66 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



best study of Caduveo art to date was made by 

 Guido Bofigiani, an Italian artist and ethnologist 

 who visited the Caduveo between the years 1892 

 and 1897. 



POTTERY FORMS 



Today the Caduveo make an assortment of jugs 

 of various shapes, jars, pitchers, cups, and bowls. 

 The jugs, nahaniti, are predominantly globular in 

 shape and range from 8 to 1'2 inches m height. 

 They can be classified into three groups on the 

 basis of their shape and the form and the numl^er 

 of their spouts. The simplest kind of jug is the 

 single, narrow-necked form with either a straight 

 or bulbous neck, as shown in plate 20, «, h. A 

 second type of jug is the double-spouted form 

 with a loop handle on top (pi. 15, a, h). The 

 spouts are usually straight. The handle is used 

 both for carrying the jug and for suspending it 

 from a beam or rafter. The most elaborate form 

 is the bird-shaped jug (pi. 16, a, c). Like the 

 others it is generally globular in shape, always 

 with a bird's head and looped handle, often with 

 a bird's tail. In some cases the tail serves as a 

 spout. Some potmakers also make clay stoppers 

 for the spouts. The bottoms of the jugs are flat, 

 but the widths of the bottoms vary considerably. 

 All jugs are used for transporting and storing 

 water. 



The Caduveo have no native word for jars, which 

 they make in many sizes and shapes. All jars are 

 characterized by large openings. The largest jars, 

 which may hold as much as 5 gallons, are used for 

 storing water, and they usually rest on a wooden 

 tripod in one corner of the house. Generally speak- 

 ing, the larger the jar the flatter it is in shape. 

 Good samples of the smaller, elongated jars are 

 shown in plate 18, a, b. The necks are usually 

 cylindrical, but rimmed necks occur (pi. IG. d). 

 Some of the flatter, broad-necked jars are used for 

 cooking, many being fitted with lugs on the 

 shoulders. 



The pitchers, tadofoko, which the Caduveo now 

 make, show unmistakable European influence in 

 their shape and size, as illustrated in plate 15, c, d. 

 All these modern pitchers have projecting lips. 

 They vary from 6 to 12 inches in height, some being 

 shorter and broader in shape than others. Al- 

 though the handles are usually round, oval-shaped 

 handles also occur. Older types of pitchers which 



appeared to be no more than jars with handles do 

 not have projecting lips. Pitchers are used for 

 transporting and storing water. 



The cups which the Caduveo make today are a 

 recent development. The cups, samples of which 

 are shown in plate 17, a, b, are larger than a com- 

 mon coffee cup, some of them being pint-sized. 

 The Caduveo themselves do not appear to use these 

 cups but sell them to curio hunters. 



The shallow bowls, notrole^ shown in plate 17, 

 r-e, vary from 3 to 12 inches in diameter. Some 

 are elliptical rather than circular. Some of the 

 larger ones, which are used for holding manioc 

 meal, are very sliallow and could be classed as 

 trays. In fact many of the smaller ones are today 

 sold for use as ash trays, some being bird-shaped 

 in form with a bird's head and tail projecting from 

 the edge of the tray. The Caduveo state that in 

 the past they made very large trays about 1 yard 

 in diameter which were used for toasting manioc 

 meal. Today iron pans are used for this purpose. 



Besides vessels, the Caduveo today make small 

 figures of horses, cattle, and dogs, ranging from 

 2 to 4 inches in length. These are given to children 

 to play with or are sold to visitors. Generally 

 they are very crude in form and undecoi-ated. 



MANUFACTURE 



The clay, {konopa^ used for making potteiy is 

 obtained from the banks of certain nearby streams. 

 The best clay is bluish gray and fine in texture. 

 For tempering, the women use powdered brick or 

 powdered potsherds. Boggiani (1945) states that 

 they also used baked and powdered coconut shell. 

 This form of temper does not appear to be used 

 today. Once the temper is added the woman places 

 the mixture in a large can, adds water, and kneads 

 it until it is uniform in thickness, removing all 

 small stones and lumps that may appear. When 

 the paste is ready it is called nilofugo. 



In making a pot a woman will sit on the floor 

 of her house or under a shady tree. Directly in 

 front of her she has a smooth piece of board, on 

 one side of her a can of water, and on the 

 other a can of prepared paste. For smoothing 

 the surface she has either a shell or a tablespoon. 

 First she makes a flat circular disk which she places 

 on the board to form the bottom of the pot. She 

 then prepares a coil by rolling out a piece of clay, 

 first between her hands and finallv on the board to 



