NO. 6 COTTON OF THE HOPI INDIANS— LEWTON 5 



of the Indians with the plant led to an experiment a few years later, 

 when at the close of the Civil War, cotton was bringing such a very 

 high price. Charles D. Poston, who, in 1864, was appointed Super- 

 intendent of Indian Affairs for Arizona, stated in that year that he had 

 recently furnished the Pimas with 500 pounds of cotton seed. 1 This 

 experiment resulted in but little and the introduction of foreign 

 varieties of cotton into the agriculture of these Indians brought a 

 source of confusion to any later studies of the type grown by them 

 from time immemorial. 



Mr. Frank Russell, writing in 1908 of the Pima Indians on the 

 Gila River, says that the cotton plant is no longer raised by them, but 

 that from pre- Spanish days down to the last quarter of a century it 

 was cultivated both for the fiber and the seeds. The latter were 

 pounded up with mesquite beans in a mortar, or they were sometimes 

 parched and eaten without grinding." 



MODERN USES BY THE HOPI INDIANS 



The Hopi Indians of Arizona highly esteem the cotton plant and its 

 fiber enters into many of their ceremonial services as well as into 

 daily practical use. The Indians consider that all strings used in the 

 services must be made of native cotton. The most important uses of 

 cotton in the ceremonials are as follow- : 



All prayer sticks (pahos) must be tied together with cotton string : 

 prayer offerings of all kinds must be tied with cotton string ; cotton 

 strings are placed in the trails entering the pueblos when ceremonials 

 are in progress ; the badges of chiefs (called tiponis) are wrapped in 

 native rough-spun cotton strings ; light, fluffy cotton to represent 

 snow or clouds ; cotton also used to weave ceremonial kilts, large 

 cotton belts and wedding blankets. 3 



When a Hopi girl is to wed, all the men of the bridegroom's clan 

 meet and make for the bride a complete outfit of clothing, consisting 

 of the following: 



A wedding blanket of cotton embroidered on one edge to be used 

 by the bride on ceremonial occasions, as dedication of children to the 

 sun, etc. ; a large cotton belt, called the " knotted belt," because of the 

 knots tied in the war]) strings at each end of the woof ; a woolen 

 blanket for everyday use ; moccasins, etc. 



1 26th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1908, pp. 33, 77. 



2 26th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amcr. Ethnol., 1908, pp. 77. 



3 For the list of ceremonial uses I am indebted to Dr. J. Walter Fewkes of 

 the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



