less
and less degree, to the present time. This theory is but tentative,
yet it would also explain, on the score of association, why the Pueblo
women slightly prefer the jars showing the indentation in question to
more regular ones. With the change from elevated cliff or _mesa_
habitations to more accessible ones, the Pueblo Indians were enabled
to enlarge the apertures of their water-jars, since not only did the
concave bases of the latter make the balancing of them more secure,
but the trails over which they had to be carried from watering place
to habitation were less rugged. A natural result of this enlargement
of the openings, which admitted access with the scraper to the
interior peripheries of the thin-walled jars, was the rounding upward
of their shoulders, making them taller in proportion to their
diameters. This modification of form in the water-jar, taken in
connection with the fact that thus changed, it displaced the daily use
of the canteen, explains the totally dissimilar names which were
applied to the two types. The older, or spheroidal olla, was known as
the _k'iap ton ne_, from _k'ia pu_, to place or carry water in, and
_tom me_; while the newer _olla_ is called _k'ia wih na k'ia te ele_,
from _k'ia wih na ki'a na ki'a_, for bringing of water: _te_,
earthen-ware, and _e' le_ or _e'l lai e_, to stand or standing. The
latter term, _te e le_, is generic, being applied to nearly all _terra
cotta_ vessels which are taller than they are broad. _Te_, earthen
ware, is derived from _t'eh'_, the root also of _te ne a_, to resound,
to sound hollow; while _e le_, from _e'l le_ or _el' lai e_, to stand,
is obviously applied in significance of comparative height as well as
of function.

Thus I have thrown together a few conjectures and suggestions relative
to the origin of the Southwestern pottery and the evolution of its
principal forms.

EVOLUTION OF DECORATION

I might go on, appealing to language to account for nearly every
variety of pottery found existing as a _type_ throughout the region
referred to; but a subject inseparably connected with this, throwing
light on it in many ways, and possessing in itself great interest,
claims treatment on the few remaining pages of this essay. I refer to
the evolution and significance or symbolism of Pueblo ceramic
decorations.

Before proceeding with this, however, I must acknowledge that I am as
much indebted to the teachings of Mr. E.B. Tylor, in his remark