88 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
The vessels are fired by placing several of them 
bottom side up on small stones and covering them with 
dry sheep manure which is used for fuel. This main- 
tains a uniform and continuous heat until they are 
properly burned. If the smoke is confined by adding 
a supply of fresh fine material at the right time, the 
carbon of the smoke unites with the paint and pro- 
duces the black ware characteristic of Santa Clara. 
This uniformly black ware gains in graceful form 
what it loses in gay colors. At San Juan a peculiar 
form is a pot, red above and undecorated below. This 
red applied as a slip is also sometimes used as a back- 
ground on which designs in other colors are painted. 
The more common background, however, is the cream 
color of the uncolored clay to which rarely a little red 
is added, producing pink. ‘The designs are painted 
on in black, obtained from the juice of the bee weed, 
and in red and yellow derived from ochre. 
These designs are partly geometrical and purely 
decorative; partly representations of mountains, clouds, 
and rainbows, so highly conventionalized as often to 
appear purely geometrical; and partly realistic repre- 
sentations of flowers and animals. Among the latter 
are most frequently found those which are of economic 
value, or of ceremonial importance, such as the sun- 
flower, the cotton plant, the parrot, and the turkey. The 
larger animals like the antelope, frequently seen on Zuni 
water jars, have the positions of certain internal 
organs indicated. | 
The background of the Hopi pottery has a character- 
istic yellow tone. The upper portion of the bowls is 
often drawn in sharply making the top nearly flat. The 
designs, which are of the same general sort found in 
Rio Grande pottery, are executed in a peculiar style. 
In recent years both the shapes and the decorations | 
