Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona in 187 | Page 9

few vessels, which are in every respect similar to the best variety of the red pottery heretofore mentioned, except that it is marked with figures in black, many of which are decorated only on the upper portions around the neck or rim.
6. The ancient pottery, of which Figs. 680 (40816) and 693 (40817) are good examples.
The Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona, with rare exceptions, manufacture earthenware vessels for domestic use. The Pueblo of Taos may be mentioned as one of these exceptions; although the manner of living, the general habits, and characteristics of the tribe are similar to those of the other Pueblo Indians, and although they make use of pottery for domestic purposes, they do not manufacture it. Some pieces, such as water jars and vessels used for cooking, are made in the village, but this occurs only in such families as have intermarried with other tribes where the manufacture of the native ware is carried on.
The Pueblos among whom the manufacture of pottery or earthenware utensils may be classed as a conspicuous feature of their peculiar civilization at the present time, are situated geographically as follows: San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Sandia, and Isleta, located on the Rio Grande; Pojake, Tesuke, Nambe, Jamez, Zia or Silla, Santa Ana, Laguna, and Acoma, situated on the tributaries of the Rio Grande; Zu?i, and some small pueblos of the same tribe all within the borders of New Mexico. Zu?i however is located on the Rio Zu?i, which flows into the Little Colorado River.
The Moki pueblos, numbering seven in all, are embraced in what is called the Province of Tusyan, and are located within the Territory of Arizona, near its northeastern corner.
The Zu?ians and Shinumos, although situated farther from civilized people and less influenced by their usages than any of the other Indians mentioned, surpass all the other tribes in the manufacture of all kinds of earthenware. The collections made from these tribes, as will be seen by reference to the catalogue, exceed, both in number and variety, those from all the others combined. The collection as enumerated in the catalogue includes specimens from all the pueblos referred to.
Although the uses of these articles are to a great extent the same among all the Pueblo tribes, and the shapes and forms are apparently similar, yet to the experienced eye there is no difficulty in detecting the peculiarities which distinguish one from the other, or at least in assigning them to the tribes with which they originated.
It will be observed by reference both to the colored and wood-cut illustrations that there are special distinctions between the ornamentation of the pottery of the pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley and of those situated on the tributaries of the Rio Colorado. In the decorations of the former the birds and vine are conspicuous and constantly recurring features, while in the Zu?i and Shinumo pottery the elk, domestic animals, and birds peculiar to these arid regions are the figures most frequently used. The difference is easily accounted for when we are informed of the fact that the former tribes reside in the valley of the Rio Grande, which is well adapted to the culture of the grape as well as other crops. The ever-present vine and the numerous birds which flock to this fertile valley will naturally suggest figures for decoration. On the other hand, the Zu?ians and Shinumos reside in regions almost destitute of water, and hence without any attractive vegetation; therefore their designs are drawn chiefly from the sharp outlines of their dwellings, their domestic animals, birds, and the elk and antelope that graze in the little grassy oases. None of these are actually drawn from nature, but from imagination and memory, as they never have an object before them in molding or painting.
In none of the cases referred to do we observe any attempts to imitate the exact forms or ceramic designs of the so-called ancient pottery, fragments and sometimes entire vessels of which are found throughout this southwestern region. This seems strange from the fact that in the use of stone implements we find but few which are the result of their own handiwork. The old ruins are searched, and from them, and the debris about them, stone pestles, mortars, hammers, hatchets, rubbing stones, scrapers, picks, spear and arrow heads, and polishing stones are collected by the inhabitants of nearly all the pueblos, and are kept and used by them.
The clay mostly used by the Zu?ians in the manufacture of pottery is a dark, bluish, carbonaceous, clayey shale found in layers usually near the tops of the mesas. Several of these elevated mesas are situated near Zu?i, from which the natives obtain this material. This carbonaceous clay is first mixed with water and then