| OCR Text |
Show a32 BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 another were worn nearly evexywhere. The varieties of necklaces, armlets, and ornaments of that type are innumerable: shell, bone, teeth, and claws being the materials most in favor. \ Painting of the face and body was universal among the Indians, and was regarded as an indispensable adjunct to dress and adornment. The original pigments before the coming of the whites were red and yellow ochre, powdered charcoal, different^ earths, and the juices of many roots and plants. * The two colors most in use were red and black. The application varied with the tribe as well as the occasion- every ceremonial required its particular form of painting, and every important event in the life of the individual was marked in the same way. An important branch of industrial art was pottery. Durable, water- tight vessels are conveniences everywhere, and in some regions absolute necessities/ It was probably then- in response to a pressing condition of the environment that the potter's art reached its height in the arid regions of the southwest. The discovery of the process of pot- making was doubtless aided by the fact that in precisely that climate sun- dried clay would occur naturally and give the needed suggestion to the early inventor. The ruder examples of pottery are vessels modelled roughly and quickly with the fingers. Even the Eskimo had attained this knowledge, and mixed clay with blood and hair to form |
