black finish.
This operation is usually performed away from the pueblo, near a point
where suitable stone is found, and is accompanied by a ceremonial, which
is intended to prevent the stone from breaking on exposure to the fire
when first used. During one stage of these rites the strictest silence
is enjoined, as, according to the native account, a single word spoken
at such a time would crack the tablet.

[Illustration: Fig. 69. Piki stone and chimney hood in Sichumovi.]

When the long guyave stone is in position upon the edges of the back and
front stones the fire must be so applied as to maintain the stone at a
uniform temperature. This is done by frequent feeding with small bits of
sage brush or other fuel. The necessity for such economy in the use of
fuel has to a certain extent affected the forms of all the heating and
cooking devices. Fig. 69 illustrates a Sichumovi piki stone, and Fig. 70
shows the use of the oven in connection with a cooking fireplace, a
combination that is not uncommon. The latter example is from Shumopavi.
The illustration shows an interesting feature in the use of a primitive
andiron or boss to support the cooking pot in position above the fire.
This boss is modeled from the same clay as the fireplace floor and is
attached to it and forms a part of it. Mr. Stephen has collected free
specimens of these primitive props which had never been attached to the
floor. These were of the rudely conical form illustrated in the figure,
and were made of a coarsely mixed clay thoroughly baked to a stony
hardness.

[Illustration: Fig. 70. Piki stone and primitive andiron in
Shumopavi.]

[Illustration: Plate LXXXVI. A Zuni interior.]

Chimneys and fireplaces are often found in Tusayan in the small,
recessed, balcony-like rooms of the second terrace. When a deep
cooking-pit is required in such a position, it is obtained by building
up the sides, as in the indoor fireplaces of upper rooms. Such a
fireplace is illustrated in Fig. 71. A roofed recess which usually
occurs at one end of the first terrace, called "tupubi," takes its name
from the flat piki oven, the variety of fireplace generally built in
these alcoves. The transfer of the fireplace from the second-story room
to the corner of such a roofed-terrace alcove was easily accomplished,
and probably led to the occasional use of the cooking-pit, with
protecting chimney hood on the open and unsheltered roof. Fig. 72
illustrates a deep cooking