468 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



Hopi di^ipla}' in applying pigments is reniai'ka))le. This art is alto- 

 gether the provinec of the men, on whom the preparation of the elab- 

 orate paraphernalia falls. The aecuracy of the drawing and, in many 

 cases, the quality of the lines, are worthy of praise, and seem beyond 

 the simple brush made of a narrow strip of yucca leaf. In fact, the 

 skill displayed is little less than that observed in the Mexican codices, 

 as the set of drawings of Hopi Katcinas prepared by a native for Dr, 

 J. Walter Fewkes amply evidences. 



The purity of the natural colors laid on by the Hopi artists gives 

 their work a character like that of Egyptian paintings. It will be seen 

 by examination that colors are laid on in mass usually to define forms 

 and that the background is not intended to enter into the design. It 

 is important to bear this in mind in the study of Hopi symbolism. 



While some colors are applied dry and rubbed in as on feathers and 

 the tanned leather of moccasins in the manner of the Plains tribes, the 

 customary method is to use as a medium water or the fatty substance 

 of squash, melon, pinon, or other seeds. The latter medium is procured 

 by chewing the seeds and mixing the saliva with the paint. In a few 

 cases the albumen from the eggs of the eagle is used as a medium. 

 With these mediums the colors have little permanence, and the refur- 

 bishing of paraphernalia is usually required for each ceremony. 



The Hopi artist applies his colors with a yucca brush or with the 

 hand. The green paint, made by heating together pifion gum and 

 powdered carbonate of copper, says Mr. Stephen, is rubbed down on 

 a paint muUer moistened with saliva charged with chewed squash seeds, 

 then transferred to the mouth b}^ means of a corn husk, and spurted over 

 the surface of a mask. 



Paint mortars of stone, sometimes a slightly concave stone and 

 sometimes an elaboratelv worked-out utensil of good shape, are found 

 in use among the Hopi. Paint vessels of pottery are found, though 

 the}" are not so common as at Zuni. Some of the massive paint mate- 

 rials are used as a nuiller on the slab, the paint being ground from the 

 muUer as needed, like India ink. Other paints are pulverized and 

 washed with water, and some of the materials are soft enough to be 

 used in the natural state or need very little manipulation. 



Face paint, generally red, is carried in bits of skin pursed to form 

 a ))ag. Face painting, except in ceremonies, is unconunon among the 

 Ho[)i, and never employed at the East Mesa. At the Middle Mesa 

 and Oraibi the practice is sometimes observed. Commonh^ one notices 

 persons having patches of kaolin daubed on the skin, but no reason 

 has been given for this custom. 



From the processes described by Mr. Stephen in the following cata- 

 logue it will be seen that the Hopi exercise considerable skill in the 

 preparation of a number of their colors, especially those of organic 

 substances. In one case pinon gum is employed, as a medium like var- 



