Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/736

718 another, and the chimney-pots and openings on the roof; there bristled up in many directions the tops of the ladders; there were the Zuñis themselves on the roofs with others in the streets, bearing on their heads the very jars, the like of which I had so often seen my artist friends in the National Museum illustrating; in short, here was Zuñi, for it has not its counterpart in all the world. At our approach a dozen dogs raised the alarm, and off scampered a group of half-naked children of both sexes with their black, negro-like heads of hair (the biggest part of some of them) blowing in the wind. Strange as it may seem, our first inquiry was, how came the hill there upon which this ancient pueblo was erected? The plain for miles about it is almost as level as the surface of a lake. Imagine the impression it made upon us when, after our examination, the undeniable fact stared us in the face that although Zuñi may have originally been started on a slight rise in the plain, yet its present elevation—between thirty and forty feet above the datum plane—is due largely in some places to the accumulated excrement of the burros, and I suspect, too, to some degree, the refuse from the houses! This condition can better be seen at the pueblo of Las Nutrias, where the entire lower stories of some of their houses are covered above their roofs by a like guano deposit, while additional stories have been built on and above them. In Zuñi this condition is more particularly the case on the side of the pueblo facing toward the missionary-house. In this situation the side of the hill has been cut away to make room for a garden, and its composition is easily studied. I am not aware that this fact has been published before; but it seems hardly possible that a thing so evident has been overlooked. We were disappointed at finding the pueblo so nearly deserted. Not more than one house in ten was occupied, as every able-bodied man and woman was at this time of the year away planting wheat, as we saw them at Las Nutrias. Upon leaving home, a Zuñi closes the little low door to his house by piling a quantity of stones up in front of it. He also takes the precaution to plaster up with clay the opening upon the roof. Such fastening is considered a sacred seal, and no honest one would think of breaking it any more than we would a seal to a letter. We saw all the empty houses closed up in this way, and it lent the pueblo a terribly deserted appearance." All of the poetry of the scene was taken out by the remark of one of Dr. Shufeldt's companions, an eminent professor, as they turned to go away, that "he had seen enough of that mass of hovels on a dung-hill, inhabited by people whose habits and customs are too frightful to think of." In fact, every law known to sanitary science seemed to be violated at the pueblo.

The Fine Arts in Burmah.—Several of the fine arts flourish to a certain degree in Burmah, although none of them are as highly developed as they are in India. Weaving is very ancient and is widely diffused throughout the country, yet the weavers of the finest and most highly adorned fabrics are foreigners, the descendants of slaves brought from Manipur, In drawing, Burmans who are trained to any art are masters of the pencil, although they have little idea of perspective or of the balance of light and shade. While the details are conventional, the general idea is the creation of the workman, and the pictures are often full of life and humor. Decoration of funeral-pyres with paintings, sometimes extremely grotesque, is an important branch of this art. Brass-founders make images of Gotama, bells of various characters, and the flat, crescent-shaped gongs which are used for religious purposes. Wood-carving has a very extensive range of variety in character. Some of the work in foliage and figures in the Buddhist monasteries is remarkably beautiful, as well in the delicacy of the curves as in the lightness and grace of the open tracery. An Institute of Industrial Arts has been established at Rangoon, to develop this industry. A curious and intricate effect is obtained in carving some articles in ivory, when "the outside of the specimen is carved with foliage and flowers, through the-interstices of which the inside is hollowed out nearly to the center, where a figure is carved in situ. The figure looks as if it had been carved separately and inserted into a flowery bower, but closer examination shows that this is not the case, and the men may be at any time seen