80 



POTTERY. 



Z95 



curing salt by evaporation near salt springs. In such localities there have 

 been found thick fragments of rude earthenware, bespeaking vessels as large 

 as a barrel. This kind of pottery is usually mixed with coarsely pounded 

 shells. The collection contains such fragments derived from Tennessee and 

 other States, but no entire or nearly entire vessel, and the writer is not aware 

 that a perfect specimen is preserved in any collection of the United States. 5 



Among the large number of smaller vessels in the Museum we take notice 

 of one which is remarkable for a depression encircling its middle, giving the 

 object almost the appearance of two bowls, one placed upon the other (Fig. 

 294, mound in Louisiana). This specimen, which is flat-bottomed and rudely 

 ornamented with lines and dots, represents a type, though not one that is very 

 frequently met. Similar vessels are still made by the Zuiii Indians. 6 A very 



curious vessel, obtained 

 from a mound in Tennes 

 see, is made in imitation of 

 a fish, in which ichthyolo 

 gists have recognized the 

 sun-fish (Pomotis), an in 

 habitant of the Mississippi 

 River. The neck, about 

 an inch in height, rises 

 from the right side of the 

 fish (Fig. 295, upper view) . 

 A smaller and less elabo 

 rate specimen of the same 

 shape, taken from a mound 

 in Louisiana, is preserved 

 in the Museum. Such 

 forms might be looked 

 for in collections of an 

 cient Peruvian pottery. 

 Lastly, mention must be made of a class of vessels which bear some re 

 semblance to bottles, in which the iipper part or neck forms the imita 

 tion of a human head, or of that of an animal, the aperture being usually 

 placed at the back part of the head. In a vessel of this description, taken 

 from a mound in Tennessee, the upper part bears a slight resemblance to 

 the head of some animal (Fig. 296). Another specimen of this character 



297 



CLAY VESSELS 



Since the above was written, there lias been temporarily deposited in the Museum by the administration 

 of the Louisville Public Library, a vessel of this description, found in a fragmentary state, but restored so 

 as to show its original form. The specimen in question has the shape of a pan with slightly flaring sides 

 and thickened rim. It measures twenty-six inches in diameter at the rim, and is eight inches deep. The 

 thickness of the bottom and sides does not exceed half an inch. The outside of this vessel shows the 

 impressions of the basket in which it was formed, while the inside is perfectly smooth. The clay is of a 

 grayish color, and mixed with pounded shells. 



6 The natives of British Guiana manufacture pottery of the same form, as shown by several specimens in 

 the collection. The double gourd, it appears, served as the model. 



