These of course
have been introduced since the days of American boards and boxes. In
Zu?i, however, the Indians still use a small wooden receptacle for the
precious ceremonial articles, such as feathers and beads. This is an
oblong box, provided with a countersunk lid, and usually carved from a
single piece of wood. Typical specimens are illustrated in Figs. 103 and
104. The workmanship displayed in these objects is not beyond the
aboriginal skill of the native workman, and their use is undoubtedly
ancient.
[Illustration: Fig. 104. A Zu?i plume box.]
[Illustration: Plate CIII. Ancient gateway, Kin-tiel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 105. A Tusayan mealing trough.]
[Illustration: Fig. 106. An ancient pueblo form of metate.]
Perhaps the most important article of furniture in the home of the
pueblo Indian is the mealing trough, containing the household milling
apparatus. This trough usually contains a series of three metates of
varying degrees of coarseness firmly fixed in a slanting position most
convenient for the workers. It consists of thin slabs of sandstone set
into the floor on edge, similar slabs forming the separating partitions
between the compartments. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 105,
illustrating a Tusayan mealing trough. Those of Zu?i are of the same
form, as maybe seen in the illustration of a Zu?i interior, Fig. 105.
Occasionally in recently constructed specimens the thin inclosing walls
of the trough are made of planks.
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