HOLMES] POTTERY OF THE ST JOHNS AND THE AVEST COAST 1'25 



are many fcatui'es of the ware that approacli in appearance or man- 

 ner of treatment the ordinary pottery, and, in fact, there i.s such a 

 complete grading into vessels of normal character that in places no 

 line can be drawn separating the trivial from the serious. We may 

 therefore safely infer that all \arieties were made by potters of the 

 same period and linguistic family. In appearance these articles are 

 rather new-looking, and. being found generally near the surface, may 

 be regarded as representing a comparatively recent period. Examples 

 of several varieties are brought together in plates xci-xcviii." 



PAINTED WAKE OF THE ST JOHNS 



The use of colors in decoration prevailed most decidedly in the Mid- 

 dle ^lississippi Valley province, but in Florida color was in somewhat 

 genei'al use. Commonly the red color was spread over the entire sur- 

 face and polished down, as it was in the West. When designs were 

 used, they were always simple, and, in the main, consisted of broad 

 bands in clumsy geometric arrangements. It is not known that color 

 was confined to any particular class of vessels. A very large and 

 remarkable piece of the painted ware is presented in plate xcix. It 

 was obtained by Mr Clarence 15. Moore from a sand mound near 

 Volusia,Volusia county, and is 19 inches in diameter and 15^ inches in 

 height. The base or smaller end is neatly perforated, as may be seen 

 in the lower figure, the opening having been made when the vessel 

 was modeled, and finished with the .same care as was the mouth. 

 It is possible that this vessel had some special domestic use in which 

 the perforation was an essential feature, as in straining lic^uids, or it 

 may have been a drum; hut the practice of perforating vessels for 

 burial and of making toy-like vessels w'ith perforated bottoms for 

 mortuary purposes ofl'ers an explanation of the significance of the 

 whole class of perforate objects. It is surmised that the native 

 theory was that a vessel which had only a supernatural purpose wa.- 

 properly perforate. It was never endowed with the powers and c^uali 

 ties of a living thing. The red color is applied in broad bands encir- 

 cling the apertures and in four vertical stripes connecting these. 

 Fragments of a vessel of similar design are given in plate c. It 

 also is from the mound near Volusia, and has been some 18 or 20 

 inches in length. 



POTTERY OF THE WEST COAST 



The several varieties of pottery described as occurring in the San 

 Juan province, with the (exception of the midden and mortuary ware, 

 are found scattered over the .state in mounds and on residence sites, 

 but few examples have found their way into our museums. In the west, 

 and CNpecially along the we.^t coast of the peninsula, other interesting 



n Recent collections made by Mr ^^oore in the Apalaehicola region show equally novel and varied 

 shapes of this general class, -the work being of ranch higher grade. 



