Page 81 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OP HOPILAND 73

without which they cannot run well over the yielding
sand, and as there is no village shoemaker, every man
must make his own or go barefoot. Frequently in the
villages one meets a moccasin maker, chewing at the
rawhide and busily plying his awl and sinew while he
goes gadding about. Just before the Snake Dance,
when every Snake priest must provide a pair of new
moccasins for himself, this art is very much in evi
dence.
The moccasin maker takes pride in hiding his
stitches, and it must be said that his sewing is excep
tionally good in spite of the crude tools of his craft.
With the same skill he displays in other crafts, the
Hopi prepares the leather for the indispensable moc
casins. The simplest way of giving color to the leather
is to rub red ocher or other clay into the soft-tanned
skin, as is seen in the red moccasins of the Snake
dancers. A warm brown is given to the leather with
an infusion of the bark of the water birch, and a
black dye is made by burning pinon resin with crude
native alum. Sometimes the esthetic tastes of a young
man are gratified by moccasins dyed with aniline red
or blue according to his fancy.
If the visitor will give an order for a pair of totchi,
he may see the whole process at his leisure. A piece
of well-curried cowhide, preferably from the back of
the animal, is produced, the outline of the foot is
marked out on it and a margin is left by the cutter for
the turning up of the sole. This is all the moccasin