56 ANCIENT ART OF THE PROVINCK OK CHlKiyUI. 



thin slip employed in surface finish is more higlily argillaceous than 

 the paste. The clay used was probably mostly light in color, as the 

 paste is now cjiuite uniformly so. The baking was effected apparently 

 without a very high degree of temperature and by methods that left 

 few marks or discolorations xiinm the vessels. In hardness and dura- 

 bility the pa.ste con-csiiomls jn-i'tt y clusfly witli that of our red porous 

 earthenware. Tlic sdftci- picci's can he sci-alrlicd oreven carved with 

 a knife. Water will priirtmti' any nf tlicst- vrssrls ina few minutes, 

 but decay has probably tended to make the walls more porous. 



Manufacture. — There is no piece of this ware that does not bear 

 evidLMUT (if a liii;li ili',i;-n",' nf skill cm the part of the potter; and yet, 

 owiuK lothf tliiMou-li iiiaiincr in wliicli the work is finished, the 

 precise nu'tlmds of manipulation arc not easily detected. Sogreatis 

 the symmetry and so graceful are the shapes that one is led to suspect 

 the employment of mechanical devices of a high order. The casual 

 observer would at once arrive at the conclusion that the wheel or 

 molds had been used, but it is impossible to detect the use of any 

 such appliances. We observe that irregular and complex forms, in 

 the production of which mechanical appliances could not be used to 

 advantage, are modeled with as much grace of contour and perfec- 

 tion of surface as are the simpler shapes that could be turned upon 

 a wheel, and we conclude that with this remarkable people the hand 

 and the eye were so highly educated that mechanical aids were not 

 indispensable. I find no evidence that coil building was systematic- 

 ally jjracticed, but it is cleai- I hal parts of complex forms were mod- 

 eled separately and afterwards united. The various ornaments in re- 

 lief (the heads and other parts of animals) and the handles, legs, and 

 bases of vessels were constructed separately and then hited on, and 

 with such skill that the thinnest walls and the most cdniiilex and 

 delicate forms were not injured in the jirncess. Tin' contact irregu- 

 larities were then worked down, and every ]iart of the siu'face. in- 

 eluding the more important ornaments, were rendered smooth, pre- 

 paratory to the application of the thin sui'face wash or slip. After 

 the slip was applied and the clay became somewhat indurated, the 

 surface was polished with smooth pebbles, the marks of which can 

 be seen on the less accessible parts of the vessel. On the exposed 

 surfaces of certain groups of ware the polish is in many cases so per- 

 fect that casual observers and inexperienced i^ersons take it for a 

 glaze. Incised figures and painted decorations were generally exe- 

 cuted after the polishing was complete. Details of processes will be 

 given as the various classes of ware pass under review. 



Tlie methods of liakiny were apparently of a higher order than 

 those practiced in many parts of America. One rarely discovers 

 traces of the dark discohjiations that residt from primitive methods 

 of baking, yet there are none of the contact nuxrks that arise from 

 the furnace firing of Spanish-American potters. 



