208 



"imehri. 



This Vase was about 10 in. 

 across the mouth and nearly 

 two feet high. I am speak- 

 ing from memory and eye 

 judgment only. For a few 

 minutes I feasted my eyes 

 upon it and then with dry 

 banana leaves the Indians 

 packed it up in a large quake 

 made of split bush rope and 

 I saw it no more. The 

 quake unopened I brought to 

 Georgetown safely, and after 

 arranging with Dr. Walton to 

 repair the broken parts I 

 returned to the late lamented 

 33, Brickdam. Meeting the 

 houseboy I gave him the 

 Quake and told him to take 



it to Dr. Walton and hurried off to the N.W.D. steamer. On my 

 return to town I found the Doctor had never received the vase, 

 that when I met the boy he had that moment been discharged, that he 

 had since left the city and that the vase was " lost to me forever." 



With the exception of the vase, Judge Hewick's pot heads and the 

 British Museum one, the Museum has all my best finds. 



My conclus : ons exactly agree with Mr. VerriU's. The pots antedate 

 our existing Indians and are the remains of the inhabitants of the pleas- 

 ant islands of the N.W.D. The Arukaand Koriabo and Kaituma Islands 

 basking in the sapphire blue and green of a tropical sea must have been 

 a dream of beauty, when the sea was clean and clear and the shell-fish 

 flourished in its depths. 



But I noticed also that it was useless looking for " pot-heads ' 

 where there was no spring water on the hill and this was the first hint I 

 got that these were islands in the salt sea when the potters lived there 

 and I gave a lecture to the R.A. & C.S. without a MSS. which was 

 consequently unreported, in which I expressed this opinion. 



What are the pot-heads ? 



When in Barbados I dined one day at the Marine Hotel and a lady 

 seeing my collection which I was showing to my host said, " I come 

 from Yucatan, those that have a loose piece inside and rattle are Toltec 

 and those that don't are Aztec, now I must be off as the dance is 

 beginning." 



This sent me home to Father Frederick -Smith, S.J., who had first- 

 hand knowledge of Yucatan and he said that they did resemble the 



