Page 89 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 81

firings, the little old woman scooped out a concave
ring. Nearby was a heap of slabs of dry sheep's
droppings, quarried from the floor of a fold perched
on a ledge high up the mesa and brought down in the
indispensable blanket. In the center of the concave
kiln floor a heap of this fuel was ignited by the aid of
some frayed cedar bark and a borrowed match, from
the opportune Pahana, "people of the far water," the
name by which white men are known. When the fire
was well established, it was gradually spread over the
floor to near the margin and the decorated bowls
brought from the house were set up around with the
concave sides toward the fire, while the potter brought,
in her blanket, a back load of friable sandstone from
a neighboring hillock.
Under the first heat the ware turned from white to
purple gray or lavender, gradually, assuming a lead
color. They were soon heated enough and were ready
for the kiln. Guarding her hand by the interposition
of a fold of the blanket, the potter set the vessels, now
quite unattractive, aside, proceeded to rake the fire
flat and laid thereon fragments of stone at intervals to
serve as rests or stilts for the ware. Larger vessels
were set over smaller and all were arranged as com
pactly as possible. Piece by piece, dextrously as a
mason, the potter built around the vessels a wall of
fuel, narrowing at the top, till a few slabs completed
the dome of the structure, itself kiln and fuel.
Care was taken not to allow the fuel to touch the