is generally in red, brown, yellow, and black.
Decorative treatment by spattering is common in the food basins, and
this was no doubt performed, Chinese fashion, by means of the mouth.
The same method is still employed by the Hopi priests in painting
their masks.

The Sikyatki collection of pottery shows little or no duplication in
decorative design, and every ornamented food basin bears practically
different symbols. The decoration of the food basins is mainly on the
interior, but there is almost invariably a geometrical design of some
kind on the outside, near the rim. The ladles, likewise, are
ornamented on their interior, and their handles also are generally
decorated. When the specimens were removed from the graves their
colors, as a rule, were apparently as well preserved as at the time of
their burial; nor, indeed, do they appear to have faded since their
deposit in the National Museum.

The best examples of ceramic art from the graves of Sikyatki, in
texture, finish, and decoration, are, in my judgment, superior to any
pottery made by ancient or modern Indians north of Mexico. Indeed, in
these respects the old Tusayan pottery will bear favorable comparison
even with Central American ware. It is far superior to the rude
pottery of the eastern pueblos, and is also considerably better than
that of the great villages of the Gila and Salado. Among the Hopi
themselves the ceramic art has degenerated, as the few remaining
potters confess. These objects can hardly be looked upon as products
of a savage people destitute of artistic feeling, but of a race which
has developed in this line of work, through the plane of savagery, to
a high stage of barbarism. While, as a whole, we can hardly regard the
modern Hopi as a degenerate people with a more cultured ancestry,
certainly the entire Pueblo culture in the Southwest, judged by the
character of their pottery manufacture, has greatly deteriorated since
the middle of the sixteenth century.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXIX

COILED AND INDENTED POTTERY FROM SIKYATKI]

COILED AND INDENTED WARE

The rudest type of pottery from Sikyatki has been classed as coiled
and indented ware. It is coarse in texture, not polished, and usually
not decorated. Although the outer surface of the pottery of this class
is rough, the general form of the ware is not less symmetrical than
that of the finer vessels. The objects belonging to th