72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 51 



of Cliff Palace. S-sliaped figures are knoAvii. Eectangies or tri- 

 angles with dots, or even a line of dots alone, are not rare in the deco 

 ration. No designs representing leaves or flowers occur on pottery 

 from Cliff Palace, nor has the spider-web pattern been found. The 

 most common geometrical decorations are the stepped or terraced 

 figures, generally called rain-clouds. 



POTTERY RESTS 



Among the objects found in the refuse heaps of Cliff Palace are 

 rings, about 6 inches in diameter, woven of corn husks or cedar bark 

 bound together with fiber of yucca or other plants. These rings (pi. 

 28) were evidently used as supports for earthenware vases, the bases 

 of which are generally rounded, so that otherwise they would not 

 stand upright. Similar rings may have been used by the women in 

 carrying jars of water on their heads," as among the Zuiii of to-day. 

 Some of these rings may have been used in what is called the 

 " ring and dart " game, which is often ceremonial in nature. The best 

 made of all these objects, found by Mr. Fuller on his visit to a 

 neighboring canyon, is shown in the accompanying illustration 

 (pi. 28, h). The specimen is made of tightly woven corn husks, 

 around which the fiber is gathered so as to form an equatorial ridge 

 rarely present in these objects. 



Basketry 



A few instructive specimens of basketry or wicker ware were 

 exhumed at Cliff Palace. One of the most interesting of these is 

 the unfinished plaque shown in the accompanying figure 2. 



One specimen of basketry (pi. 29) has the form of a hopper; its 

 whole central part was purposely omitted, but tlie basket is finished 

 on the inner and outer margins. It recalls a basket used b}^ the Ute 

 and other Shoshonean Indians, but it is different in form from any 

 figured in Nordenskiold's work, and, so far as the author is acquainted 

 Avith other specimens of basketry from Mesa Verde ruins, is unique. 

 It is supposed that when used this hopper was placed on a flat or 

 rounded stone and that corn or other seeds to be pounded were placed 

 in it, the stone thus forming the surface upon which the seeds were 

 treated, and the sides of the basket serving to retain the meal. 



Sandals 



The sandals found at Cliff Palace (pis. 30-32) are practically the 

 same in form, material, and weave as those recorded from Spruce- 

 tree House. The shape of these, however, is particularly instruc- 



"The Hopi uso largo clay canteens for this purpose, no vessels resembling which, 

 whole or in fragments, have been found at Cliff Palace. 



