Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona in 187 | Page 7

5 | .74 | .57 || 12 | .82 | .68 | | 6
| .84 | .61 || 13 | .97 | .72 | | 7 | .72 | .50 || 14 | .91 | .67 |
+--------+--------+-----------++--------+--------+-----------+
From this it will be seen that No. 148, which is represented by Fig. 373
(39774), is unusually broad in proportion to the height. Nos. 152 and
153 vary to the extreme in the other direction; No. 153 is shown in Fig.
364 (40322). Excluding these and taking the means of the large and
small kinds separately we find the average ratios to be as follows:
Height. Diameter of mouth. Large .78 .57 Small .78 .61
Most of the water jugs of both the Shinumos and Zuñians are in the
form of canteens, usually more or less spherical, and varying in
capacity from a pint to four gallons. On each side there is a small
handle in the form of a loop or knob, through or around which is placed
a small shawl or strip of cloth, or a cord long enough to pass over the
forehead so as to suspend the vessel against the back just below the
shoulders. The other jugs are of various fanciful shapes, which will be

noted in the catalogue. A large portion are of plain brown ware, a few
plain white, and others white with colored decorations. Various names
are used apparently to designate the different kinds rather than the uses
for which they are intended.
The decorations, when present, are always on the upper side, which is
more convex than the lower, or side on which it is intended the vessel
shall lie when not in use. In the ornamented white ware the lower
portion is usually red or brown.
As all these clay fabrics are the work of North American Indians, it is
scarcely necessary for me to say that they are unglazed, a characteristic,
so far as I am aware, of all aboriginal pottery.
Some of the specimens, especially of the black ware, show a smooth
finish, and may perhaps, without violence to the term, be classed as
lustrous. This is not the effect of a varnish or partial glazing, but is a
polish, produced generally, if not always, by rubbing with a polishing
stone.
Although, as a rule, the paste of which the ware is made is
comparatively free from foreign matter, yet many pieces, especially of
the decorated ware, when broken, show little whitish or ash-colored
specks. These, when found in aboriginal pottery east of the Mississippi,
have, I believe, been without question considered as fragments or
particles of shell broken up and mixed with the paste. This may be
correct in reference to the pottery found east of and in the Mississippi
Valley, but this whitish and grayish matter in the pottery of the Indians
of New Mexico and Arizona is in most cases pulverized pottery, which
is crushed and mixed with the paste. Black lava is sometimes crushed
and used in the same manner.
The principal material used is a clay, apparently in its natural state,
varying in color according to locality. Although comparatively free
from pebbles or lumps of foreign matter, we detect in some of the
coarser specimens small particles of mica and grains of other materials,
and in one broken specimen the elytron of a small coleopterous insect.
But as a general rule, the paste appears to have been free from foreign

matter.
A slight glance at this large collection is sufficient to show that the
potters worked by no specific rule, and that they did not use patterns.
While it is apparent that only a few general forms were adopted, and
that, with few exceptions, the entire collection may be grouped by these,
yet no two specimens are exactly alike; they differ in size, or vary more
or less in form. The same thing is also true in reference to the
ornamentation: while there is a striking similarity in general
characteristics, there is an endless variety in details. No two similar
pieces can be found bearing precisely the same ornamental pattern.
Much the larger portion of the collection consists of vessels of various
kinds, such as bowls, cooking utensils, canteens, bottles, jars, pitchers,
cups, ladles, jugs, water vases, ornamental vessels, paint-pots, &c.
These vary in size from the large vase, capable of holding ten gallons,
to the little cup and canteen, which will contain less than half a pint.
The other and much smaller portion includes all those articles which
cannot be classed as vessels, such as images, toys, toilet articles,
representations of animals, &c. The collection can perhaps be most
satisfactorily classified by reference to the coloring, ornamentation, and
quality, thus:
1. The red or uncolored pottery, which is without ornamentation of any
kind. Some