EARTHENWARE. 309 



making a provision for the future, nor did his wildest imagina- 

 tion ever compass the idea of a pot or a pan. 



He kills his prey, and, if hunger be very pressing, he wif r 

 eat it at once without waiting for the tedious ceremony of 

 cooking ; or at the best will just throw the meat upon the fire, 

 tear it to pieces with his teeth, and swallow it when it is 

 nothing but a mass of bleeding flesh, charred on the outside, 

 and absolutely raw within. The Bosjesman has not even a tent 

 which he can call his own, any bush or hole in the ground 

 answering for a house as long as he wants it, and then being 

 exchanged for another. 



As far as we know, the only trace of civilisation in the 

 Bosjesman is his manufacture of weapons, and even his bow 

 and arrows are of the rudest and clumsiest forms. Nor is it 

 likely that he will ever advance any further ; for, as is the wont 

 of all savage tribes, he is disappearing fast before the presence 

 of superior races, and will shortly be, as extinct as the Tas- 

 manians, the last of whom died only a few years ago. 



EARTHENWARE. 



THE advent of real civilisation seems to depend largely upon 

 the construction, not of weapons, but utensils, and the most 

 useful of these are intended either for the preparation or the 

 preservation of food. That such vessels should be made of 

 earth is evident enough, and it is worthy of remark that the 

 rude earthenware pot of the naked savage and the delicate 

 china of Sevres should both be products of the earth, and yet 

 be examples of the opposite ends of civilisation. 



The most primitive earthenware vessels were simply baked 

 in the rays of the sun, the use of fire for, hardening them being 

 of later date. Rude and simple as they are, some of these 

 vessels possess tolerable strength, and can answer every purpose 

 for which they are intended. I possess several pots made by 

 the aborigines of the Essequibo district. They are very thick 

 and heavy in proportion to their dimensions, and are still so 

 fragile that I have been obliged to bind them with string when- 

 ever they are moved. 



Simple as they are, however, they are pleasing to the eye, 

 chiefly, I presume, because they are made for a definite office, 



