286 POTTERY OF THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS. 



The unbroken vessel is shown in Fig. 239 about one-third its real 

 height. Its capacity is nearly four gallons. The clay is tempered with 

 a large portion of sand, some grains of which are quite coarse. The 

 color of the paste is a light gray, apparently not having been greatly 

 changed by the baking. A few dark contact clouds appear on the sides 

 of the body. The walls are quite thin for a vessel of its size and are 

 of very uniform thickness. The entire weight hardly exceeds that of a 

 common wooden pail of the same capacity. The mouth is wide and the 

 rim, which is made of a plain rough baud, is one inch wide and abruptly 

 recurved. The vessel can hardly be said to have a neck, as the walls 

 round gradually outward from the rim to the periphery of the body, 

 which is full and nearly symmetrical. The narrow strands of clay have 

 been coiled with something less than average care, the exposed surfaces 

 being wide in places and in others very narrow. The thumb indenta- 

 tions have been carelessly made. Two small conical bits of clay are 

 affixed to the neck as if to represent handles. These may have been 

 intended for ornaments, but are as likely to owe their preseuce to some 

 little superstition of the archaic artisans. 



The companion vessel has also a capacity of about four gallons. Its 

 form differs from that of its mate, being considerably more elongated 

 above and having a more pronounced neck. The material is about the 

 same, but the color is darker and the workmanship is superior. The 

 surface is coated with soot, indicating use over a fire in cooking food or 

 in boiling water. The coil was laid with a good deal of care and the 

 indentation was done in a way to produce a series of sharp points along 

 the margin of the coil. The interior of the rim was finished with a pol- 

 ishing stone. A small cord of clay was neatly coiled into a double scroll 

 and attached to the narrowest part of the vessel, corresponding in posi- 

 tion to the knobs in the other example. This ornament, though small, 

 is nevertheless effective. Similar scrolls are found upon vases from 

 many parts of the Pueblo Province. 



It is an interesting fact that this vessel had been successfully mended 

 by its owners. A small perforation near the base had been stopped by 

 cementing a bit of pottery to the inside with clay paste. These 

 vases were evidently the most important of the household utensils 

 of the cliff-dwellers, especially as in this place water had to be carried, 

 at least during a part of the year, from the creek five hundred feet below. 

 It is probable that baskets and skins were sometimes used for carrying- 

 water, and that the earthen vessels were used as coolers, as are similar 

 vessels among many primitive peoples. That they were used for carry- 

 ing water up the cliffs is indicated by the fragments that lie upon the 

 slopes and point out the location of houses invisible from the trails be- 

 low. 



A large fragment of a similar olla was picked up in the valley of Ep- 

 som Creek, southeast Utah. This vessel was larger, neater in finish, 

 and more elegant in shape, than either of those described. A suffi- 



