SINHALESE BARTHENWARE. 5 
Occasionally the surface is polished by rubbing with a smooth seed. 
Any ornament required is now added and the pot is ready for the 
fire. Firing is done in a low kiln with stone sides and a dome 
covering of wet clay and sticks. The kiln is square in plan, and has 
three or four openings along one side for the insertion of fuel, 
and on the other sides smaller openings for the escape of air. 
Long sticks are used for fuel, pushed through the openings by 
degrees as they burn away. The kiln is usually protected from the 
weather by a rough shed. 
Text Fig. I. 

TOOLS USED BY porrERS (Balangoda). 
The clay used is alluvial material such as is obtainable in most 
valley rice fields. The best kind is very dark and stiff ; the colour 
after firing varies from a fine terracotta red to a rather unpleasant 
yellowish gray. 
Domestic PorrEry. 
As Knox observed so long ago, the Sinhalese are apt at making 
‘all sorts of earthenware to boil, stew, fry, and fetch water in.” 
Generic terms for all pots arehe/iya and walaida. They may be 
classified according to form into kalagedi, mu/ti, appalla, and etili, 
