12 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
DECORATION OF POTTERY. 
Under this heading I propose to describe the ordinary methods of 
ornamenting earthen vessels, referring only to such decoration as is 
applied before firing. What is ordinarily known as painted Kan- 
dyan pottery is painted with oil colours after the pots are fired, and 
this work will not be referred to in the present section. Leaving 
that oil-painted pottery aside, the decoration of pots may be classed 
as incised, stamped, and slip-painted. The simplest form of slip- 
painting is the application of concentric bands of red, to apply which 
the vessel is inverted on the wheel, which is revolved slowly while 
the brush is held against it (see Plate A, fig. 3, where a kalagediya is 
being thus treated). The red paint is made by grinding up with 
water certain ferruginous nodules and concretions called gurugal, 
while white paint is similarly made from kaolin. Beside the plain 
stripes, simple geometrical ornaments in red or white is sometimes 
seen, as on the pornuwa, Plate B, fig. 7. Black stripes are some- 
times done with graphite. Incised ornament, if more than a mere 
concentric line, is usually combined with the red striped painting 
Text fig. IV. 


I iN 
DecoraATION or A KAaLAcepryaA. (From Pelmadulla.) 
The pot is allowed to get very hard and dry and the pattern 
then engraved on the red bands with a sharp tool. Plate B, fig. 2, 
shows a kalagediya so treated. This vessel is ornamented with 
alternate concentric stripes of red and gray; the incised ornament 
(see Text fig. IV.) is added on the red bands, of which the 
uppermost has geometrical forms only, the middle conventional 
creeper (wel), and the ornament on the lowest red band consists of 
fishes alternating with a sort of inverted trident; on a still lower 
zone, a few upright lines appear in widely separated groups. ‘The 
pattern (after burning) stands out on the lighter colour of the plain 
clay, against the darker red due to the gurugala paint. 
