| Fig. 439 ([40422]) (⅓) | Fig. 440 ([40417]) (⅓) |
845, 846. 845, (40418); 846, (40419), this has a pretty marginal band, and the figure of a slender bird in the bowl.
847-851. 847, (40420); 848, (40421); 849, ([40422]), Fig. [439]; 450, (40423); 451, (40424), resembles Fig. [440].
852-868. 852, (40425); 853, (40427); 854, (40428); 855, (40429); 856, (40434); 857, (40435); 858, (40437); 859, (40438); 860, (40439); 861, (40441); 862, (40442); 863, (40459); 864, (40462); 865, (40463); 866, (40675); 867, (40677); 868, ([40678]), Fig. [441].
869, 870. 869, (40679); 870, ([40875]), Fig. [437].
| Fig. 437 ([40875]) (½) | Fig. 441 ([40678]) (⅓) |
BASKETS.
Called by the Zuñians, āh-wēhl-wi-āh-pä-sāhl. These vessels, which vary in size from four to eight inches in diameter and from two to five in depth, are in the form of bowls, sometimes with a handle over the top like a basket handle, sometimes without. The margin is either scalloped, as in Fig. [452], or terraced so as to resemble the section of a pyramid or pueblo, being cut in this form with a horse-hair while soft. They are always of white ware decorated with black. The margin is uniformly black, and there is often an inner and outer submarginal narrow band following the undulations or terraces. The figures most common, and in fact almost exclusively used, are those resembling tadpoles, but which, as I learned, are intended to represent a small crustacean or the larva of an insect common in the water-pools and streams of the Zuñi country; and the somewhat grotesque figures of the horned toad (Phrynosoma). These figures are placed both on the outer and inner surfaces, though the figure of the reptile is generally found on the outer.
These singular vessels are used by the Indians only in their sacred and ceremonial dances. In them is placed a small quantity of meal; they are then borne in the hands of the women, who, during the dance, take a small quantity of the meal, just as much as they can hold between the
tips of the fingers, and sprinkle it on the sacred objects and on the heads of the persons leading in the ceremonies.