POTTERY AND ARTICLES OF CLAY. 189 



Utility.* None appear to have been glazed ; although one or two, either from baking 

 or the subsequent great heat to which they were subjected, exliibit a slightly 

 vitrified surface. Their excellent finish seems to have been the result of the same 

 process with that adopted by the Peruvians in their fictile manufactures. 



PLATE XLVI 



EARTHEN VESSELS FROM THE MOUNDS. 



This Plate exhibits drawings of eight vessels of pottery; of which Nos. 1, 2, 3, 

 4, were taken from the mounds of Ohio, and Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, from the mounds of 

 South Carolina and Florida. Nos. 3 and 4, although taken from the mounds, will 

 readily be recognised as of comparatively modern manufacture. They were found 

 with the recent deposits, and may be considered as fair specimens of Indian skill 

 in this department. Unlike the older vessels with which they are placed in con- 

 trast, they are heavy and coarse, both in material and workmanship. 



Number 1 is a beautiful vase, moulded from pure clay, with a slight silicious 

 intermixture. Its thickness is uniform throughout, not exceeding one sixth of an 

 inch. Its outer as well as interior surface is smooth, except where it is dotted by 

 way of ornament. Its finish resembles in all respects that of the finer Peruvian 

 pottery, and, when held in certain positions towards the light, exhibits the same 

 peculiarities of surface, as if it had been carefully shaved and smoothed with a 

 sharp knife. It is highly polished, and has an unctuous feel. The exterior is 

 ornamented as represented in the drawing. The lines are carved in, and appear 

 to have been cut by some sharp gouge-shaped instrument, which entirely removed 

 the detached material, leaving no ragged or raised edges. Nothing can exceed 

 the uniformity and precision with which they are executed ; and it seems almost 

 impossible that the artist could have preserved so much regularity, with no other 

 guide than the eye. There are four groups or festoons of lines, each of which 

 occupies an equal division of the surface. A line is carried around the top of the 

 vase near the edge, in which, at equal distances from each other, are pierced four 

 small holes, a fifth of an inch in diameter. Between this line and the edge is a 

 row of dots, formed with the same instrument used in carving the lines, held in 

 an oblique direction to the surface. The spaces between some of the lines are 



* "The present Chilenoes are good potters for common ware; they introduce a considerable quantity 

 of earth and sand, containing abundance of yellow mica, and their vessels sometimes contain as much as 

 seventy gallons or more. They are of great thinness, lightness, and strength." — Schmidtmeyer's Chile, 

 p. 117. 



