108 



THE PIMA INDIANS 



[ETH. ANX. 26 



is probable that the conception, if not the mask itseh', was im- 

 ported fi-om the southward along with the masked Xavitco cere- 

 monies, desjiite the assertion of its former owner to the contrary', 

 because it represents a higher degree of skill in wooilworking 



than any piece of carving that the 

 writer has seen done by a Pima. 

 It is of Cottonwood, perforated for 

 the insertion of horsehair eye- 

 brows, chin wliisker, and two tufts 

 < >n the center of each cheek, and is 

 ornamented by an interrupted 

 scroll and other lines unmistak- 

 ably intended to be decorative. 

 The mouth contains a half dozen 

 pegs, giving a very realistic rep- 

 resentation of teeth. 



WaitiJ. There are two wands or 

 ceremonial sticks in the collection 

 (fig. 27)." The longer is of grease- 

 wood, Sarcobatus vermicularis, the 

 material prescribed for ia'kita, or 

 ceremonial paraphernalia of this 

 class. It is spotted with black 

 and red paint. The shorter wand is of willow, spotted with red. 

 Both were made to be held in the hand during ceremonies intended 

 to bring rain, to cure disease, and for kindred purposes. 



Fig. 26. Navitco mask. 



STONE 



Met.\te 



The metate is the most abundant of the stone implements of the 

 Southwest, or, if arrow points exceed them in numbers, the former is at 



Fig. 27. Ceremonial wands 



least the most noticeable. About nearly every ruin one sees the frag- 

 ments of broken metates, in some cases to the number of several score, 

 as at the ruin near Patagonia, in the Sonoita valley, where sixty 



o Length of the longer figure, 76 cm.; of the shorter, 28 cm. 



