Page 90 - TheHopiIndians

82 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND
vessels, as a discoloration of the ware would result,
which might subject the potter to the shafts of ridi
cule. Gradually the fire from below creeps up the
walls till the interior is aglow and the ware becomes
red hot. Little attention is now needed except closing
burned out apertures with new pieces of fuel; the
potter, who before, during the careful and exact dis
positions, has been giving little ejaculations as though
talking to a small child, visits the kiln intermittently
from the nearby house. Here she seeks refuge from
the penetrating, unaromatic smoke and the blazing
son.
The Hopi have an odd superstition that if any one
speaks above a whisper during the burning of pottery
the spirit inhabiting the vessel will cause it to break.
No doubt the potter had this in mind while she was
whispering and was using all her blandishments to
induce the small spirits to be good.
She remarked that when the sun should hang over
the brow of the mesa at the height indicated by her
laborious fingers, the ware would be baked, the kiln a
heap of ashes, the yellow decoration a lively red and
the black a dark brown on a rich cream-color ground.
Next day, with true foresight, she brought her quaint
wares to the camp and made a good bargain for them,
incidentally asking, ' ' Matches all gone ? ' '
One woman at least in Tusayan is a weaver of blank
ets. Anowita's wife enjoys that distinction because
she is a Navaho, among whom weaving is woman's