Part 6

Fig. 275 illustrates a very pleasing vessel. It is hemispherical, and about eleven inches in diameter. A narrow zone of ornament based upon the meander encircles the exterior margin of the rim, and a broad, carefully drawn design, consisting of two parallel meanders, Fig. 276, occupies the interior. It will be seen that the meandered fillets are in white, and the bordering stripes and the upper and lower rows of triangular interspaces are in solid black, while the median band and its connecting triangles are obliquely striped. It should be noticed that the oblique portions of the meanders are indented or stepped. This is a very usual occurrence in these decorations, and may be taken as a pretty decided indication that they were copied, more or less directly, from textile ornamentation in which all oblique lines are necessarily stepped.

HANDLED CUPS.--Small cups were generally furnished with handles and probably served as ladles and spoons. An entire specimen is rarely found. Two are illustrated in Figs. 277 and 278. They were obtained by W. H. Jackson from the ruins of Montezuma Cañon. The handles of these vessels vary a great deal; some are flat, while others are round, consisting either of a single or a looped roll of clay; some are hollow, resembling the handles of gourds, and a few are made of twisted fillets. This latter form belongs generally to upright cups.

OLLAS.--It is quite impossible to make satisfactory restorations of the vases or ollas from the small fragments recovered. The evidence is sufficient, however, to show that vessels of this class were numerous, and often large. I have made two restorations of small examples belonging to this class, of which there are fragments showing the neck and upper part of the bodies. The bottoms are so universally rounded that I have drawn full globular shapes; Figs. 279 and 280. The most striking character of Fig. 279 is the shape of the rim, which is fashioned for the reception of a lid. The same feature is noticed in a small vessel obtained at Zuñi.

Examples of lids from the San Juan Valley are shown in Figs. 281 and 282. They were evidently designed for vessels of the class just described. The specimen given in Fig. 281 is neatly finished and embellished, and the quality of the ware is very superior.

HANDLED VASES.--Many small vessels were furnished with handles, some horizontal and others vertical. Of the first variety is the example shown in Fig. 283. The fragment was obtained from the great ruin at "Aztec Springs," Colorado. It shows a small, symmetrical vessel, with black lines and devices. The handle, which probably had a companion on the opposite side, is strong and neatly made.

Figure 284 represents a very pretty little vessel, brought by Mr. W. H. Jackson from the Cañon de Chelly. It is of the usual gray polished ware, the base being somewhat roughened by use. The design consists of encircling lines combined with a belt of disconnected triangular hooks or fret-links.

Handled mugs with round bodies and wide high necks were in great favor with the San Juan potter. There are but two entire specimens in the collection. These were obtained by Capt. Moss, of Parrott, who stated that they, with other relics, had been exhumed from a grave in the San Juan Valley. Both are comparatively rude in construction, and seem to be considerably weathered. The one shown in Fig. 285 is decorated with a classic meander which encircles the body of the vessel. The other, illustrated in Fig. 286, has the upper part covered with simple figures resembling bird tracks.

Among the most novel works of the ancient potter are the flat-bottomed mugs with upright sides, and with vertical handles which extend the whole length of the vessel, giving very much the appearance of a German beer mug. For a long time it was thought improbable that a vessel of this character should be the _bona fide_ work of the cliff-dweller, for his status of culture seemed to call for globular bodies and rounded bases. But so many examples have been found that there is no longer room for doubt.

Fig. 287 is restored from a large fragment brought from the San Juan Valley. Its walls widen a little below, and the very pretty ornament is somewhat unevenly applied. The handle is made of a double rope of clay, and extends from the lip to the base. The example shown in Fig. 288 was obtained in the vicinity of Provo, Utah, by Capt. G. M. Wheeler's expedition. It is so like those from the San Juan that I place it here for comparison. It is a little wider toward the base, and is nearly symmetrical. It is four inches in height and the same in diameter. A very similar vessel, probably from the Province of Tusayan, is found in the Keam collection.

DISTRICT OF THE COLORADO CHIQUITO.

The collection from this district, which includes the ancient provinces of Cibola and Tusayan, is already very large, and much more material will yet accrue, for pottery fanciers have taken up the search, and both whites and Indians are on the _qui vive_ for additional examples of the artistic and showy specimens.

