THE TERENA AND THE CADUVEO OF SOUTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



67 



insure uniform thickness. The coil is then 

 placed on the outer edge of the base and firmly 

 kneaded together. A second coil is added, joined 

 to the end of the preceding one and finnly kneaded 

 together with thumb and forefinger. The woman 

 then wets her fingers and smooths the inner and 

 outer surface. This process is continued until the 

 pot is completed. The final smoothing of the inner 

 and outer surfaces is done first by using the fingers 

 or palm of the hand, the hand or fingers being 

 repeatedly dipped in water, then by using the 

 back of a spoon or shell. In smoothing the sur- 

 face, the other hand is always held opposite the 

 processing hand. The sole of the foot is also used 

 to support the pot. 



When the vessel is completed but still soft, the 

 woman outlines the designs on the surface with a 

 cord, nohoni. The cord, which is made from cot- 

 ton and is about one-sixteenth of an inch in di- 

 ameter, is held in the left hand with about 2 

 inches hanging free. The free end is dipped into 

 water and then laid on the desired part of the pot 

 and pressed into the soft clay with the fingers of 

 the right hand. This process is repeated until 

 all the designs are imprinted on the surface. The 

 pot is then left to dry in the shade for 2 or 3 

 days. 



When the vessel is dry the basic color is applied 

 over the entire outer and often the inner surface. 

 The coloring material is derived from hematite 

 (iron oxide). Two pieces of hematite are rubbed 

 together and the resulting reddish powder is mixed 

 with water and applied to the surface with the 

 fingers. 



The vessel is now ready for firing. A small fire 

 is made and the vessel is placed upon the burning 

 wood. Additional fuel is piled around the ves- 

 sel so that the fire will reach all parts. Firing 

 takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour, de- 

 pending upon the size of the vessel. Wlien suf- 

 ficiently fired the vessel is removed with a stick 

 and is left to cool on ashes spread on the ground. 

 The color of fired vessels is reddish-brown or red- 

 dish-yellow, brick color being the most general. 

 Wliile the vessel is still hot, the principal designs 

 are painted black with a piece of rosin obtained 

 from the "palo santo" tree. When dry the rosin 

 leaves a glossy jet-black surface. Wlien the vessel 

 is cold, the depressions left by the cord are painted 

 white with a mixture of white clay and water ap- 



plied with a piece of cloth or with a soft stick of 

 wood. After the pot is completely dry it is wiped 

 off with a cloth to remove pieces of white clay or 

 other dirt clinging to the surface. The vessel is 

 now ready for use. 



The quality of the vessels varies considerably 

 with the skill of the women who make them. 

 Judging from pieces of old sherds some of the older 

 vessels were of much better texture than many 

 that are made today. Nowadays pots are hur- 

 riedly made for sale to outsiders who want them 

 for show pieces only. The texture of these hur- 

 riedly made pots is coarse and crumbly, the clay 

 is coarse, there appears to be too much tempering 

 material, and the firing is uneven. Perhaps the 

 coarseness of texture is due to the fact that the 

 clay is not first dried, pounded, and sifted. Re- 

 cently made vessels also reveal a much rougher 

 surface than some of the older vessels. Evidently 

 less care is taken in giving the outer surface a 

 smooth finish. 



CERAMIC DECORATION 



A complete analysis of Caduveo decorative de- 

 signs will not be attempted here, for not all the 

 designs were collected and all those on hand have 

 not as yet been satisfactorily analyzed. Caduveo 

 designs occur not only on pottery but on skin work 

 and in the form of face paintings and are, as a 

 whole, quite complicated. As has already been 

 mentioned, the basic over-all color of vessels is 

 brick with the designs painted on in black and 

 white. More specifically, we might define the dec- 

 orative pattern as black on brick with corded out- 

 lines in white. The white corded outlines are used 

 both for blocking out the area to be decorated, 

 usually in the form of parallel lines, and for de- 

 fining the borders of the designs themselves. Some- 

 times the white lines are themselves the decoration, 

 as on the pitcher shown in plate 15, c, d, where its 

 mouth is decorated in this manner, and on the bowl 

 shown in plate 17, d. 



The outstanding elements in the decorative pat- 

 terns are: Conventionalized foliage, curvilinear 

 figures, volutes and scrolls, triangles, diamond- 

 shaped and rectilinear figures, ovals joined by 

 V-shaped lines, bands showing bird and fishlike 

 figures and rectilinear frets. 



Foliage designs may appear in quatrefoil, tre- 

 foil, or running curvilinear patterns. They may 



