HOLMES] 



POTTERY OF WISCONSIN 



197 



latter — the implement having been rolled up and down from rim to 

 base, leaving approximatelj- parallel imprintings, as is indicated in 

 some of the specimens illustrated. After the malleating process was 

 finished, the neck and rim were smoothed down and decorated in 

 various waj^s, most generally by impressing cords into the soft clay, 

 producing jjatterns, or bj^ merely repeating indentations of the cord 

 • laid on flat or doubled up, making deep indentations. This treatment 

 extended to the margin of the lip and, in cases, to the interior surface. 

 Trailed and incised lines and punctures are seen in numerous instances, 

 and in the vessels suggesting Iroquoian relationships the patterns 

 resemlile those characterizing the Iroquoian ware. 



The National Museum collections contain fragments of a w^ell-made 

 vessel from Lake Nipigon, western Ontario, 500 miles north of Two 



Rivers. The ware is of 

 much better make than the 

 potter}^ south of Lake Su- 

 perior, and has rather de- 

 cided Iroquoian characters. 

 The paste is silicious and 



) 



> 



Fig. 77 — Fragments of a large vase from Lake Nipigon, Ontario 



heavy, the walls thick, the body well polished, and the neck and thick- 

 ened collar decorated with strongly drawn patterns of incised straight 

 lines. The fragments are shown in figure 77. 



Mandan Pottery 



It is fortunate for the student of primitive ceramics that at least 

 one tribe continued the practice of the art down to the present period. 

 The Mandans may even yet at times renew the work of pottery maim- 

 facture, but no record of this has been made for several decades. The 

 work of this tribe is described by Catlin and is represented by several 

 specimens preserved in our museums. It serves as a key to the great 

 group of ware now under review, connecting it closely with the Siouan 

 peoples — the buffalo-hunting tribes — the typical wild tribes of North 

 America. To be sure, the Mandans lived in permanent villages com- 

 posed of substantial earth lodges, were largely sedentarj', and on 

 account of their remoteness naturally kept up the practice of primitive 



