346 ETHNOLOGY. 



We Lave seen one example of pottery wliich presented several peculiar 

 features 5 it was, however, unfortunately broken up and lost previously to 

 our interest in aboriginal remains. It consisted of a quadrangular box of 

 black pottery mixed with mica, about fifteen inches long, ten wide, and six 

 or seven deep. It was ornamented on all four sides with fine lines, 

 closely engraved, and extending from the top to the bottom of the box. 

 When taken out of the ground it was full of a reddish powder of a faint 

 aromatic odor, and contained many of the smaller bones of a deer, 

 {Cariacus virginianus.) These bones had apparently not been exposed 

 to heat at any time, but were probably the remains of venison buried 

 with and intended as food for the deceased, whose skeleton was found 

 within a few feet of the " box.-' 



Of course pottery, in fragments, is most abundant at localities w^here 

 the aborigines had their villages, as near Trenton, N. J., but we have 

 always found some fragments wherever we have chanced to search for 

 relics in general. Especially is this the case along the old " Indian 

 trails " or the routes they used for their annual trip to the seashore. 



Under the heading of " pottery," we now call attention to certain 

 fragments of vessels which, instead of being formed of clay molded 

 into the desired shape, were "pecked" out from a solid stone. When 

 we come to the consideration of " corn-mills " we shall find that basins of 

 considerable capacity were pecked in stationary rocks, and smaller stones 

 were hollowed for portable corn-mills, and therefore it is not strange 

 that vessels for other purposes should also have been made. We have 

 not met with any perfect specimens of such stone vessels. Our knowl- 

 edge of them is based solely on two fragments, one of which we figure. 

 It is an ordinary sandstone bowlder, probably of an oval shape; being 

 first broken into halves, the broken surfiice has been pecked at until a 

 basin of some capacity has been formed. 



Figure 11)1 represents the fragment referred to. The inner side of 

 the bowl is noticeable from the fact of its being of a decided red tint, 

 which is in marked contrast with the light gray color of the stone itself. 

 Along the side of this reddish interior is a deeply cut groove, which ex- 

 tends downward a distance of nearly an inch and a half, and then bend- 

 ing at a right angle to its former course extends to the broken edge of 

 the specimen. To what use such a stone vessel was put can only bo 

 conjectured. The other fragment which we have shows even more plainly 

 that the vessel has been " pecked " out with a stone hammer, but it 

 is so irregular in shape — so fragmentary a fragment — that the indica- 

 tions of its having been a portion of a vessel are not as clear or un- 

 questioned as are those of figure 191. 



Mr. Evans* says of Great Britain, with reference to vessels of stone 

 being found there : " Vessels without handles were also occasionally 

 formed of stone. Six or seven of these, of various sizes and forms, were 

 discovered in a 'kist-vaen,' in the island of Unst, and are now for 



* Anc Stone Imp. of G. B., p. 403, and fig. 368. 