The National Museum has procured many fine pieces through the agents of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the collection of Mr. Keam is especially rich in the pottery of Tusayan. Some of the finer examples of the latter collection are selected for illustration.

It seems unaccountable that such a large number of the ancient vessels should be preserved, and that too in a country where vessels are constantly in demand. Many have been picked up by the Pueblo tribes and laid away for especial uses or possibly as heirlooms; but many of those secured by recent collectors were obtained from the sites of ancient settlements, from burial places, and from caves, and brought directly to the market so recently made for them.

There can be no doubt that many of the specimens accredited to this district have come from neighboring or distant provinces; yet within the valley of the Little Colorado there are such wide variations from predominant types that foreign pieces cannot be readily detected. Many of the finer pieces of the white ware are rather new looking and show very superior taste and skill. The indications are that the manufacture of this white ware was kept up in portions of this district down to a comparatively recent date, possibly until the coming of the Europeans. It will probably be impossible to determine just why and how the archaic types gave way to the transitional and modern. It may be found, however, that the influence of the Spaniard was a factor in the change.

Beside the archaic white ware and its closely associated red ware the province of Tusayan furnishes two or three distinct varieties, all of which, unlike that ware, are apparently confined to very limited districts. These have been briefly described on a preceding page.

Many pieces of the white ware are of large size and of elegant shape and finish. Some of the ollas and bottles are masterpieces of the art. The texture of the paste is fine and the color is often quite white. The designs are uniformly in black and are superior in execution and conception to those of the north.

BOWLS.--The bowls are very generally hemispherical. The finish, like that of the pottery of the San Juan and the Rio Virgen, is rather rough on the exterior, and whitened and polished on the inner surface. The painted figures are confined to the interior, and are highly elaborated combinations of the usual geometric motives. They are generally made up of four sections of double-zoned borders such as occur on the exterior of vases, cut out, as it were, and fitted into the bowl in a cruciform arrangement, a plain square remaining in the bottom of the vessel. See Fig. 291. There are, however, many examples which consist of two encircling zones of ornament identical in style and arrangement with examples from the Rio Virgen, Figs. 230 and 231, and from the Rio San Juan, Figs. 248, 259, and 274.

In Fig. 289 we have a representative example of the bowls of ancient Tusayan. The outer surface is rudely trowel-finished, but the inside is well polished. The painted design consists of four parts arranged about a central square. Each part comprises a number of alternate bands of straight and zigzag lines.

The superb bowl presented in Fig. 290 is nearly fifteen inches in diameter and seven inches deep. It is hemispherical but not quite symmetrical. Having been broken, it was mended by its owners after their aboriginal fashion. Two pairs of holes have been bored on opposite sides of a long fracture for the insertion of thongs. Other perforations have been commenced but do not penetrate the vessel. The walls are upwards of one-eighth of an inch in thickness near the rim, but are less than that throughout the body of the bowl. The paste is of a dark gray color, speckled with ashy-white particles, which may be pulverized potsherds. The interior surface is finished with a slip of white clay and has received a fair degree of polish. The exterior is only trowel-finished and is much scarified by use. The interior is embellished with a very elaborate design, which is given with all possible accuracy in a plain projection, in Fig. 291. The work does not exhibit a great deal of skill or neatness in execution, but the whole design is carefully made out and well adjusted to the deeply concave surface. An analysis of this figure is easily given. It is a cruciform arrangement of four portions of rather elaborate double borders. Each part consists of two parallel bands, a principal and a subordinate, separated by parallel lines and taking the relation to each other always noticed in the two belts of designs painted upon the exterior of vases. Two of the sections are alike. The others differ from these and from each other.

One figure, consisting of three linked volutes, is defined in white by painting around it a black ground. The artist in painting this vessel has probably not thought of achieving anything beyond the filling up neatly of the four spaces, and has followed the usual practice of borrowing his motives from other objects; yet it will not be wise to conclude that these figures are really meaningless combinations of lines. The persistency and individuality of certain motives makes it almost certain that they are not the result of aimless elaboration, and that the potter understood their significance. They are too purely geometric, however, to furnish any clew to us through internal evidence. We have no resource beyond the analogies of historic art. Modern tribes use the current meander to symbolize water, and a leading motive in many of these designs--the linked scroll running through a field of serrate lines--is wonderfully like some forms of the Aztec symbol for water, as may be seen by reference to the Mexican codices.

