4 Burton, Black Pottery from the Gold Coast. 



I sent some specimens of the leaves to our President, 

 who has kindly determined them for me, as he explains 

 in a note appended to this paper. It is obvious, not only 

 that any kind of cla}' could be blackened in this way by 

 the use of these leaves, but that an)- kind of leaves or dry 

 grass would act in precisely the same way. 



I have here some specimens made at I'ilkingtons' 

 Works at Clifton Junction from the African clay and from 

 our own cla}', both in the red and the black state, and 

 what is true of the one is, of course, true of the other. 

 Some were blackened with the leaves, others with damp 

 ha\' or damp sawdust, and they are identical in result. 



I am glad to have the opportunity of reading this note 

 to our Society because the method used is undoubtedly 

 one that was well within the reach of primitive people 

 at the most remote periods, when pottery was first made, 

 and any one theorising to-day as to the methods used by 

 ancient peoples ought to be very careful that the methods 

 attributed to them were well within the compass of their 

 knowledge and of the materials at their disposal. 



Note. 

 The leaves referred to by Mr. Burton in his note on 

 Black Pottery from the Gold Coast and Ashanti and 

 submitted tome for identification were those of the Cashew- 

 nut {A7iacardmni ediile), a West Indian tree now grown 

 extensively all over the tropics. The veins of the leaf 

 are accompanied by very characteristic resin canals. 

 The mesocarp of the fruit contains a volatile oil, which 

 blackens on exposure to the air. It is, however, obvious 

 from Mr. Burton's experiments that it is not any special 

 substance contained in the leaves of the Cashew-nut 

 which turns the pottery black, but that this power is 



common to every kind of vegetable tissue. 



¥. E. W. 



