MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 663 



were commonly mingled with the clay to prevent cracks in drying; and 

 the ware was finished, without glaze, by burning in the same manner 

 as modern bricks. In fact, it may be regarded as in substance soft 

 brick of poor quality. One of these pots, recently obtained by Dr. 

 Wood, was found in the bank of Connecticut River, in Massachusetts.* 

 It was much broken, and has been clumsily reconstructed, but is nearly 

 entire. The bottom is quite sharply conical, and the neck has no con- 

 traction, but slopes inward quite uniformly to the brim. The figure is 

 somewhat that of a gigantic beet. Now, if we had given us a strap of 

 leather, say 2 inches wide and 18 inches long, and were required to 

 fasten it as a bail to this kettle, an obvious method would be to punch 

 several small holes in the strap near its ends, and drill corresponding 

 holes in the opposite sides of the neck and brim of the kettle and lace 

 the strap thereto with a couple of strings. Whether this particular 

 kettle ever had such a bail we cannot know, but there are the holes of 

 suitable size and arrangement for the purpose. When I first saw them 

 they struck me as an experimental attempt of the finder to sew or lace 

 the broken parts together; but closer examination satisfied me that 

 they had been drilled before the pot was baked, and while the clay was 

 soft, with some tool like an arrow point. Subsequently I learned that 

 the finder testified that the holes were in the sides of the neck when 

 the kettle was found. There are no other drilled holes in the kettle 

 besides these on opposite sides of the neck. 



Breaks in Indian pottery sometimes seem to follow lines originally 

 unsound, which gives a hint that the process of manufacture was not 

 continuous, but that successive portions of the work were built up after 

 previous ones had become firm by drying, from which there sometimes 

 resulted an imperfect union between the wet clay and the dry. 



About the year 1840 students of the Theological Institute, then lo- 

 eated at East Windsor Hill, found on the bank of Connecticut Eiver, at 

 the west end of the institute grounds, a deposit of Indian relics. The 

 place was a sandy knoll, above the highest water-mark of floods, and 

 was traditionally known as ''Gun's Hill," and as the site of an Indian 

 fort. The articles then dug up consisted of fragments of large soapstone 

 kettles, of the form previously described, axes, chisels, gouges, arrow- 

 points, and other relics of stone. Referring to the Smithsonian yrork. 

 No. 287, by Dr. Rau,t there was an article identical with figure 210; the 

 only specimen of its kind that I have known to be found in this region. 

 These relics were scattered among those who found them, and the sand 

 hill has since been cut into by the river, beyond the place where they 

 were found. I have, from that locality, a cup of soapstone that will 

 hold about a pint; and an ancient musket bullet of large size. I have 

 a copper chisel, like Fig. 226; length, 3 inches; width, 2; thickness, f ; 



* West side, midway between Tlioinpsonville aud Springfield. 



t"The Archielogical collection of tho U. S. National Museum." — Smithsonian Contri- 

 butions, vol. xxii. 



