330 COLLECTIONS OF 1879. 



the surface of the vessel and allowed to dry ; it is then ready for the 

 decorations. 



The pigments from which the paints are derived for decorative pur- 

 poses are also found in the vicinity of the mesas, and are employed by 

 the Indians in the prodaction of two colors, each of which varies slightly 

 according to the intensity of heat in the process of baking, or the man- 

 ner in which it is applied. One varies from a black to a blackish-brown, 

 the other from a light brick red to a dark dull red color. The material 

 which produces these colors is generally found in a hard, stony con- 

 dition, and is ground in a small stone mortar, just as we reduce India 

 ink for use. When the pigment is properly reduced, and mixed with 

 water so as to form a thin solution, it is applied with brushes made of 

 the leaves of the yucca. These brushes are made of flat pieces of the 

 leaf, which are stripped off and bruised at one end, and are of different 

 sizes adapted to the coarse or fine lines the artist may wish to draw. In 

 this manner all the decorations on the pottery are produced. 



The substance used in i^roducing the black ware is a clayey brown 

 hematite, or ferruginous indurated clay, quite hard. The material nsed 

 to produce the red or brown colors is a yellowish imi^ure clay, colored 

 from oxide of iron ; indeed it is mainly clay, but contains some sand and 

 a very small amount of carbonate of lime. These are the principal in- 

 gredients and methods involved in the manufacture of Zuiii pottery. 



The method practiced by the ZuQians in baking pottery differs some- 

 what from that employed by the tribes who make quantities of black 

 and red ware. It seems to be a necessity on the part of the Zimians to 

 observe the greatest care in this operation. Their pottery is nearly all 

 decorated and must be baked free from contact with tlie peculiar fuel 

 used for that purpose. During the baking process it sometimes hap- 

 pens that a piece of the fuel, which is composed of dried manure care- 

 fully built up oven-shaped around the vessels to be baked, falls against 

 the vessel. In every such instance a carbonized or smoky spot is left 

 on the jar or bowl, which is regarded by the Indians as a blemish. The 

 kiln is careiuUy watched until the fuel is thoroughly burnt to a white 

 ash, when the vessels can be removed without danger of such blemishes. 



The mode of manulacturing pottery adopted at the pueblos of the 

 Eio Grande Valley is quite similar to that described as practiced by the 

 Zuiii, Shinumo, Acoma, and Laguna Indians, but there is considerable 

 difference in the method of decorating and polishing. Polishing is prac- 

 ticed chiefly by the Indians of the eastern pueblos, and but little by 

 those of the more western region. 



The pueblos of Santa Clara, Cochiti, San Juan-, Tesuke, &c., manu- 

 facture large quantities of pottery for sale in addition to that made for 

 their own use. It is in these eastern pueblos that the black polished 

 ware is chiefly found, and it is in the production of this class of ware 

 that the chief difference in the ceramic art between the two sections ex- 

 ists. The clays used in the manufacture of this ware are of the same 



