CULTURE OF PEOPLE OF SOUTHEASTERN PANAMA 65 



be pressed together here and there to obliterate the lines of junction, 

 while their composite surfaces inside and out must me smoothed. 

 This is effected by means of the open hand and a piece of calabash 

 shell pressed alternately against the inner and outer surfaces. There 

 is no evidence that a calabash mold is employed, although the con- 

 tour of the C'una and Tule ware would seem to indicate that the 

 convex shell of a circular calabash was used in smoothing and shap- 

 ing the inner surface. A resemblance to ancient Cherokee ware of 

 the southeastern United States may be ascribed to the use of similar 

 smoothing tools. 



The additional coils that are now added are finished as were those 

 making up the outward flare, except that the vessel instead of being 

 widened is now narrowed. When the required height of the vessel 

 is reached and the desired narrowing of the neck orifice attained, 

 the upper edge is trimmed with a knife held horizontally. The 

 trimmed edge is now everted, but the next coil is added to it on the 

 outside. The neck coil itself and the imprints of the operator's 

 fingers are visible upon its outer surface and on that of the immedi- 

 ately succeeding and final coil, which is also placed .on the outside 

 (pi. 13, No. 1). These two coils constitute the neck and margin 

 of the vessel, but are not thinned and smoothed as were the previous 

 ones. The top is trimmed off with a knife, its edges smoothed over 

 and slightly everted. A piece of calabash shell exactly correspond- 

 ing with the intended lip or flare of the vessel may be used instead 

 of the knife and fitted to the edge of the vessel and passed around 

 its circumference. A lug or looped handle, shaped from a single 

 coil of clay, is luted to the outer surface of the pot by pressure of 

 the fingers, with its one end coterminous with the upper marginal 

 coil and the other joining the vessel at the point of its greatest 

 lateral projection. Later, when the vessel is a little more dry, the 

 various roughnesses of the surface are sliced off with a sharp knife 

 or bit of shell and the vessel is then polished. 



No ornamentation of incised lines, paint, flutings, luted figures, 

 or frets and borders are found on Cuna pottery, variation in the 

 number of neck coils probably being the only attempt at ornamental 

 design. 



Firing methods. — In firing, the same lack of care manifested in 

 surface finishing is shown. Whether an excavation is made in the 

 ground, the vessel inserted, a pyramid of dry wood placed on top, 

 and then fired, or whether a fire is built on the surface of the ground 

 and the vessel fired in the live coals and heat of the fire bed, the 

 fact is apparent that many of the white spots in the walls of the 

 vessel as well as the whitish surface color, are due to improper firing. 



Stove-censers. — Two handled pottery vessel (pi. 13, No. 2), (Cat. 

 No. 327352, U.S.N.M.), much used by the San Bias coast Tule as a 