Another very excellent example of these bowls is presented in Fig. 292. It is small and shallow, measuring six and a half inches in diameter and two and a half in depth. The material is somewhat soft and chalky. The walls are thick and the surface is well finished. The painted design is cruciform, like the preceding, but is much more simple and satisfactory. It is interesting to note the changes rung upon the few simple motives employed in these designs. Again apparently each of the four parts is a fragment of a double border, cut up and fitted into the concave surface. The bands with oblique, dotted, or stepped lines, Fig. 293, are repetitions of the neck belt of a bottle-shaped vase or basket, and the other bands with their chaste fret-work repeat a section of the body zone.

Bowls and cups of the hemispherical model are very often supplied with handles. Like other bowls, they are embellished with painted designs derived from vases or from textile sources. In order of evolution, they probably follow the plain form--the handles being added to facilitate use.

The principal varieties of handles have already been described. The bowl illustrated in Fig. 294 is furnished with a single semicircular loop. In form, finish, and color it is the same as that of the other bowls, and the painted design has a similar derivation and arrangement.

In the collection we have a fine large red bowl, now in a fragmentary state. It is eleven inches in diameter and six inches deep. A small loop is attached to the outside near the margin. It has a very decided resemblance in color, finish, and ornamentation to the red bowls of the Rio Virgen. The color of both the surface and the mass is a dull red. A broad band of bright red paint encircles the exterior, leaving a plain marginal band of the ground color and a plain area of the same upon the bottom. The painted design, which covers the inner surface is shown in Fig. 295. We discover in it at first sight a type to all appearances totally distinct from the usual devices of this locality, but a closer study reveals the existence of the favorite motive--the meander--doubled up across the middle in a way to challenge detection, with the ever-present auxiliary band above and below. The curiously complex and very pleasing ornament is amplified in Fig. 296.

One small cup or bowl has two ears, not semicircular, but rectangular, which are placed horizontally and project in sharp points at the corners.

The neat little vessel given in Fig. 297 has a much elongated horizontal loop, carelessly made and rudely attached. The bowl is handsomely finished. The margin is ornamented with a series of closely placed transverse lines or dots, a character appearing more frequently in the northern ware. The interior design is made up of four independent parts as usual.

The cup presented in Fig. 298 serves to illustrate another variety of handle--a large vertical loop, extending from rim to base, like those on the upright cups given in Figs. 287 and 288. The paste is very fine grained, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. The color is gray and the paint reddish from the firing. The bottom is flat, a rare occurrence in the more archaic, pottery. The painted design is based upon the meander, and occupies nearly the entire exterior surface of the cup. The handle has two bird-track shaped figures on its outer surface.

Vessels with long cylindrical handles are distributed over a very extended district, but in Tusayan they are of a better class of ware than elsewhere. Here the handles are long and stout and frequently terminate in a loop, probably intended for the attachment of a cord. The bowl is often graceful in form and tasteful in ornament. One of the finer examples is illustrated in Fig. 299. It is of the chalky ware, and has a very good surface finish. The handle is one inch in diameter and five inches long. It is hollow and terminates in a narrow loop. It is decorated with two groups of spirally inclined lines. The interior decoration of the bowl furnishes a most excellent example of the crucifrm designs previously described. This is well shown in Fig. 300. The exterior surface is embellished with a most primitive drawing of a bird, Fig. 301--a striking illustration of the pictorial accomplishments of these classic decorators. Subjects of this class are of rare occurrence upon the ancient white ware.

The dipper presented in Fig. 302 is somewhat inferior in workmanship to the preceding example. The handle is plain and terminates in a horizontal loop. The painted design is not arranged about a square, as in the examples given, but leaves a space in the center of the bowl resembling a four-cornered star. This shape is, however, the result of accident. The four parts are units of an elaborate border, not severed from their original connection, but contorted from crowding into the circular space. The design drawn upon a plain surface is shown in Fig. 303. Projected in a straight line, as in Fig. 304, it is readily recognized as the lower three-fourths of a zone of scroll ornamentation. A unit of the design drawn in black is shown in Fig. 305. The meander is developed in the white color of the ground, and consists of two charmingly varied threads running side by side through a field of black, bordered by heavy black lines. The involute ends of the units are connected by two minute auxiliary scrolls.

