the ornamental Castor ware, and is made from a fine white clay, 

 and decorated with the figures of three dogs in high relief. 

 These figures were not moulded after the manner of the Samian 

 ware, but, when the pot had been plainly modelled on the wheel, 

 a clay, of the same colour as the body of the pot, was prepared 

 and diluted with water till it had attained the consistency of a 

 thick cream ; the figures and other ornamentation in relief were 

 then produced by laying on the slip or clayey liquid by means of 

 small pointed sticks. The black colour of the surface of the 

 vessel is, in all probability, due to the smoke of the kiln. In 

 painting designs on pottery the Romans displayed little skill, the 

 only ornamentation of this kind consisting of a slip of red, white, 

 or yellow clay, put on with a brush in coarse bands or scroll 

 patterns. 



I have also brought forward for exhibition the fragmentary 

 remains of a mortarium. This class of vessel was extensively used, 

 if we may judge by the number found with Roman remains, and it 

 is thought they were employed in the culinary department for 

 pounding and beating up vegetables and other articles. My 

 sketch shows the general form of these vessels. 



Sussex is extremely rich in pre-historic remains. Few of 

 the hill forts have been methodically investigated ; but, when- 

 ever such excavations are put in progress, the broken shards 

 of pottery will form the most valuable evidence as to the 

 periods of their construction and of subsequent occupation by 

 other tribes and races. 



And so, ladies and gentlemen, I think no apology is 

 needed for this popular paper, in which I have overhauled the 

 pots, bones, and dust-heaps of pre-historic and early historic 

 times. In his admirable little book on " Evolution in Art," 

 Professor Haddon states that " perhaps no manufacture is of 

 such importance to anthropologists as pottery. Earthenware 

 vessels are comparatively eisy to make, and though they are 

 brittle, their fragments, when properly baked, are almost indestruc- 

 tible. The history of man is unconsciously written largely on 

 shards, and the elucidation of these unwritten records is as 

 interesting and important as the deciphering of the cuneiform 

 inscriptions on the clay tablets of Assyria." (p. 97.) 



