1895] MxiRYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 235 



small quantity, it was probably used for glue or medicinal 

 drink. Two other bowls found in these cists had been probably 

 used as food vessels; one a low round dish of very fine com- 

 pact material, two inches high and six in diameter, the other of 

 coarser grain and square in shape, with sloping sides and smaller 

 at bottom than top. No pottery or fragments of pottery like 

 these are found amongst the relics left by the Columbian Indian 

 of this section, though many broken pieces of his making can 

 be collected from the surface of the ground, and where freshets 

 have caused the rivers to cut new channels in the alluvial 

 bottom lands. 



As we have seen, the pottery is of varying grades of fine- 

 ness of make ; in the more carefully prepared material used 

 for the ornamented dishes the clay and pounded shell are so 

 thoroughly mixed and form so tenacious and close a substance 

 that after molding it admitted of carving. This was done with 

 a sharp implement of flint or shell, the marks of which are 

 clearly visible, particularly on the human heads, which are 

 placed on the edge of some of the bowls. The baking of the 

 pottery was very variable, owing, no doubt, to the imperfect 

 mode of treatment ; in some cases the clay is unchanged in 

 color and quite dark, in others it has become yellow, or even 

 red in places ; there are no indications of either paint or glaze 

 on any of the objects in tliis collection. In the opinion of an 

 experienced potter, all these objects are made in the same way 

 of the same ingredients, more or less carefully mixed, and have 

 all been subjected to action of fire. The difference in color is 

 entirely owing to accidental effects of the heat, gas and the 

 • smoke of the fires. 



The appearance of greasy polish, which is common to a great 

 deal of the pottery, is likely the result of the clay absorbing 

 the soot of the fires made of the pine fuel and from handling. 

 Two of the vessels here are alike in general design, but differ in 

 size, finish of workmanship, color, age, and use. Placing the 

 face of these two vessels against a flat surface and tracing the 

 outline, the common thought in molding both is revealed. The 



