18 BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. 



arts. Few articles could be found which were distinctively Indian pro- 

 ductions. Of their aboriginal arts none are now retained by them ex- 

 cept that of making earthenware and "dugout" canoes. 



Until recent years they engaged quite extensively in the making of 

 pottery, which they sold to their white neighbors, but since earthen- 

 ware has become so cheap they have abandoned its manufacture, so 

 that now only the oldest of the tribe retain the art, and even these 

 can not be said to be skillful. The clay used is of a dirty white color, 

 and is found about G feet beneath the surface. It is taken from the 

 Potomac formation of the geologic series, which yields valuable pot- 

 tery clays at diflerent localities in Virginia and Maryland, and partic- 

 ularly in New Jersey. Mr. Terrill Bradby, one of the best informed 

 members of the tribe, furnished, in substance, the following account 

 of the processes followed and the materials used in the manufacture 

 of this pottery. 



In former times the opening of a clay mine was a great feast day 

 with the Pamunkey. The whole tribe, men, women, and children, 

 were present, and each family took home a share of the clay. The 

 first steps in preparing the clay are to dry it, beat it up, pass it 

 through a sieve, and pound it in a mortar. Fresh-water mussels, tiesh 

 as well as shell, having been burnt and ground up, are mixed with the 

 clay prepared as above, and the two are then saturated with water 

 and kneaded together. This substance is then shaped with a mussel 

 shell to the form of the article desired and ])laced in the sun and dried ; 

 then shaped with a mussel shell and rubbed with a stone for the pur- 

 pose of producing a gloss. The dishes, bowls, jars, etc., as the case 

 may be, are then placed in a circle and tempered with a slow fire; then 

 placed in the kiln and covered with dry pine bark and burnt until the 

 smoke comes out in a clear volume. This is taken as an indication 

 that the ware has been burnt sufficiently. It is then taken out and is 

 ready for use. The reasons for the successive steps in this process, 

 even the Indians are unable to explain satisfactorily. 



The collection above referred to as having been made for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution was put on exhibition at the World's Columbian 

 Exposition. It consists almost altogether of earthenware. Besides 

 the various articles for table and kitchen use, there are in the collection 

 (1) a " sora horse" made of clay, and already described under the head 

 of mode of subsistence, and (2) a " pipe-for-joy," also made of clay. In 

 the bowl of this pipe are five holes made for the insertion of five stems, 

 one for the chief and one each for the four council men. Before the 

 days of peace these leaders used to celebrate their victories by 

 arranging themselves in a circle and together smoking the "pipe-for- 

 joy." The collection comprised also a "dugout" canoe, made of a 

 log of wood, hollowed out with metal tools of white man's manufacture. 

 Such canoes were formerly dug out by burning, and chopping with a 

 stone axe. 



