150 Beginnings of Porcelain 



rather made) lamps of clay, which ordinarily are turned out of soap- 

 stone, and cooking-pots. 1 



A. Byhan 2 is disposed to assume that pottery is of foreign origin 

 among the Eskimo. The Chukchi, according to Bogoras, 3 have now 

 forgotten this industry, but it never was more than a sporadic phe- 

 nomenon among them. The Itelmen of Kamtchatka formerly manu- 

 factured clay vessels, chiefly lamps, as shown by finds in ancient pit- 

 dwellings. 4 F. Boas 5 is inclined to attribute the presence or absence 

 of pottery to geographical location rather than to general cultural 

 causes. Economic conditions have a certain bearing on the question. 

 The production of clay vessels is dependent upon a sedentary mode 

 of life. Pastoral tribes, as a rule, evince no inclination toward the 

 industry, and deem utensils of bark, wood, or metal preferable. In 

 Tibet, with its twofold population of agricultural and nomadic elements, 

 we find the use of pottery only among the stationary settlers, never 

 among the roaming shepherds. Even among the former it is an art 

 introduced from China, as is evidenced by the few kilns in eastern Tibet 

 which are operated by Chinese potters. 6 



The utilization of the potter's wheel is restricted to a well-defined 

 geographical area. It occurs only in the Old World, and belongs to 

 ancient Egypt, the Mediterranean and West-Asiatic civilizations, Iran, 

 India, and China with her dependencies. It is germane to the higher 

 stages of culture only, and is conspicuously lacking among all primitive 

 tribes. In aboriginal American pottery the wheel was never employed. 



northern Kuriles, Torii has recorded the story of how pots were previously made 

 there, chiefly by women (Mitteil. d. Ges. Ostasiens, Vol. IX, 1903, p. 327). As is 

 well known, the Ainu of Yezo have preserved no recollection of pottery-manufacture 

 (J. Batchelor, The Ainu of Japan, p. 310), and also on Saghalin and the Kuriles 

 the industry is now wiped out of existence. The prehistoric pottery found in the 

 shell-heaps of Japan likewise must be attributed to the Ainu, who are thus to be 

 classed among pottery-making peoples. See also p. 166, note 2. 



1 J. Murdoch, Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition (Ninth 

 Report Bureau of Ethnology, 1892, pp. 91-93). 



2 Polarvolker, p. 69. 



* Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XI, p. 186. 



4 K. von Ditmar, Reisen urtd Aufenthalt in Kamtschatka, pp. 246-247. As 

 early as 1695, the first visitor to Kamtchatka, the Cossack W. Atlasov, reported 

 that the inhabitants made wooden and earthen vessels (P. J. von Strahlenberg, 

 Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia, p. 435). 



6 The Mind of Primitive Man, p. 183. 



8 W. W. Rockhill, in a note to his edition of Sarat Chandra Das' Journey to 

 Lhasa (p. 88), states that, though he never saw the making of pottery in Tibet, he 

 knows that no wheel is used; which is perfectly correct, inasmuch as it is never 

 handled by Tibetans. F. Grenard (Le Tibet, p. 286) observes, "Pottery is of 

 indigenous manufacture, but the Chinese wheel is utilized." 



