HOLMES.] 



PAINTED VASES OF CIBOLA. 



345 



Viewed from the side the decoration is seen to consist of the two usual 

 zones — a narrow one about the neck, occupied by a meander, and a 

 broad one covering the greater part of the body, crossed obliquely by a 

 number of bands of ornament. 



A similar vase, also from Zuni, is illustrated in Fig. 332. It is much 

 darkened by use and age and has suffered considerably from wear and 

 tear. The ornament consists of three zones, a band of stepped figures 

 about the neck, a handsome meander-chain with terraced links upon 

 the rounded collar, and a broad belt of radiating meanders encircling 

 the body. A vertical view showing the two outer lines of decoration is 

 given in Fig. 334. A peculiar feature in this vessel is the indented fin- 

 ger-hold seen in the lower part of the body, Fig. 332. 



In both form and ornament these bottles exhibit decided resemblances 

 to wicker vessels. The introduction of stepped figures and spiral rays 

 sufficiently demonstrates the textile origin of the painted designs. 



Fig. 333.— Painted design. 



Fig. 334. — Painted design. 



A few bottles are larger than the examples given. One having a 

 high narrow neck is seventeen inches high and sixteen in diameter 

 of body. Generally vases of this shape are below medium size, and 

 they are very often supplied with handles or perforated knobs, either 

 upon the shoulder or the neck. In a few cases only the necks are high 

 and slender like the bottles of the mound-builders of the middle Missis- 

 sippi region. 



The vessel illustrated in Fig. 335 is not properly classified either with 

 the preceding or with the following group, but I place it here on account 

 of its peculiar painted device, which appears in other forms and connec- 

 tions in the two succeeding figures. The ornament as usual occupies 

 two zones, each of which has three groups of vertical lines alternating 

 with as many star-like figures resembling somewhat the Maltese cross. 

 The latter device may possibly have been introduced to represent some 

 idea, and I have no doubt that almost any member of the modern tribes 



