374 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 194 



covered by an unauthorized person, it was believed that the big birds 

 who were always flying about looking for snakes would cause lightning- 

 shaped cracks to appear in the vessels either before or during firing. 

 This would also cause the vessels to become weak and break easily 

 while in use. Thus, the making of a pot was a contest between the 

 big bu'ds and the snakes. The designs are said to represent the snakes, 

 hghtning, clouds, water birds, and rain, but it was impossible to secure 

 precise interpretations of the various patterns impressed into the sur- 

 face of the vessels, since pottery has not been made for many years 

 and none of the old potters were still living. There was general 

 agreement that the zigzag lines were lightning since similar designs 

 still appear on arrows; others associated a curved design on the rim 

 with clouds or rainbows, horizontal lines around the rim with snakes 

 entwining the pot, and herringbone designs with tracks of the wading 

 birds — snipes, heron, and cranes. 



Men and women cooperated in making the vessels; men brought in 

 the clays from selected veins and assisted their relatives in making 

 the pots after they had advanced in age and were no longer able to 

 take an active part in hunting. Big Black from Awatixa, owner of a 

 Big Bird bundle, and his two wives. Red Blossom from Awatixa and 

 Buffalo Woman, a Mandan, were the last to make a business of pot- 

 tery making when my informants were young. He would ride north- 

 west of Fishhook Village to a bank which had been deeply imdercut 

 by those removing clay from beneath the overhanging cliff. He 

 shaped the pots with a cottonwood paddle whUe the two women ap- 

 plied the designs they had the purchased right to reproduce. He 

 assisted them further by bringing the wood for the firing. At this 

 tune he was too crippled from a hunting accident, when his leg was 

 crushed by a buffalo, to assist in hunting so he traded the pots around 

 through the village. He also made and decorated a few pots which 

 were used in the various ceremonies but informants acknowledged 

 that the vessels were not very good for they broke easily. Neverthe- 

 less, out of respect for these old people, and in order to have around 

 these reminders of olden tunes, people would buy their pots even 

 though recognizing the superiority of the metal vessels. Big Black 

 also had rights in the sacred arrows by virtue of his rights in the Big 

 Bird ceremony and would work hard making arrows to sell and trade. 



One's ritual possessions were so much a part of his daUy life that 

 whenever someone is mentioned, people today recall both his ritual 

 rights and other records (as illustrated by Bears Arm's account of 

 Roadmaker). In time, each personal achievement was expressed in 

 terms of the supernatural. These personal records are repeated over 

 and over until they become stylized and differ no more, as told by 



