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[[image]] Hopi Second Mesa Baskets are popular with tourists timber, they contribute materially to the economy of their section of the state. In their adjustment, however, they have lost much of their old culture. Their work in white buckskin is practically extinct and their basket craft is fast approaching extinction. From about 1895 to 1930 this craft flourished, but during the past twenty years it has been on a steady decline, and on my last trip to the Apache country I could not find a single coil-type basket in any trading posts. The Apache weavers were most famous for their large olla-type baskets. Some of these reached four and five feet in height and diameter. These baskets are no longer made in the Apache country. There is only one type of basket now being woven to any extent. This is the tus (pronounced Toos), or water jug. This is a basket roughly made of split willow twigs which form a foundation for a coating of pinon pitch. This is a resin that collects on the branches of the pinon trees. The Indians gather these small deposits and the pitch is heated and a thick coating applied both inside and outside the willow basket. The weavers tell me that they always heat this pitch at a safe distance from their homes for it is very likely to catch fire. A piece of cowhide with the hair acting as a brush is used to apply the hot pitch. There are no wells in the Apache country and all domestic water must be carried from springs and streams, so the tus continues to be an important piece of equipment in most Apache homes. About one hundred and sixty miles to the northwest of the Apache country are the Hopi Mesas. The Hopi are a Pueblo people and have maintained themselves by agriculture under conditions that few people could survive. They have an average rainfall of eleven inches and a mean temperature of 55 degrees. Their average yield of corn and beans is about five bushels per acre, grown under the most trying conditions. In spite of this, they are a happy, friendly, and altogether interesting people. While the three Hopi Mesas are only a few miles apart, each has a separate craft that does not compete with the other. On the First Mesa, only pottery is made. These people are very artistic and produce some of the most beautifully decorated pottery that comes from the Indian country. On the Third Mesa, baskets of rabbit brush and wild currants are woven. The technique used in their construction differs from that of the other tribes previously mentioned. Third Mesa baskets are of a wicker weave. The framework of the basket is made of branches from the wild currant brush, with the weft being of the stems of the rabbit brush. The whole twig is dyed in bright colors with native natural vegetable dyes. For instance, blue dye is obtained from the sunflower seed, yellow dye from saffron flowers, and purple from the purple maize, etc. Each color comes from a local plant, and is prepared in a unique manner known only to the Hopi. They are beautiful soft colors, lacking the harshness of aniline dyes. The decorative designs range all the way from geometric figures to birds and numerous characters or kachinas which represent deities in the Hopi religion. The flat plaque is the most common type made and was the basket formerly used in the household and in the religious life of these people. To meet popular demand, many types of deep baskets are now being made for sale to traders and tourists. These are the most highly Third Mesa baskets. [[image]] These are Hopi gardens near Hotevilla as pictured from the mesa rim [[image]]