Bowls heretofore referred to as heart-shaped are of frequent occurrence in the valley of the Little Colorado. A number have been obtained by the Bureau of Ethnology directly from the Pueblo Indians, while a few very superior specimens are in the collection of Mr. Keam. A somewhat globular example is represented in Fig. 306.

It is remarkable in having four zones of devices. The narrow belt next the lip contains a single line of bird-track figures. The others exhibit simple forms of the meander. It is interesting to notice the variety of treatment. In the upper band we have a chain of units imperfectly connected. In the others there are series of triangular links quite disconnected from each other. All are defined in white by painting in a ground of black.

This district has furnished few vessels of more exquisite form and decoration than that shown in Fig. 307. It is from the Keam collection. The outlines are exceptionally symmetrical, and the design, developed in the white of the ground, is drawn with more than usual care. The figures are severely simple, however, and comprise but one motive--the typical scroll, which is arranged in three zones, separated by parallel lines. The spaces are filled in with serrate lines, parallel with the connecting fillets or stems of the volutes, as in the case given in Fig. 290.

Another smaller vessel from the same collection is simple and unpretentious, but so thoroughly satisfactory in every respect that one could hardly suggest an improvement. The surface is well polished. The ground color is whitish, and the design--a chain of classic scrolls--is produced in white by filling up the interstices with black. It is a noteworthy fact that the base of this cup has been perforated, apparently for use as a strainer. Nearly a hundred small round holes have been made while the clay was still soft. A pottery ladle from this region, now in the National collection, exhibits the same feature.

I add another example from the Keam collection, Fig. 309. The margins of the figures are serrate and the volutes, which are in white, have clumsy, disconnected stems.

The vessel presented in Fig. 310 has a flattened upper surface, an angular shoulder, and a high body, slightly conical below. The painted design is nearly obliterated in places by abrasion or weathering, but is correctly presented in Fig. 311, which gives the three zones in horizontal projection. This brings out a very marked feature, the cruciform arrangement of the parts, which would not be apparent in a vertical projection.

The two inner circles occupy the upper surface of the vessel and the outer one the most expanded portion of the body. The inner belt is separated into four panels or compartments by as many series of transverse lines, the panels being filled in with longitudinal, broken lines. The second band is also divided by four series of straight lines, but the compartments are occupied by scrolls in white, bordered by serrate wings in black. The outer band exhibits a very curious combination of features, the whole figure, however, being based upon the meander. It is probable that the grouping in fours is accidental, the division of a surface into four being much more readily accomplished than into any other number above two.

There are few better examples of the skill and good taste of the ancient potter than the bowl illustrated in Fig. 312. The body is much flattened and the incurved margin considerably depressed. The color is reddish, both on the surface and in the mass, while the upper part is painted a bright red. Upon this color, encircling the shoulder and extending inward toward the lip, is a handsome design in black and white lines. This is nearly obliterated, but enough is left to show that it consists of a highly elaborated rectilinear meander pattern, the idea being developed apparently in the light ground color. The painted lines are in black bordered with fine white stripes--a common occurrence in the south.

We have in the Museum an exquisitely shaped vessel of this class obtained from the Zuñi Indians. The material and color are identical with the red specimen from Saint George. The whole surface is painted red and a neat border design in black is worked over this. The lip is not so much depressed as in the preceding examples. Two perforations occur near the margin, through which the Zuñis have passed a buckskin thong. Another plain bowl is very much compressed vertically.

Oblong bowls are not a prominent feature in Pueblo pottery. A few examples were found at Saint George, Utah, but these are of the shallow variety. The only oblong bowl with incurved rim yet sent in is shown in Fig. 313. It is six inches long and four inches wide. The ornamentation consists of three lines of meanders, that upon the flat upper surface being irregular and not continuous.

In Fig. 314 we see another variation from the two usual forms of bowls. This vessel is globular, and the aperture quite large. Two small nodes attached to the sides and vertically perforated serve as handles. The ornamentation consists of a number of disconnected and greatly varied bands of meandered lines and figures, obliquely placed. The ornamented surface is separated into two parts by vertical panels at the handles. This affords a suggestion, of an adventitious or mechanical origin for the vertical bands which are so prominent a feature in modern Pueblo pottery. One of these is partially visible at the right side in the cut.