74 POTTEHY. 



The manufacture and character of Indian pottery have been described by 

 Du Pratz, Dumont, Adair, Losldel, and various other authors. " The women," 

 says Du Pratz, in treating- of the pottery of the natives of Louisiana, " make 

 pots of an extraordinary size, jars with a small opening, bowls, two-pint bot- 

 tles with long- necks, pots or jugs for preserving bear oil, holding- as much as 

 forty pints, and, finally, plates and dishes in the French fiishion." ^ Dumont, 

 who likewise describes the manners of the Indians of Louisiana, has left a 

 more minute account of the method they employed in making earthenware. 

 He says; "After having amassed the proper kind of clay and carefully cleaned 

 it, the Indian women take shells which they pound and reduce to a fine pow- 

 der; they mix this powder with the clay, and having poured some water on 

 the mass, they knead it with their hands and feet, and make it into a paste, of 

 which they form rolls six or seven feet long and of a thickness suitable to their 

 purpose. If they intend to fashion a plate or a vase, they take hold of one of 

 these rolls by the end, and fixing here with the thumb of the left hand the 

 centre of the vessel they are about to make, they turn the roll with astonishing 

 quickness around the centre, desci-il^ing a spiral line ; now and then they dip 

 their fingers in the water and smooth Avith the right hand the inner and outer 

 surface of the vase they intend to fashion, which would become ruffled or un- 

 dulated without that manipulation. In this manner they make all sorts of 

 earthen vessels, plates, dishes, bowls, pots, and jars, some of which hold from 

 forty to fifty pints. The burning of this pottery does not cause them much 

 trouble. Having dried it in the shade, they kindle a large fire, and when they 

 have a sufficient quantity of embers, they clean a space in the middle, where 

 they deposit their vessels and cover them Avith charcoal. Thus they bake their 

 earthenware, Avhich can now be exposed to the fire, and possesses as much 

 durability as ours. Its solidity is doubtless to be attributed to the pulverized 

 shells Avhich the women mix with the clay."^ Adair, more than a century ago 

 a trader Avith the tribes Avho occupied the southern portion of the present 

 Union, states as folloAVs: "They make earthen pots of very different sizes, so 

 as to contain from tAvo to ten gallons; large pitchers to carry Avater; bowls, 

 dishes, platters, basins, and a prodigious number of other A'cssels of such an- 

 tiquated forms as Avould be tedious to describe and impossible to name. Their 

 method of glazing them is, they place them over a large fire of smoky pitch- 

 pine, Avhich makes them smooth, black, and firm. Their lands abound Avith 

 proper clay for that use." ^ A very good account relating to the art of pot- 

 tery, as formerly practised by the tribes of the Mississippi Valley, is given by 

 Hunter: "In manufacturing their pottery for cooking and domestic purposes," 

 he says, " they collect tough clay, beat it into powder, temper it with water, 

 and then spread it over blocks of wood, which have been formed into shapes 

 to suit their convenience or fancy. When sufficiently dried, they are removed 



'Du Pratz: Ilistoire de la Lonisiane, Paris, 1758, Vol. II, p. 179. 



'Dumont: Memnires Ilistoriqiies snr la Lmdsianc, Paris, 1753, Vol. II, p. 271. 



^ Adair: History of the American Indians, London, 1775, p. 424. 



