WEAVING, POTTEEY, AND BASKET- WOEK 173 



himself, rose up leisurely, aud untied a bundle T^^lliell I had 

 sui-)posed to be a bow and arrows. This little package, with 

 foui- stakes placed in the ground, was the loom. He laid 

 open his cloth, and commenced the process of weaving." 



Each alternate thread of the warp is passed round a piece 

 of cane, which, when lifted, opens a passage . for the shuttle 

 m the manner of a sley. The operator sits like a tailor, and, 

 raising the sley with one hand, shoots the shuttle through 

 with the other. , The work is beaten up after the passage of 

 each thi-ead by the use of a sharp-toothed instrument made of 

 hard wood. Such an ojDeration is, of coui-se, most tedious, 

 and it is 'not surprising that even the very limited trade at 

 present existing between the Indians and the outer world, 



)i,f should have caused its abandonment, as well as that of the 



M cultivation of cotton. 



+*lWW 



,^' 



The pottery manufactured by the Pimas varies in colour 

 from red to dark brown; the articles made are limited to 

 ij|! those which are absolutely necessary for domestic pui-poses. 



They consist of ollas, or vases, of every size, the largest 

 containing about two pailfuls, the smallest half a pint ; jars 

 ^th small apertures resembling bottles, and basins of 

 different sizes and shapes, from a milkpan to a saucer. All 

 ^re more or less ornamented, and painted with black lines 

 arranged in geometrical i 



The basket-work is the most meritorious of all their native 

 arts, for although the baskets are made only of ^-illow twigs 

 or of grass, so closely are they plaited that liquids are placed 

 in them as a matter of course, and seldom a. drop escapes 

 thi-ough the sides. A wicker rim is always listened at the 

 t>ottom, by which the larger baskets can be carried on the 



o 



- J^^ -. 



head like the vases, and the smalle 



on the floor. They arc of all sizes, and together with 



