with the addition, sometimes, of salt. The silver, being first slightly
heated in the forge, is boiled in this solution and in a short time
becomes very white.

The processes of the Navajo silversmith may be best understood from
descriptions of the ways in which he makes some of his silver ornament.
I once engaged two of the best workmen in the tribe to come to Fort
Wingate and work under my observation for a week. They put up their
forge in a small outbuilding at night, and early next morning they were
at work. Their labor was almost all performed while they were sitting or
crouching on the ground in very constrained positions; yet I never saw
men who worked harder or more steadily. They often labored from twelve
to fifteen hours a day, eating their meals with dispatch and returning
to their toil the moment they had done. Occasionally they stopped to
roll a cigarette or consult about their work, but they lost very few
moments in this way. They worked by the job and their prices were such
that they earned about two dollars a day each.

The first thing they made was a powder charger with a handle in the
shape of a dart (Fig. 2, Pl. XIX). Having cut in sandstone rock (Fig. 2,
Pl. XVIII) the necessary grooves for molds and greased the same, they
melted two Mexican dollars--one for the bowl or receptacle, and one for
the handle--and poured each one into its appropriate mold. Then each
smith went to work on a separate part; but they helped one another when
necessary. The ingot cast for the receptacle was beaten into a plate
(triangular in shape, with obtuse corners), of a size which the smith
guessed would be large enough for his purpose. Before the process of
bending was quite completed the margins that were to form the seam were
straightened by clipping and filing so as to assume a pretty accurate
contact, and when the bending was done, a small gap still left in the