56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (BULL. 81 
ance. It is surprising to see what a vast number of designs have 
been evolved from straight and oblique lines in the incised ware. 
There seems to be no end to what they might have done if they had 
continued to make the ware in the historic period. While, in some 
cases, the incisions are made in an irregular and crude manner, most 
of them are well spaced and done with great care. What the instru- 
ment was that they used to make the incisions we do not know. So 
far the author has had only one interpretation of the symbolism of 
the incised pattern. 
: This is the one marked 
Figure 23 and Plate 4s, 
B, and the informant, 
a Santa Clara Indian, 
said that it meant run- 
ning water. The jar 
was in fragments when 
found and has been 
restored. (PI. 48, D.) 
The form is very grace- 
ful, with a large, very 
open mouth, and the 
informant said that it 
was used to catch wa- 
ter in a stream, the 
water being intended 
for ceremonial —pur- 
SS SS poses, and must there- 
WW WY MY IP fore not be touched by 
; Yy, Yy, YY 4 the hands, and that is 
the reason why the 
VW mouth is so large. It 
was not buried under 
the floor, as was the 
case of so many of 
the large vessels. 
The water jar shown 
in Plate 48, C, is the one which was taken out whole, It has the 
typical Po-shu shoulder and bottom, The paste is a chocolate 
brown color and the whole exterior of the pot is covered with a wash 
containing a large percentage of mica, which gives it a grayish tone. 
The whole of the interior has been polished (fig. 24), as is always the 
case with incised ware. This peculiarity in itself seems to relate the 
incised to the red ware, as the red ware is always finished inside 
much better than the biscuit ware, 
ia, 23.—Incised designs. 
