C2 POTTERY MANUFACTURE. 



the slender trunks of which, when placed as a layer o£ poles on two 

 logs, will serve him as an excellent couch. 



With reirard to the domestic utensils in use amono;st the natives 

 of Bougainville Straits, I should observe that cocoa-nut shells 

 pierced by a hole of about the size of a florin, are employed as 

 drink ing-vessels. The outer surface of the shell is usually coated 

 over with a kind of red cement formed of a mixture of red ochreous 

 earth and the resinous material, obtained from the fruit of the "tita" 

 (ParinaHum laurimmi), which is employed for caulking tlie seams 

 of the canoes. The exterior of these vessels is frequently ornamented 

 by double chevron-lines of native shell-beads. Sometimes a tube of 

 bamboo is fitted into the orihce of the vessel to form a neck, the 

 whole being plastered over with the red cement and looking like 

 some antique earthen jar. Both of these kinds of drinking- vessels 

 are shown in the accompanying plate. Drinking water is always 

 kept at hand in a house in a number of the.se cocoa-nut shells which, 

 being hung up overhead, keep the water pleasantly cool, a plug of 

 leaves being used as a stopper. The native, in drinking, never puts 

 the vessel to his mouth, but throwing his head well back, he holds 

 the vessel a few inches above his lips and allows the water to run 

 into his mouth. The milk of the cocoa-nut is drunk in the same 

 manner. The scoops or scrapers used in eating the white kernels of 

 the cocoa-nuts are generally either of bone or of pearl-shell. Some- 

 times for this purpose a large Cardium shell is lashed to a handle, 



a small hole being made in the shell for this purpose Wooden 



liooks of clumsy size, though showing some skill in their design and 

 workmanship, are employed as hanging-pegs in the houses. 



The cooking-vessels in use in the islands of Bougainville Straits 

 are circular pots of a rough clay ware, usuall}'" measuring about nine 

 inches in deptli and breadth, but sometimes more than double this 

 size. Cleansing these vessels out between the meals is deemed an 

 unneces.sary refinement. These cooking-pots, one of which is shown 

 in the accompanying plate, are made by the women in the 

 following manner : A handful of the clay, which is dark-reddish 

 in colour and would make a good brick-clay, is first worked to- 

 gether in the hands into ^ plastic lump ; and this is fashioned 

 rudely into a kind of saucer to form the bottom of the vessel by 

 basting the mass against a flat smooth pebble, three or four inches 

 across, lield in the left hand, with a kind of wooden trowel or beater 



