BULL. 30] 



DRY -PAINTING 



403 



disk is turned to wind the string about 

 the shaft; this raises the crosspiece. By 

 pressing down the crosspiece after a few 

 turns have been taken, the shaft is made 

 to revolve and the disk receives sufficient 

 impetus to rewind the string, which by 

 successive pressure and re- 



USE OF Pump Dr 



lease, continues the reciprocal movement 

 necessary to cutting. The speed attained 

 by the pump drill is much greater than 

 with the 1)OW drill or the strap drill, and 

 the right hand is left free to hold the 

 oljject that is being drilled. The pump 

 drill, although long in com- 

 mon use among the Pueblo 

 Indians, is prol)ably of for- 

 eign origin. 



A remarkable and unique 

 drill was recently used by 

 the Indians of Round valley, 

 Cal., for drilling small holes 

 through hard white shells. 

 Its shaft is of hard wood, the 

 disk taking the place of the 

 crosspiece and tiie weight of 

 the shaft giving sufhcient 

 impetus. The thong of this 

 drill passes over the shaft 

 and through opposite sides 

 of the disk, and is attached 

 to the shaft near the bottom. 

 The disk moves freely up 

 and down the shaft, and the 

 thong is so wrapped that as 

 the string unwinds from the 

 top of the shaft it winds be- 

 low, and vice versa. This °'*'* °'"'-'-' '^*'-'' 

 drill revolves little if any 

 faster than the shaft drill, and appears to 

 cut chiefly, but not entirely, with the 

 downward pressure. The use of this 

 drill is apparently confined to a very re- 

 stricted area. See Slielhcork, Sfoueiooi-l-. 



Consult Hough, Firemaking Appara- 

 tus, Rep. Nat. Mus. for 1888; McGuire, A 

 Study of the Primitive Methods of Drill- 

 ing, Rep. Nat. Mus. for 1894. (j. d. m. ) 



Dry-painting. An art existing among 

 the Indians, especially those of the S. W., 

 the products of which have been named 

 sand altars, sand pictures or paintings, and 



sand mosaics by varioas authors. It is 

 doubtless of aboriginal origin and of great 

 antiquity, but it has come to the knowl- 

 edge of white people only within the last 

 25 years. The art has been found among 

 various Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and 

 Arizona, among the wilder Navaho and 

 Apache of the same region, and, in crude 

 form, among the Cheyenne, Arapaho, 

 and Siksika. According to Navaho infor- 

 mation, dry-painting was practised also 

 by the Ute and the cliff-dwellers, but 

 the latter may refer to one or more of 

 the Hopi clans that occupied Canyon de 

 Chelly, Arizona, within comparatively 

 recent time ( see Am ) . There is evidence 

 of a wide extent of the art among the In- 

 dians, but it is probable that it has been 

 yet more widely practised in the past, 

 or may even be more widely practised at 

 the present among tribes who have con- 

 cealed it from civilized men. 



So far as can be learned dry-painting 

 has reached its greatest perfection among 

 the Navaho, whose designs are larger, 

 more numerous, and more elaborate than 

 those of any other tribe. These Indians 

 make their pictures almost exchisively in 

 connection with religious ceremonies and 

 draw them of various sizes. Some of 

 their larger pictures, in their great 9 

 days' ceremonies, are 10 or 12 ft in di- 

 ameter, and represent, in conventional 

 forms, various gods of their mythology, 

 divine ceremonies, lightning, sunbeams, 

 rainbows, mountains, animals, and plants, 

 having a mythic or traditional signifi- 

 cance. Among this people, in order to 

 prepare a groundwork for a sacred pic- 

 ture in the lodge, several young men 

 collect, with ceremonial observances, a 

 quantity of dry sand, which is carried 

 in blankets, thrown on the floor of the 

 lodge, spread over a surface of sufficient 

 size and to the depth of 2 or 3 in., and 

 made smooth and level by means of the 

 broad oaken battens used in weaving. 

 The pigments rej^resent the 5 sacred col- 

 ors of Navaho mythology — white, blue, 

 yellow, black, and red. For the greater 

 part of the work the white, yellow, and 

 red are made of finely powered sandstone 

 of these colors; the black of powdered 

 charcoal mixed with a little sandstone to 

 give it stal)ility; and the "blue" (really 

 gray) of black and white mixed. These 

 powders are prepared before the picture 

 is begun and are kept on improvised 

 trays of juniper bark. Sometimes, for 

 certain ornamental parts of the work, 

 more precious pigments than these are 

 used. To apijly the pigments the artist 

 picks up a small quantity between his 

 first and second fingers and his opposed 

 thumb and allows it to flow slowly as he 

 moves his hand. When he takes up his 

 pinch of powder, he blows on his fingers 



