NO. 2235. HOPI INDIAN COLLECTION— HOUGH. 293 



which dampened skin is stretched.- The short handle is enveloped by 

 the surplus leather and fastened with thong. This rattle is always 

 painted white. Its sound is likened to the warning of the rattlesnake. 



Pottery rattles, following the form of the gourd rattles or as small 

 toys for children, are sometimes made, but have no use in religion 

 (pi. 50, fig. 2). 



Clean, white quartz pebbles, in some cases small crystals picked up 

 from ant's nests, are put in the rattles ; and frequently, as is the Zuiii 

 custom, sacred white meal is added. The Pima use wheat or white 

 quartz pebbles as a rattling material, and the Yaki the seeds of the 

 Washington palm. The Zuiii use white quartz pebbles and some- 

 times pink glass beads, and the Rio Grande Pueblos, in examples 

 examined, pebbles of various colors, red predominating. 



All rattles when prepared for ceremonies have attached to them 

 downy feathers of the eagle on sacred cotton cord. This appears to be 

 a form of consecration, the "breath feather," as it is called, giving 

 communication with the spiritual world (pi. 50, fig. 4). 



Some of the ceremonies have special rattles belonging peculiarly to 

 them, as the pa a ya of the Flute ceremony, which consists of a 

 crook bearing at the end a bunch of shells; and with the crook are 

 tied a grass stalk and a rod set with disks of gourd, the bundle form- 

 ing an object used only in the Flute ceremony. 



Another form of rattle, truh hun pi, is one in which the sound is 

 produced by rasping a rod of wood or a sheep's scapula over a row 

 of notches cut in a stick (pi. 51, figs. 1-4). The notched stick is laid 

 over the open mouth of a jar or gourd to increase the resonance. This 

 rattle is entirely ceremonial, and is played by the men who represent 

 the female Kachinas in the dances, hence it was called by observers 

 " hermaphrodite stick" among the Pueblos and southwestern tribes. 

 There is only one doubtful example going to indicate its antiquity 

 in the Pueblo region, a notched bone discovered in a ruin near the 

 Petrified Forests of Arizona. In Mexico, however, numerous notched 

 human femurs used as rattles have been recovered. 



The Pueblo notched rattle shows careful work in wood, and often 

 bears carving and decorative painting. The Hopi specimens usually 

 terminate in a terrace cloud carving. The Rio Grande notched rattle 

 is generally sounded with a rod of wood, while the Hopi and the 

 Zuni use a sheep's scapula.^ 



The Hopi collection in the United States National Museum contains 

 several specimens, consisting of a disk of pottery or stone pierced 

 with two holes through which pass cords, the disk being rotated by 

 the alternate twisting and untwisting of the cords, the motion of the 



1 Archeological Fieldwork In Arizona, Ann. Kept. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1901, pi. 56. 



