This would suggest the agency of gradual heat in rendering clay fit
for use in cookery and preferable to any previous makeshift. The
modern Zuñi name for a parching-pan, which is a shallow bowl of
black-ware, is _thlé mon ne_, the name for a basket-tray being _thlä´
lin ne_. The latter name signifies a shallow vessel of twigs, or _thlá
we_; the former etymologically interpreted, although of earthenware,
is a hemispherical vessel of the same kind and _material_. All this
would indicate that the _thlä´ lin ne_, coated with clay for roasting,
had given birth to the _thlé mon ne_, or parching-pan of earthenware.
(See Fig. 502.)
[Illustration: FIG. 502.--Zuñi earthenware roasting tray.]
Among the Havasupaí, still surviving as a sort of bucket, is the
basket-pot or boiling-basket, for use with hot stones, which form I
have also found in some of the cave deposits throughout the ancient
Zuñi country. These vessels (see Fig. 503) were bottle-shaped and
provided near the rims of their rather narrow mouths with a sort of
cord or strap-handle, attached to two loops or eyes (Fig. 503 _a_)
woven into the basket, to facilitate handling when the vessel was
filled with hot water. In the manufacture of one of these vessels,
which are good examples of the helix or spirally-coiled type of
basket, the beginning was made at the center of the bottom. A small
wisp of fine, flexible grass stems or osiers softened in water was
first spirally wrapped a little at one end with a flat, limber splint
of tough wood, usually willow (see Fig. 504). This wrapped portion was
then wound upon itself; the outer coil thus formed (see Fig. 505)
being firmly fastened as it progressed to the one already made by
passing the splint wrapping of the wisp each time it was wound around
the latter through some strands of the contiguous inner coil, with the
aid of a bodkin. (See Fig. 506.) The bottom was rounded upward and the
sides were made by coiling the wisp higher and higher, first outward,
to produce the bulge of the vessel, then inward, to form the tapering
upper part and neck, into which, the two little twigs or splint
loop-eyes were firmly woven. (See again Fig. 503 _a_.)
[Illustration: FIG. 503.--Havasupaí boiling-basket.]
[Illustration: FIG. 504. FIG. 505. FIG. 506.
Sketches illustrating manufacture of
spirally-coiled basketry.]
[Illustration: FIG. 507.--Typical basket decoration.]
[Illustration: FIG. 508.--Typical basket decoration.]
[Illustration: FIG. 509.--Typical basket decoration.]
These and especially kindred forms of basket-vessels were often quite
elaborately ornamented, either by the insertion at proper points of
dyed wrapping-splints, singly, in pairs, or in sets, or by the
alternate painting of pairs, sets, or series of stitches. Thus were
produced angular devices, like serrated bands, diagonal or zigzag
lines, chevrons, even terraces and frets. (See Figs. 507, 508, 509.)
There can be no doubt that these styles and ways of decoration were
developed, along with the weaving of baskets, simply by elaborating on
suggestions of the lines and figures unavoidably produced in
wicker-work of any kind when strands of different colors happened to
be employed together. Even slight discolorations in occasional splints
would result in such suggestions, for the stitches would here show,
there disappear. The probability of this view of the accidental origin
of basket-ornamentation may be enhanced by a consideration of the
etymology of a few Zuñi decorative terms, more of which might be given
did space admit. A terraced lozenge (see Figs. 510, 511), instead of
being named after the abstract word _a wi thlui ap í pä tchi na_,
which signifies a double terrace or two terraces joined together at
the base, is designated _shu k‘u tu li a tsi´ nan_, from _shu e_,
splints or fibers; _k‘u tsu_, a double fold, space, or stitch (see
Figs. 512, 513); _li a_, an interpolation referring to form; and _tsi´
nan_, mark; in other words, the "double splint-stitch-form mark."
Likewise, a pattern, composed principally of a series of diagonal or
oblique parallel lines _en masse_ (see Fig. 514), is called _shu´
k‘ish pa tsí nan_, from _shú e_, splints; _k‘i´sh pai e_, tapering
(_k‘ish pon ne_, neck or smaller part of anything); and _tsí nan_,
mark; that is, "tapering" or "neck-splint mark." Curiously enough, in
a bottle-shaped basket as it approaches completion the splints of the
tapering part or neck all lean spirally side by side of one another
(see Fig. 515), and a term descriptive of this has come to be used as
that applied to lines resembling it, instead of a derivative from _ä´s
sël lai e_, signifying an oblique or leaning line. Where splints
variously arranged, or stitches, have given names to decorations--applied
even to painted and embroidered designs--it is not difficult for us to
see that these same combinations, at first unintentional, must have
suggested the forms to which they gave names as decorations.
[Illustration: FIG. 510. FIG. 511.
Terraced lozenge decoration, or
"double-splint-stitch-forms."]
[Illustration: FIG. 512. FIG. 513.
Double-splint-stitch.]
[Illustration: FIG. 514.--Diagonal parallel-line decoration.]
[Illustration: FIG. 515.--Splints at neck of unfinished basket.]
[Illustration: FIG. 516. FIG. 517.
