FEWKES] POTTERY DECORATION 569 
but it is so rare, as compared with other varieties, that it may be 
regarded as intrusive. 
One of the simplest forms of the broken-line motive is a Greek fret, in 
which there is a break in the component square figures or where the 
lineis noncontinuous. In the simplest form, which appears prominently 
on modern pottery, but which is rare or wanting on true black-and- 
white ware, we have two crescentic figures, the concavities of which 
face in different directions, but the horns overlap. This is a symbol 
which the participants in the dance called the Humiskatcina still paint 
with pigments on their breasts, and which is used on shields and 
various religious paraphernalia. 
A study of any large collection of decorated Pueblo ware, ancient or 
modern, will show many modifications of this broken line, a number of 
which [ shall discuss more in detail when pottery ornamentation is con- 
sidered. A design so distinctive and so widespread as this must cer- 
tainly have a symbolic interpretation. The concentric spirals with a 
broken line, the Hopi say, are symbols of the whirlpool, and it is 
interesting to find in the beautiful plates of Chavero’s Antigiiedades 
Mexicanas that the water in the lagoon surrounding the ancient Aztec 
capital was indicated by the Nahuatl Indians with similar symbols. 
OBJECTS FOUND AT PALATKI AND HONANKI 
The isolation of these ruins and the impossibility of obtaining work- 
men, combined with the brief visit which I was able to make to them, 
rendered it impossible to collect very many specimens of ancient handi- 
work. The few excavations which were made were limited almost 
wholly to Honanki, and from their success I can readily predict a rich 
harvest for anyone who may attempt systematic work in this virgin 
field. We naturally chose the interior of the rooms for excavation, 
and [| will say limited our work to these places. Every chamber was 
more or less filled with débris—fragments of overturned walls, detached 
rock from the cliff above, dry alkaline soil, drifted sand, dust, and 
animal excreta. In those places where digging was possible we found 
the dust and guano so dry and alkaline that it was next to impossible 
to work for any length of time in the rooms, for the air became so 
impure that the workmen could hardly breathe, especially where the 
inclosing walls prevented ventilation. Notwithstanding this obstacle, 
however, we removed the accumulated débris down to the floor in one or 
two chambers, and examined with care the various objects of aboriginal 
origin which were revealed. 
In studying the specimens found in cliff-houses due attention has 
not always been given to the fact that occupants have oftentimes 
camped in them subsequently to their abandonment by the original 
builders. As a consequence of this temporary habitation objects 
owned by unrelated Indians have frequently been confused with those 
of the cliff-dwellers proper. We found evidences that both Honanki 
