THE POTTER'S ART AMONG NATIVE AMERICANS. 647 



pottery. In the Peruvian most of the care bestowed on the 

 decorations was given to the faces of the creatures represented, 

 the rest of the body being fashioned without any apparent at- 

 tempt to faithfully imitate Nature. Some pieces found in an- 

 cient tombs resemble Etrurian or Etruscan work of the same 

 class. The potters did their best work on jars that were to be 

 deposited in sepulchres. Articles for domestic service were of 

 the simplest description. The materials used for the funereal 

 vessels, called huacas and canopas, were light-colored clay and a 

 blackish sort of earth mixed and worked in such a way as not 

 to absorb liquid. The 

 secret of that method 

 is lost to us. Some 

 of the finest produc- 

 tions appear to have 

 been submitted to the 

 action of fire, but the 

 majority have evi- 

 dently been hardened 

 only by the heat of 

 the sun. 



A long, slim neck 

 is a distinguishing 

 feature of much of 

 the Peruvian pot- 

 tery ; and nearly 

 every vessel is orna- 

 mented with a figure 

 of some sort, having 

 holes to represent 

 eyes and other open- 

 ings. These afford a 



passage for the air forced out by the liquid when poured into the 

 vessel. By an ingenious contrivance the air in escaping produces 

 a sound similar to the cry of the creature represented. Thus a 

 utensil decorated with two monkeys embracing each other, on 

 having water poured into or from it, would give a sound like the 

 screeching of those animals. One decorated with a bird would 

 emit birdlike notes ; while a mountain cat on one jar would mew, 

 snakes coiled around another would hiss. The most curious that 

 we have seen was the figure of an aged woman. When the jar 

 was in use her sobs became audible, and tears trickled down her 

 cheeks. The manufacturers seemed to have known all about 

 atmospheric pressure. Dr. Le Plongeon had in his own collection 

 a piece that demonstrated this. It represented a double-headed 

 bird. The vessel had to be filled through a hole in the bottom, 



Fig. 1. 