Examples of indented decoration on corrugated ware.]
[Illustration: FIG. 518.--Cooking-pot of corrugated ware, showing
conical projections near rim.
_Pueblo coiled pottery developed from basketry._--Seizing the
suggestion afforded by the rude tray-molded parching-bowls,
particularly after it was discovered that if well burned they resisted
the effects of water as well as of heat, the ancient potter would
naturally attempt in time to reproduce the boiling-basket in clay. She
would find that to accomplish this she could not use as a mold the
inside of the boiling-basket, as she had the inside of the tray,
because its neck was smaller than its body. Nor could she form the
vase by plastering the clay outside of the vessel, not only for the
same reason, but also because the clay in drying would contract so
much that it would crack or scale off. Naturally, then, she pursued
the process she was accustomed to in the manufacture of the
basket-bottle. That is, she formed a thin rope of soft clay, which,
like the wisp of the basket, she coiled around and around a center to
form the bottom, then spirally upon itself, now widening the diameter
of each coil more and more, then contracting as she progressed upward
until the desired height and form were attained. As the clay was
adhesive, each coil was attached to the one already formed by
pinching or pressing together the connecting edges at short intervals
as the winding went on. This produced corrugations or indentations
marvelously resembling the stitches of basket-work. Hence accidentally
the vessel thus built up appeared so similar to the basket which had
served as its model that evidently it did not seem complete until this
feature had been heightened by art. At any rate, the majority of
specimens belonging to this type of pottery--especially those of the
older periods during which it was predominant--are distinguished by an
indented or incised decoration exactly reproducing the zigzags,
serrations, chevrons, terraces, and other characteristic devices of
water-tight basketry. (Compare Figs. 516, 517 with Figs. 507, 508.)
Evidently with a like intention two little cone-like projections were
attached to the neck near the rim of the vessel (see Fig. 518) which
may hence be regarded as survivals of the loops whereby it has been
seen the ends of the strap-handle were attached to the boiling-basket.
(See again Fig. 503, _a_.) Although varied in later times to form
scrolls, rosettes, and other ornate figures (see Fig. 519), they
continued ever after quite faithful features of the spiral type of
pot, and may even sometimes be seen on the cooking-vessels of modern
Zuñi. To add yet another link to this chain of connection between the
coiled boiling-basket and the spirally-built cooking-pot, the names of
the two kinds of vessels may be given. The boiling-basket was known as
_wó li a k‘ia ni tu li a tom me_, the corrugated cooking pot as _wo li
a k‘ia te´ ni tu li a ton ne_, the former signifying "coiled
cooking-basket," the latter "coiled earthenware cooking-basket."
[Illustration: FIG. 519--Cooking-pot of corrugated ware, showing
modified projections near rim.]
[Illustration: FIG. 520.--Wicker water-bottle, showing double loops for
suspension.]
Other very important types of vessels were made in a similar way. I
refer especially to canteens and water-bottles. The water-bottle of
wicker differed little from the boiling-basket. It was generally
rounder-bodied, longer and narrower necked, and provided at one side
near the shoulders or rim with two loops of hair or strong fiber,
usually braided. (See Fig. 520.) The ends of the burden-strap passed
through these loops made suspension of the vessel easy, or when the
latter was used simply as a receptacle, the pair of loops served as a
handle. Sometimes these basket-bottles were strengthened at the bottom
with rawhide or buckskin, stuck on with gum. When, in the evolution of
the pitcher, this type of basket was reproduced in clay, not only was
the general form preserved, but also the details above described. That
is, without reference to usefulness--in fact at no small expense of
trouble--the handles were almost always made double (see Fig. 521);
indeed, often braided, although of clay. Frequently, especially as
time went on, the bottoms were left plain, as if to simulate the
smooth skin-bottoming of the basket-bottles. (See Fig. 522.) At first
it seems odd that with all these points of similarity the two kinds of
water-vessel should have totally dissimilar names; the basket-bottle
being known as the _k‘iá pu k‘ia tom me_, from _k‘iá pu kĭa_, "for
carrying or placing water in," and _tóm me_; the handled earthen
receptacle, as the _í mush ton ne_. Yet when we consider that the
latter was designed not for transporting water, for which it was less
suited than the former, but for holding it, for which it was even
preferable, the discrepancy is explained, since the name _í mush ton
ne_ is from _i´ mu_, to sit, and _tóm me_, a tube. This indicates,
too, why the basket-bottle was not displaced by the earthen bottle.
While the former continued in use for bringing water from a distance,
the latter was employed for storing it. As the fragile earthen vessels
were much more readily made and less liable to become tainted, they
were exclusively used as receptacles, removing the necessity of the
tedious manufacture of a large number of the basket-bottles. Again, as
the pitcher was thus used exclusively as a receptacle, to be set aside
in household or camp, the name _í´ mush ton ne_ sufficed without the
interpolation _te_--"earthenware"--to distinguish it as of _terra
cotta_, instead of osiery.
[Illustration: FIG. 521.--Water-bottle of corrugated ware, showing
double handle.]
[Illustration: FIG. 522.--Water-bottle of corrugated ware, showing
plain bottom.]