236 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



frustum. If given reasonable care, a Uepii will give lo years of serv- 

 ice. The llepij I saw were 2 to 4 inches deep, 14 to 15 inches in 

 diameter at the bottom, 20 to 23 inches in diameter across the top, and 

 3 to 5 inches along slanting sides. 



POTTERY MAKING 



Pottery making is the work of women. The traditional ollas (pot- 

 like containers) and cantaros (juglike containers, pi. 45, 7) are still 

 the chief articles made and are still used in many households. School- 

 girls older than 12 had made useful miniatures of ollas and cantaros, 

 and also whorls for spindles. 



Brown and black clays are used in pottery making. An Alepue 

 woman found black clay "for these cantaros, near the Pacific; none 

 around here [on the hills] is any good. I searched for three days and 

 finally found this." Another woman had used brown clay. "I know 

 one piece of land in which there is much of it ; most of the women get 

 it there." 



As an adhesive, women were using finely ground pumice found 

 both along river beds and on the shores of the Pacific. "It is a smooth 

 white stone ; pounding it to powder takes longer than shaping an 

 olla." A mixture of clay and pumice is saturated with water, and then 

 well worked with the hands. 



The coil method is used in making pottery. A woman wishing to 

 make an olla uses both hands to roll out a lump of clay on a hard 

 surface. With this roll she forms the bottom of the olla — "the bottom 

 decides the size of what I am making." From there on, the olla is 

 built up with one continuous coil — the end of one roll and the begin- 

 ning of the next are joined by being pinched together. As the building 

 process proceeds, shaping is done. Also the woman, at certain stages, 

 pats the molding with both hands simultaneously, with one on the out- 

 side and the other on the inside, and then smooths both inside and 

 outside surfaces by rubbing them. Great care is exercised to make 

 the inside surface very smooth — positively no rough spots must be 

 left for food to adhere to. When completely molded the outer surface 

 is made still smoother by being rubbed with the back of a macha shell 

 (seashell) in Alepue area; and with the tip of a cow's horn in Pangui- 

 pulli area. "But the inside, I again rub with my finger tips so I can 

 find any rough spots I may have missed." 



The olla must be dried gradually; if dried fast, it may collapse. In 

 general, it is kept away from the fire for a week — "it depends upon 

 the weather." Then it is put into a wilal and hung at some distance 



