RLssELLj ORNAMENTATION l(i5 



camps at the time of the writer's visit, so that they were certainly 

 not selecteil specimens, wiiereas the Pima baskets, and particularly 

 the upright forms, which the writer did not collect himself, were better 

 than the average Pima product. The Yavapai baskets command 

 just double the price in the open market that is ])aid for Pima baskets 

 of equal size. The principle of rhythm is well understood by the Pima 

 basket makers, as the illustrations show. Both the simple elements, 

 such as the so-called coyote tracks, or plain triangles, and the more 

 complex, such as the flower pattern, or the scroll fret, are frequently 

 repeated. But the principle of symmetry is not so well developed 

 and it is rare that a basket exhibits it. The specimen in figure 62 

 shows that its maker possessed this faculty. 



It is rare that the descent of pottery making from basketry is 

 reversed, but among the Pimas this is true to some extent; that is, 

 the basketry designs are in part copied from the pottery of the 

 Hohokam. In part they were adopted from the Maricopas. The 

 pottery designs likewise are copied, so that the credit due to the 

 Pima decorators is reduced to a minimum. Their wares are mostly 

 unornamented, as we have seen, and the decorations that are used 

 are applied with indifferent taste. Though they have abundant 

 examples of fictile ware scattered over their fields, much of which 

 is embellished by indented coils, they seem never to have conceived 

 the idea of utilizing this simple though elTective form of ornamenta- 

 tion. The pottery illustrated in this memoii- is rather better than 

 the average Pima ware. The Kwahadk' pottery, while superior to 

 the Piman, is yet lacking in symmetry. It is pleasing by reason of 

 the rich brown color and the polish that almost equals a glaze, but 

 the ornamentation is crude and vastly inferior to that of the ancient 

 Hohokam. 



We can not explain the inferiority of Piman ornamentation by 

 saying that the Pimas had degenerated because they were harried 

 by the Apaches and Yumas until they had no energy or inclination 

 left for indulgmg their esthetic tastes, for this is not true. They 

 whipped the Yumas until the latter were ready to accept peace upon 

 any terms, as appears from the calendar records, which are well 

 authenticated by white testimony. They kept the Apaches in whole- 

 some fear of their clubs and arrows and made fi'equent raids into 

 the enemy's territory. They never hesitated to attack the Apaches 

 in ecjual numbers and fight hand to hand. In short, the}' were not 

 the degenerates that some have considered them, an error that the 

 records of Pima scouts accomjianying the United States army in 

 Apache campaigns would do much to dispel." Their backw-ardness 



" Early accounts of the Pimas uniformly testify to their ability to fight their enemies. They "have 

 ever been numerous and brave," wrote Garcf'.-i a century and a quarter ago (.Schoolcraft, ui, 2(i9), 

 and in 18.59 Mown.' declared. ''The Pimas and Apaches wage hereditary' and fierce war, in which the 

 Pimas are generally the victors." .\rizonu and Sonora, third edition, p. 'JO. 



