180 THE ABORIGIXES OF PORTO RICO [eth. ann. 25 



Rico have been described tiitherto. and little is known of ceramics 

 from the other islands, except Jamaica; but in the present essay there 

 are figured several whole bowls and vases from Porto Rico and others 

 from Santo Domingo and the Lesser Antilles. In a general way it 

 may be said that the pottery of the West Indian islands, from Trinidad 

 to Cuba, is of the same general type. 



The objects of burnt clay made by the Porto Ricans were for the 

 most part vases and shallow dishes, the latter more properly called 

 plates. They made also globular bowls, canteens, and bottle-shaped 

 flasks. Many of these vessels are of circular shape, others oval or 

 boat-shaped, and of the latter the sides are sometimes angular. The 

 rim is often decorated with relief figures. The most exceptional speci- 

 men of Antillean pottery is a canteen (plate lxxx, a) from Santo 

 Domingo with globular extensions on each side of a central perforated 

 neck that bears on one side a human face. 



As a rule the pottery is coarse, unpainted, and rudely made. Many 

 of the specimens have flat, others rounded, bases. The larger vessels 

 show evidences of having been made by coils of clay rubbed together 

 by a stone or some smooth implement. No specimens at present show 

 evidences of painting oi' glazing, but this may be due to the objects 

 having been buried so long in the earth or exposed to the action of the 

 elements. 



The decoration is ordinarily incised by lines or relief flgui'es. Among 

 the common forms of incised geometrical designs are lines, triangles, 

 spirals, and circles. Spirals are I'are, but parallel lines aie very com- 

 mon. None of the pottery objects examined have human or animal 

 faces cut in intaglio. A marked feature in rectilinear decoration is the 

 indentation of the extreniit}' of each line. The potter commonly ter- 

 minated a line with a shallow pit that was apparently made with the 

 same instrument as the line itself; or it was sometimes slightly sepa- 

 rated from the end of the line. So constant, almost universal, is this 

 feature that it may be looked on as characteristic of pottery from 

 Porto Rico and Santo Domingo. 



An instructive feature of Antillean incised decoration is due to the 

 habit of breaking the continuit}- of cii'cular lines and inserting at the 

 break either a pit or a short line drawn at right angles. This feature, 

 which occurs not onl}- on potterj' but also in stone implements and 

 wooden objects, reminds one of the line of life in pueblo pottery. 



No specimens show evidences of painting or of a superficial layer or 

 slip of white clay, or kaolin. Surface painting appears to have been 

 replaced by figures in relief, effigy vases being among the most com- 

 mon pottery forms, but there is a possibility that a superflcial cover- 

 ing once existed and has been worn off. 



While only a few of the specimens of Antillean pottery here figured 

 came from Porto Rico there is little doubt that all the forms introduced 

 were known to the prehistoric inhabitants of that island. 



