STEVENSON] ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 373 



what he could do. Going to work with no design before him, he pro- 

 duced a saddle blanket of exceptional beauty. The elaborate ligures 

 were woven in various colors on a red ground. In 1902 a Zuni priest 

 presented the writer with a blanket of his own weaving, which, 

 though not tine, was elaborate in design and color. It was made in 

 order to show the writer that the Zunis possess the art of weaving 

 blankets in the Navaho style even though they do not practise it. 

 They prefer to purchase ])lankets of the more elaborate kind from tiic 

 Mavahos and give their time to other things. 



Men's shirts, ceremonial kilts and breechcloths, and women's dresses 

 and wraps are woven of l^lack or dark blue native wool in diagonal 

 stvle. These articles have embroidered borders of dark blue. Com- 

 mercial needles take the place of bone. The woman's belt is gen- 

 erally woven of red yarn, bordered in green, with designs in white 

 cotton thread. Before commercial yarn was obtainable, these belts 

 were woven of native yarn dyed mahogany red and green. Plate 

 xciv shows We'wha, who was one of the important characters 

 of Zuni, employed in weaving. The picture was made during 

 We'wha's visit to Washington. The dress is inappropriate, being 

 ceremonial. 



BASKETRY 



The Zunis make for ordinary use a variety of coarse baskets of 

 willows, dogwood, and a plant, Chrysothamnus graveolens, which 

 grows profusely over the country. Many of these baskets are deep 

 and are carried in the hand or suspended on the back by a strap 

 passing over the forehead. They also serve as saddle bags. There are 

 winnowing baskets, and small, deep receptacles for collecting grass- 

 hoppers, these insects being sometimes eaten as a delicacy. All the 

 liner bread baskets and ceremonial trays are purchased from the 

 Apache, Hopi, and other Indians. Those of the former are especially 

 prized. It is not that the Zuni women can not make the line liaskets, 

 but it happens in aboriginal life as in civilization that ditierent peo- 

 ples have their specialties, and objects of foreign manufacture are 

 prized . 



POTTERY 



The manufacture of pottery is one of the most interesting industries 

 of the Zunis. Most of the women are potters, the art being learned at 

 an early age, the wee ones working bits of clay by their mothers' sides 

 and the mother often stopping her work to instruct the child; few, 

 however, fully understand the meaning of the symbols depicted on 

 the modern ware, and the wisest of them are unable to decipher many 

 of the symbols on the ancient pottery found in the ruins near l)y. In 



