190 Indians of McKenzie River District. 



modelled into a thousand forms and tastes. They are made by 

 the hands of the women from a tough black clay, and baked in 

 kilns which are made for the purpose, and are nearly equal in 

 hardness to our own manufacture of pottery ; though they have 

 not yet got the art of glazing, which would be to them a most 

 valuable secret. They make them so strong and serviceable, 

 however, that they hang them over the fire as we do our own 

 pots, and boil their meat in them with perfect success. I have 

 seen some few specimens of such manufacture, which have been 

 dug up in Indian mounds and tombs in the northern and middle 

 states, placed in our eastern museums, and looked upon as a great 

 wonder ; when here this novelty is at once done away with, and 

 the whole mystery, where women can be seen handling and using 

 them by hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the sum- 

 mer also, moulding them into many fanciful forms, and passing 

 them through the kiln where they are hardened." * Catlin does 

 not mention the shape of these vessels ; but they appear inciden- 

 tally in several of his plates, and would seem to be often of the 

 form of that referred to in these notes, though sometimes in that 

 of flat bowls. 



The interesting points in connection with this and other exam- 

 ples of Indian pottery, are, the general prevalence of the art even 

 among the rudest tribes, its rapid disappearance on the introduc- 

 tion by commerce of better vessels, the similarity in form of 

 these vases to those of most ancient nations and to the general 

 forms of modern pottery, the accuracy of contour bestowed on them 

 without the potter's wheel, and the selection of a material which 

 has in all countries approved itself as the best suited for the pur- 

 poses of the potter. These points are, I think, of sufficient ethno- 

 logical interest to entitle this donation to a short notice in the 



proceedings of the Society. 



J. w. D. 



ARTICLE XV. — On the Indian Tribes of McKenzie River Dis- 

 trict and the Arctic Coast ; from a Correspondent. 



(Presented to the Natural History Society.) 



This sketch of the language and manners of Chipewyan tribes, 

 may be divided into three heads : 1st. the Geographical Distri- 

 bution ; 2nd. the various Branches of which the tribes are com- 

 posed ; and 3rd. an account of other tribes of different origin to be 

 found in the McKenzie River District. 



•American Indians, vol. 1, p. 116, and plate 46. 



