48 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth. anx.20 



Virginia vessels are found made of paste consistiuo' of coarsely pulver- 

 ized steatite and V>arely enough clay to hold the particles together. Mica, 

 iron pyrites, and other crystalline substances were much used in some 

 sections. It is not uncommon to see examples in which the paste con- 

 tains 75 or 8(> per cent of the temjjering ingredients. 



The use of jiowdered shell was very general. It is not known that 

 any particular \-ariety of shell was preferred. The shells were pulver- 

 ized in mortars or by means of such devices as were at hand. Du 

 Pratz observed their use in early times. He remarks that — 



Near the Nactchitoches are found banks of shells ["('oquilles de Palourdes"] such 

 as those which form the shell island. This neighboring nation sa.vs that ancient tra- 

 dition teaches them that the sea was formerly extended to this spot; the women of 

 this nation come here to gather them [the shells] ; they make a powder of them and 

 mix it with the earth of which they make their pottery, which is considered the 

 best. However, I would not advise the indiscriminate use of those shells for this 

 purpose, because by nature they crack when exposed to fire; I think, therefore, that 

 those which are found among the Nactchitoches have acquired this good quality only 

 by losing their salt during a i.ierioil of several centuries that they have been out of 

 the sea." 



It is rather remarkable that in many, if not in a majority of cases, 

 the liits of shell have not been affected by the heat of baking or use, 

 as tiieir original luster is fully preserved. The Panmnkey Indians of 

 Virginia, who were found ])racticing the art of pot making only a few 

 3'ears ago. calcined their shells, and. as a consequence, where a large 

 percentage of the material was used in tempering the clay, the vessels 

 are inclined to fall to pieces from the slacking that follows use in water. 



MANUFACTURE 



The Records 



A careful study of the methods and processes or manufacture 

 emjjloyed in the ceramic art of America must furnish much that is of 

 interest to the student of technic evolution. Besides this, the intimate 

 knowledge of the art gained in the study of the technique of manufac- 

 ture may also be of value when applied to questions of a more purely 

 ethnic nature, for peculiar methods and devices of art characterize the 

 peoples employing them, and in connection with other classes of evi- 

 dence may be of use in tracing and identifying peoples. Much remains 

 to be done in this branch of the study, for, considering the fact tliat 

 the ceramic art has been so general h' practiced by the natives since 

 the advent of Europeans, our knowledge of the methods of manu- 

 facture seems xevy meager. Those whites who came in contact with 

 the aborigines most intimately took very little interest in the native 

 arts, and, as a rule, made no record of them whatever, and now, when 

 interest is finally awakened, we tind these arts in the main superseded 

 and lost. 



" Du Pratz. Antoine Simon Le Page, Histolre de la Louisiane, Paris, 1758, vol. i. pp. 163-164. 



