MATniEwsi TOOLS EMPLOYED. 177 



the handle, one smith held the article on the anvil while the other ap- 

 plied the point of the shank of a file — previously rounded — and struck 

 the file with a hammer. The other figures were made with the sharp- 

 ened point of a tile, pushed forward with a zigzag motion of the hand. 

 When the chasing was done the silver was blanched by the process be- 

 fore referred to, being occasionally taken from the boiling solution of 

 almogen to be rubbed with ashes and sand. For about five hours both 

 of the smiths worked together on this powder-charger; subsequently, for 

 about three hours' more, there was only one man engaged on it ; so that, 

 in all, thirteen hours labor was spent in constructing it. Of this time, 

 about ten hours were consumed in forging, about one and one-half horns 

 in filing and rubbing, and about the same time in ornamenting and 

 cleaning. 



In making the hollow silver beads they did not melt the silver, but 

 beat out a Mexican dollar until it was of the proper tenuity — frequently 

 annealing it in the forge as the work advanced. When the plate was 

 ready they carefully described on it, with an awl, a figure (which, by 

 courtesy, we will call a circle) that they conjectured would include a 

 disk large enough to make half a bead of the required size. The disk 

 was then cut out with scissors, trimmed, and used as a pattern to cut 

 other circular pieces by. One of the smiths proceeded to cut out the 

 rest of the planchets, while his partner formed them into hollow hemi- 

 spheres with his matrix and die. He did not put them at once into the 

 cavity from which they were to get their final shape, but first worked 

 them a little in one or more larger cavities, so as to bring them gradually 

 to the desired form. Next the hemispheres were leveled at the edges 

 by a method already described, and subsequently perforated by holding 

 them, convex siu'face downwards, on • a piece of wood, and driving 

 through them the shank of a file with blows of a hammer. By this 

 means of boring, a neck was left projecting from the hole, which was 

 not filed ofl' until the soldering was done. The hemispheres were now 

 strung or, I may say, spitted on a stout wire in pairs forming globes. 

 The wire or spit referred to was bent at one end and supplied with a 

 washer to keep the heads from slipping off, and all the pieces being 

 pressed closely together were secured in position by many wraps of finer 

 wire at the other end of the spit. The mixture of borax, saliva, and 

 silver was next applied to the seams of all the beads ; they were put 

 into the fire and all soldered at one operation. When taken from the 

 fire they were finished by filing, polishing and blanching. 



These Indians are quite fertile in design. In PI. XIX are shown two 

 powder-chargers, which I consider very graceful in form. I have seen 

 many of these powder-chargers, all very graceful, but no two alike except 

 in cases where duplicates had been specially ordered. Their designs 

 upon bracelets and rings are of great variety. Ornaments for bridles, 

 consisting of broad bands of silver, sufiicient in size and number to al- 

 most entirely conceal the leather, are not particularly handsome, but 

 12 E 



