[15] Stevenson, writing of the Zuñis in 1881, said: “The material used to produce the red or brown colors is a yellowish impure clay, colored from oxide of iron; indeed it is mainly clay, but contains some sand and a very small amount of carbonate of lime”; it “is generally found in a hard, stony condition, and is ground in a small stone mortar ... and mixed with water so as to form a thin solution” (1883, p. 330). Mrs. Stevenson added later: “Ferruginous clays which on heating burn to yellow, red, or brown are employed for decorating” (1904, p. 375).
[16] Peritoma serrulatum (Pursh); synonyms: Cleome serrulata, and Cleome integrifolia; (Wooton and Standley, 1915, p. 290). Stevenson wrote: “It is said that among the Cochiti, Santa Clara, and some other pueblos a vegetable matter is employed to produce some of their decorative designs; this, however, I was unable to verify, though some of the Indians assured me of the fact, and furnished me a bunch of the plant, which Dr. Vasey, of the Agricultural Department, found to be Cleome integrifolia, a plant common throughout the Western Territories” (1883, p. 331). Again, “That of the decorated class is ornamented with the juice of Cleome integrifolia, which is fixed to the ware in the process of burning” (loc. cit., p. 430). Harrington writes: “This is a very important plant to the Tewa, inasmuch as black paint for pottery decoration is made from it. Large quantities of young plants are collected, usually in July. The plants are boiled well in water; the woody parts are then removed and the decoction is again allowed to boil until it becomes thick and attains a black color. This thick fluid is poured on a board to dry and soon becomes hardened. It may be kept in hard cakes for an indefinite period. When needed these are soaked in hot water until of the consistency needed for paint. Guaco is also used as a food. The hardened cakes are soaked in hot water, and then fried in grease. The finely ground plants are mixed with water and the liquid is drunk as a remedy for stomach disorders; or sometimes fresh plants wrapped in a cloth are applied to the abdomen” (1916, a, pp. 58, 59). (It should be noted that the accounts obtained by the writer from the informants of San Ildefonso do not agree in detail with the one given by Harrington.) Mrs. Stevenson wrote of Zuñi: “Water from boiled Cleome serrulata (Mexican name waco) is mixed with black pigment (a manganiferous clay containing organic matter) in decorating pottery” (1904, p. 375); and in more detail: “The entire plant, minus the root, is boiled for a considerable time, and the water in which it is cooked is allowed to evaporate. The firm paste secured from precipitation is used in conjunction with a black mineral paint for decorating pottery” (1915, p. 92).
[17] Stevenson, in 1879, saw the Rio Grande Pueblo potters use “coarsely broken dried manure obtained from the corrals”, and added that for the polished black ware “another application of fuel, finely pulverized, is made” (1883, p. 331).
[18] Stevenson, in 1879, observed at Zuñi that “the bottoms of old water jars and bowls form stands for the articles while being worked by the potter. The bowls are filled with sand when objects of a globular form are to be made” (1883, p. 329). At Pojuaque (a Tewa pueblo near San Ildefonso, now nearly extinct) he collected two “pottery moulds for bottoms of vessels” (loc. cit. p. 439). Mrs. Stevenson also noticed these olla bottoms at Zuñi (1904, p. 374).
[19] Harrington writes: “Variously shaped section of gourd are used by women to smooth and shape pottery in the making” (1916, a, p. 102). Stevenson, in 1879, noted at Zuñi “a small trowel fashioned from a piece of gourd or fragment of pottery, the only tool employed in the manufacture of pottery” (1883, p. 329). Mrs. Stevenson also speaks of these trowels (1904, p. 374).
[20] Stevenson, in speaking of the making of pottery at Santa Clara, mentions “the process of polishing—with smooth, fine-grained stones”, (1883, p. 331). In his catalogue of stone objects collected at Zuñi in 1881, he differentiates between “small stones used in polishing pottery”, “small stones used in polishing unburned vessels”, and the “small polisher for glazing and smoothing pottery”, giving three different Indian names for the three kinds. He does not, however, explain the difference (1884, pp. 525, 526). He also catalogues “fifteen rubbing or smoothing stones for pottery” obtained at Walpi (1884, p. 587). Mrs. Stevenson remarked: “Polishing stones are used to finish the surface” of vessels at Zuñi (1904, p. 375).
[21] Stevenson, in 1879 at Zuñi, noted that the paint was applied to pottery “with brushes made of the leaves of the yucca. These brushes are made of flat pieces of the leaf, which are stripped off and bruised at one end, and are of different sizes adapted to the coarse or fine lines the artist may wish to draw” (1883, p. 330). Mrs. Stevenson wrote, again of Zuñi: “Yucca glauca Nutt. Soapweed.... The brushes employed for decorating pottery are made from the leaves of this plant, which, for this purpose, are cut the proper lengths and fringed at one end” (1915, p. 82).
[22] Mrs. Stevenson says the Zuñis used a “rabbit skin mop” (1904, p. 375).
[23] Mrs. Stevenson wrote of Zuñi: “The pieces to be fired are placed upon stones to raise them a few inches from the ground”, implying the absence of a grate (1904, p. 376).
[24] I use the words “very skillfully” advisedly. Repeated attempts on my part to imitate the process resulted in rolls of exceedingly variable diameter. At Zuñi the roll is made by the apparently simpler and more efficient method of rolling the clay back and forth on a flat stone slab with one hand (see [pl. 29], a).