Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/851

 Minor Notices 841 of it. They are not nomadic by nature but by necessity, for the condi- tions of the climate require a seasonal migration to and from the moun- tains for those who pursue the principal vocation of the tribe, namely, herding sheep and goats. Unlike the pueblo Amerinds the families live separately in scattered and hidden "hogans." The horses and cattle belong to the men and everything else to the women. The old clan boundaries are disappearing but each family has a definite locality where its flocks may graze and where water may be obtained, the latter being the key to the distribution of the people as it is everywhere throughout the Southwest. There is an unbroken range of these hogans from the merest summer shelter to the well-built winter hut with its framework of timbers and covering of earth. The details of the buildings and the ceremonies attending their dedication are described. The housewarm- ings are of a social and religious character, but they are being abandoned and even the house itself is losing its typical character and assuming the white man's pattern. The greater part of the volume is devoted to Dr. Fewkes's paper which describes the ruins of two localities : Verde Valley and Tusayan. After giving a classification of the ruins the author supplements the ac- count of the Verde ruins by Cosmos Mindeleff in the Thirteenth Annual Report by a description of the cliff-houses of the Red-rocks. The general features of the Tusayan ruins are outlined and two ruins, Awatobi and Sikyatki, which were thoroughly explored, are described at length. Awatobi was destroyed in 1700 and therefore falls within the historic period for Tusayan, but Sikyatki is wholly prehistoric. The latter lies nearer the present inhabited pueblos but not much traditional knowledge concerning it is retained by the Hopi. From both ruins many beauti- ful specimens of pottery were obtained that far excel the best fictile products of the modern villages. Most of this ware was obtained from the cemeteries. It may be classified as : i. Coiled and indented ware ; 2. Smooth undecorated ware ; 3. Polished decorated ware ; a. Yellow, b. Red. c. Black-and-white. Dr. Fewkes devotes about half the paper to the " palaeography of the pottery." The ceramic ware from Sikyatki is especially rich in picture-writing and he gives a very ingenious inter- pretation of the manners, customs and religious conceptions of the Sikyatkians from this source. A surprisingly large number of symbols were employed by these ancient Hopi and their decipherment would be an all but hopeless task to anyone less familiar with their modern sur- vivals than Dr. Fewkes. It is noteworthy that symbolism rather than realism was the predominant feature of this archaic decoration. Few representations of the human figure are found and the author is of the opinion that its portrayal was of late development in Hopi art : such ex- amples as are found occur in the interior of food-basins. Figures of quad- rupeds are not abundant, reptiles are not very common and resemble those appearing in modern decoration. Figures of butterflies and moths are numerous and sometimes quite realistic though usually symbolized by triangles as at the present day upon wedding blankets and the like. VOL. VI. — 55.