Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/105

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100
THE PIMA INDIANS
[ETH. ANN. 26

pitted with them, They are occasionally met with almost anywhere in the eastern half of the Territory. With that portion west of the Rio Verde the writer is unacquainted. Reference to the pages devoted to a description of the plants that furnish food for the Pimas will show how extensively the mortar is used in grinding seeds.

Pestle. For pounding up mesquite beans in the mortar a large wooden pestle is sometimes used. It is simply a mesquite club with rounded head (fig. 13, c).[1]

a
b
c

Fig. 14. a, Doughnut fork; b, ladle; c, unfinished ladle.

Bread tray. Neatly made trays of mesquite, rarely of cottonwood, are used, and appear to be among the most prized of the household utensils (fig. 13, d). They are employed for a variety of purposes besides that of mixing bread.[2] Smaller trays and plates—circular, elliptical, and rectangular—are sometimes obtained from the Papagos.


  1. One specimen, the only one seen, was secured. It is 1.210 m. long and the head is 0.335 m. in diameter.
  2. The specimen collected is 0.615 m. long, 0.355 m. wide, and 0.071 m. deep. The legs are 24 cm. long; they are three in number and of the same piece of wood as the body of the tray. There is one round shallow tray, no. 76051, in the National Museum that is 46 cm. in diameter.