the other has a raised band around the upper portion, or a groove 

 takes the place of the band. They vary in length from 4 to 14 inches. 

 Some years ago a cloud blower of excellent shape 

 was found in a cave 25 miles west of Springerville, 

 Arizona, by E. W. Nelson. It is worked from coarse 

 yellow-brown tufa, and finished as carefully as the 

 material allows (fig. 251), and is discolored some- 

 what at the base and on the interior. The base has 

 been worked out with a sharp stone tool by w^ay of 

 the larger end. The specimen may be regarded as 

 the typical form of cloud blower. (Cat. No. 97734, 

 U.S.N.M. Length, 4i^ inches; diameter, 2^ inches.) 

 The longest specimen (fig. 252) is from the Upper 

 San Francisco River. It measures 13f inches in 

 length and 2f inches in diameter, but perhaps an 

 inch has broken away from the upper end. The material is tufa, and 

 the exterior smoothly finished. No traces of paint remain, but no 



Fig. 250. — Small 

 cloud blower 

 from tularosa 

 River, 



Fig. 251. — Small 

 CLOUD blower 

 FROM Springer- 

 ville, Arizona. 



