136 BULLETIN 15 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



pottery area occupying all of the lowland area of northern South 

 America. 



The greater number of the Arawaks of northern Brazil and 

 southern British Guiana are found within a broad savanna some 

 20,000 or 30,000 square miles in extent, reaching from near the Ven- 

 ezuelan boundary to the western banks of the Essequibo Kiver and 

 from the Amazon forests to the foot of the Pakaraima Mountains; or 

 from 581/2° to 63° W. longitude and from 11/2° to 41/2° N. latitude. 

 It is a great undulating plain dotted here and there with grass- 

 covered, round-topped mountains, also three short ranges, forest 

 clad in part — the Mocajahi, west of the Brancho River; the Moon; 

 and the Kanuku. The latter forms a picturesque chain which con- 

 tinues eastward to the Corentine. There are several tribes belong- 

 ing to the central Arawak peoples who claim relationship. These 

 are the Atarois, who have been absorbed by the Wapisianas, recent 

 invaders, who in 1738 occupied all the Brazilian savannas south of 

 the Takutu and the Uraracuera Rivers. This group of Arawak, the 

 largest of the central Arawak groups, was studied by W. C. 

 Farabee,^^ who gives this account regarding their methods of 

 pottery manufacture : 



The Wapisianas are not good potters, partially because there is no fine clay 

 in the immediate region. The coiling process is used in manufacturing all kinds 

 of pottery. The pot is built up by laying on of successive rolls or fillets of clay 

 the size of one's finger. These are pressed down and made to adhere to the 

 layers below, then smoothed on both sides by rubbing with a red jasper 

 pebble and a piece of calabash. When completed the pot is allowed to dry in 

 the shade, then burned in an open fire. A hole is dug, the vessel placed in 

 it with the mouth down, and a fire made of bits of dried palm and softwood 

 built over it. While the vessel is still hot, cassava juice is poured over it to 

 fill the pores. Sometimes the clay is tempered with ashes. The cooking pots 

 usually hold about 3 gallons, but the storage pots for drink may be three or 

 four times as large. There are also smaller cooking pots for use when traveling. 



After the pot has been thoroughly fired it is allowed to cool before being 

 painted. A black rock called " teal " is pulverized and mixed with melted gum 

 called " diakarieib." With this the designs are painted on and allowed to 

 dry for a time, when the pot is again fired suflSeiently to melt the gum. 

 Another gum, " gumanime," is melted and run all over the pot. When it has 

 cooled it is smoothed and polished by rubbing. 



Sometimes the groundwork is a red paint made of aunato (Bixa orellana) 

 mixed with the same gum and applied in the same way. When dry, black 

 geometrical designs are painted on the vessel, after which it is fired again. 



A white slip made of feldspathic clay is often used before either the red or 

 black designs are painted on, but not until after the first hard firing. 



According to Farabee," who studied the material culture of the 

 Arawak tribes of the upper Amazon Valley, namely, the Machey- 



^^ Farabee, William Curtis, The Central Arawaks, Univ. Penn. Anthrop. Pubs., vol. 9, 

 p. 24, 1918. 



""Farabee, W. C, Indian Tiibes of Eastern Peru, vol. 10, Papers -Peabody Mus. of 

 Amer. Archeol. and Ethnol., Harvard Univ. 



