As An Inventor, The Aborigine Has Laid
Us Under Great Obligation, For He Discovered The First Steps Of Mechanical
Progress, Without Which All Later Steps Would Have Been Impossible.
Hopi Pottery.
In the Hopi House, the processes of making pottery
and silverware by primitive methods may be seen in active operation, though
in the manufacture of silver, some modern appliances have taken the place
of the ancient ones. In the pottery, however, everything is exactly as it
used to be before the white race appeared on the American continent. The
Hopi woman brings her clay with her from some pit or quarry in Hopiland,
where experience has demonstrated a good pottery clay is found.
After thoroughly washing, pulverizing and crushing, it is ready to be
worked up into domestic and other utensils. Squatted upon the ground, the
potter places in her lap a small basket, wood, or pottery base, upon which
she places a "dab" of clay. This she thumbs and pats, until it forms the
basis of the new vessel. Then another piece of clay is rapidly rolled
between her hands, until it is in the form of along rope. This rope is then
coiled around the edge of the base already made, pressed well into it and
then smoothed down. After four or five coils of clay are thus added, the
potter takes a small "spat," generally a piece of dried gourd skin, dips
it into water, and proceeds to smooth out and make thin the clay coils.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 176 of 322
Words from 46601 to 46850
of 85893
