134 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN, 38 
95. To strengthen the larger cassiri and other jars, or rather to 
lessen the force of impact under stress of blow or upset and also for 
purposes of transport, they may be covered (pl. 21 A, B) with open 
basketry (sec. 449). It is inconceivable, as has been alleged 
(KG, 1, 67), that such a covering could prevent the bursting of the 
vessel under pressure arising from the fermentation of its contents. 
96. Modern figured pottery. I feel very much inclined to the 
opinion that the present-day manufacture of clay figurines by certain 
of the Carib, notably in 
Surinam, is due both to a 
development of the plastic 
decorative treatment of the 
water jars and other vessels 
in the times of long ago, and 
in large measure to Euro- 
pean influences. Thecom- 
paratively high artistic 
Fic. 32.—Old-time bowl with figurine handles. pele displayed would thus 
(Georgetown Museum.) in a sense be accounted for, 
while the time, labor, and patience expended on the manufacture of ob- 
jects for which the makers themselves have no use would certainly not 
warrant the Indians modeling them for any other purpose than that 
of trade. In the catalogue of contributions transmitted from British 
Guiana to the London International Exhibition of 1862 there is a 
record (p. 52) of “Figures of clay, made by an Indian of the Cara- 
bisi tribe, and representing human beings and an armadillo,” together 
with a note that they were the only 
specimens of Indian plastic art ever 
seen by the contributors. I have 
obtained children’s clay whistles 
(sec. 568) and rattles (sec. 620) in 
the shape of frogs and turtles made 
by the Moruea River Carib, but they 
are in no sense comparable with 
what the Surinam Carib are capable 
of doing (pl. 22 A, B). Joest de- 
scribes and figures a duck and its variations (WJ, pl. ii, figs. a, b, e) 
from the Maroni; I have secured an alligator (pl. 22 C) and a plate 
(pl. 22 D) from the same district. 
97. Of old-time pottery there seems to be comparatively. little 
recorded, and this mainly from the islands (e. g., JWF, v1); but 
in the middens and shell mounds (sec. 773) along the coast line of 
our own colony, and farther eastward, there have been unearthed 
from time to time various grotesque heads and figurines (pls. 23-26), a 
few effigy vessels, and other objects. The first mentioned, by far the 
Fic. 33.—Side view of figure 32. 
