512 



PUEBLO POTTERY AND ZUNI CULTURE-GROWTH. 



This may or may not be true of the case in question ; for, as before 

 observed, some classes of sacred receptacles, as well as the most ancient 

 painted bowls, are not characterized by the unjoined lines. Whether 

 true or not, it is an insufficient solution of the problem. 



It is natural for the Pueblo to consider water as the pri me source of life, 

 or as accompanied by it, for without the presence of living water verj 

 few things grow in his desert land. During many a drought chronicled 

 in his oral annals, plants, animals, and men have died as of a contagious 

 scourge. Naturally, therefore, he has come to regard water as the milk 

 of adults, to speak of it as such, and as the all-sufficient nourishment 

 which the earth (in his conception of it as the mother of men) yields. In 

 the times when his was a race of cliff and mesa dwellers, the most com- 

 mon vessel appertaining to his daily life was the flat- bellied canteen or 

 water carrier. (See Fig. 547.) This was suspended by a band across the 



Fig. 547.— Conical or flat-bellied canteen. 



forehead, so as to hang against the back, thus leaving the hands as well 

 as the feet free for assistance in climbing. It now survives only for use 

 on long journeys or at camps distant from water. The original sug- 

 gestion of its form seems to have been that of the human mammary 

 gland, or perhaps its peculiar form may have suggested a relationship be- 

 tween the two. (Compare Figs. 548, 549.) At any rate, its name in Zuui 

 is me' he ton ne, while me' ha na is the name of the human mammary 

 gland. Me' he ton ne is from me' ha na, mamma, e' ton nai c, containing 

 within, and to'm me. From me' ha na comes too' ha na, hanging or 

 placed against anything, obviously because the mainmaries hang or 

 are placed against the breast ; or, possibly, me ha na may be derived 



