72 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



sion of the fabric employed in the manufacture of these vessels. 

 The clay was probably not of a character to take a clear impression 

 and the cloth was apparently of a ragged, irregular kind. The 

 mesh was open and the thread coarse and slightly twisted. The 

 finer .specimens show about eight intersections to the inch and the 

 coarser probably six. In some cases one series of threads seem to 

 have been large and the other small. These fabrics were applied to 

 the entire exterior surface of the vessel, but not with much regu- 

 larity. They may have served to facilitate the handling of the ware 

 while in a plastic state. 



This pottery is distributed in horizontal layers throughout a ver- 

 tical series more than six feet in thickness, and represents an early 

 epoch of the art of Anahuac. 



In the upper portion of the lower group of beds we encounter 

 two other varieties of ware. These may have been developed from 

 the rude form in the natural course of progress but there are few 

 indications of this growth here. They are much more nearly allied 

 to the later than to the earlier stages of the art of the section. The 

 transition is very abrupt. 



As a matter of course I can only present this order of occurrence 

 as characteristic of this locality and of this section. There may be 

 very different combinations in other places, but the order of sequence 

 here indicated is, in the light of history, very suggestive. If the 

 Aztecs, as tradition has it, were the first to settle on this margin of 

 the swampy shore of the lake, then this cord-marked ware is the 

 product of their ea? liest or savage period, and the finer wares occur- 

 ing at first so sparingly indicate trade with the more advanced 

 peoples of neighboring settlements. 



The variety of ware second to appear in the ascending scale is 

 represented by fragments of large, round-bodied, symmetrical pots 

 or casks, with gently constricted necks and thick rounded recurving 

 rims. The paste is generally reddish upon the surface and gray in 

 the mass, and there is a large percentage of silicious tempering 

 material. The surface, exterior and interior, is painted a dark 

 brownish red and has been evenly polished. Average specimens 

 have been, perhaps, ten inches in diameter and a foot or more in 

 height. The walls are always very thick. Fig. 3, is drawn from 

 fragments sufficiently large to indicate the whole shape clearly. 

 Pottery like this is found imbedded in the adobe bricks of the pyra- 



