170 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OK EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.a.nn.JO 



peculiar cliurafteristics of Iroquuiun art. Tliere are man}' variations, 

 however, of shape and decoration, a.s a number of tribes, the Hurons. 

 Eries, etc.. and. later, the Wyandots, occujjied the region. 



Ontario is especially rich in f rag-mental ceramic remains, and through 

 the praiseworthy eii'orts of the Canadian Institute and other learned 

 bodies of the Dominion, and especially of Mr David Boyle, of 

 Toronto, many specimens have been collected and iDreserved, and 

 numerous illustrations and descriptions have been published. I shall 

 be able only to glance at these products, leaving all the details to 

 those who have the opportunity for working personally in the various 

 regions. 



The earliest publication of illustrations of Iroquoian pottery was 

 made by Mr W. E. Guest, in the Smithsonian Report for 1856, 

 p. yTi. Many fragments were found in or near an ancient earthen 

 iuclosure at Spencerville, a few miles north of Prescott, Ontario, and 

 the cuts published by Mr Guest are restorations, a little defective in 

 i)utliiic. i)crhaps. as the base is more nearly flat than is usual with this 

 ware. In every other respect their features duplicate those of the 

 typical wares of the Iroquois. Mr Guest also gives illustrations of 

 three small disks made from potsherds, one apparently being per- 

 forated, as if for use as a spindle whorl or an ornament. The others 

 are nearly identical with similar objects found plentifully in the 

 southern .itates, and supposed to have served for playing some game 

 of chance. 



N'illage and camp sites in the Balsam lake region, Victoria county, 

 have yielded to the intelligent efforts of the Laidlaw brothers, resi- 

 dents of the locality, numerous interesting sherds, of which a large 

 series has been illustrated and described l)y David Boyle in the Fourth 

 Annual Report of the Canadian Institute. In plate cxlviii is presented 

 a series of vases selected from his work. So typical are all of these 

 in form and decoration that description is unnecessary. There is not 

 a new element, beyond the simple variations to be expected in the art 

 of a single people as practiced at different times or under changing 

 conditions. 



The island of Montreal, the site of the ancient Hochclaga, an Iro- 

 quoian resort of great importance, furnishes much typical ware of this 

 class. Illustrations are given by Dr J. W. Dawson, in the Canadian 

 Naturalist, volume x, page iSo, and in his Fossil Men, page 91. In 

 the latter work is shown also a well-preserved pot obtained from the 

 upper Ottawa. It is not so typical as some others, but has the upright 

 projecting collar somewhat developed, and is finished with vertical and 

 horizontal inci.sed lines. The line of indentations about the upper part 

 of the body is rather exceptional in the central and southern Iroquoian 

 regions, but is repeated in a similar piece from Bruce county. Ontario, 

 and in many of the New England specimens. It is possible, since the 



