108 BULLETIN 141, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



became a standard method of cooking food after pottery began to be 

 made. The use of pottery vessels for cooking has been continuous 

 and in the bronze and iron age metal cooking vessels were not fea« 

 tured.^^ Regarded as one of the most primitive cooking vessels is a 

 specimen from the Andaman Islands. It is of pottery reasonably 

 thick and strong and rough curried on the exterior. The shape fol- 

 lows the half coconut. (PI. 80, fig. 1, Cat. No. 164570; Andaman 

 Islands, from H. H. Giglioli, collected by E. H. Man; 7. 9 inches 

 (20 cm.) diameter, 7.1 inches (18 cm.) high.) The pot is held in a 

 rattan frame for protection when not in use. Pueblo pottery cook- 

 ing pots are also of coarse heat-resisting paste, allowing them to be 

 put directly on the fire. The specimen shown is from Zuni, N. Mex. 

 (PI. 80, fig. 3, Cat. No. 41119; J. W. Powell; 7.9 inches diameter, 

 7.1 inches (20 cm., 18 cm.).) In this connection attention is called 

 to the Korean soapstone pot with lid, and the curious frying pan of 

 the same material on Plate 80 (figs. 4 and 6). In the latter strips of 

 meat are placed on the sloping edge and the juices collected in the 

 central basin. Evidently this vessel is placed over a fire hole. 



STBAMINO 



Steaming food other than takes place in baking in ovens has a 

 narrow distribution. It is connected with rice agriculture except 

 as it occurs in modern cooking of cereals, etc. We find, therefore, 

 aboriginal steamers in the Far East, the specimens in the Museum 

 being from the Malays of the East Indies. (PL 98, fig. 6; Cat. No. 

 247752, Siak River, eastern Sumatra; Dr. W. L. Abbott; 11 inches 

 (28 cm.) diameter, 19.7 inches (50 cm.) high; and pi. 98, fig. 5; Cat. 

 No. 216295, Sibabo Bay, Simalur Island; same collector; 12.2 inches 

 (31 cm.) diameter, 11.8 inches (30 cm.) high.) These specimens are 

 of bark formed into a cylinder and hooped with rattan. A 

 grating of small rods is placed near the bottom of the cylinder. 

 On this is put the rice, and the steamer is set over a pot of boiling 

 water. The top of the steamer is tightly covered during the steam- 

 ing. The Sumatra specimen is sheathed with palm leaf to retain 

 the heat. A third specimen in the National Museum is from the 

 Dyaks, Landak River, Borneo. The grating is radial of rattan 

 Fecured to a sleeve which slides in the bark cylinder. It has two 

 loop handles on the side. 



WAFFLE IBONS 



For baking certain forms of bread in the period when the great 

 open fire was practically the only place in the house where cooking 

 was done there was a device, really a form of oven, called waffle 

 irons. These consisted of two circular disks of equal size in the 



** Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age. British Museum, 1904, p. 29. 



