I^fDIAN POTTERY. 351 



Mississippi, as one of the localities where the Natchez ohtained clay for their 

 pottery, and likewise oclire to paint it. "When coated with ochre," he says, 

 " it becomes red after the burning." Elsewhere, in speaking of the manufacture 

 of clay vessels by the natives of Louisiana, the same author remarks : "The 

 women make pots of an extraordinary size, jars with a small opening, bowls, 

 two-pint bottles with long necks, pots or jugs for preserving bear oil, holding 

 as much as forty pints, and, finally, plates and dishes in the French fashion."* 



Dumont, who likewise dcBcribes the manners of the people inhabiting the ex- 

 tensive country formerly called Louisiana, has left a more minute account of the 

 method they employed in making earthenware. He says : "After having amassed 

 the proper kind of clay and carefully cleaned it, the Lidian women take shells 

 which they pound and reduce to a fine powder; they mix this powder with the 

 •clay, and having poured some water on the mass, they knead it with their hands 

 and feet, and make it into a paste, of which they form rolls six or seven feet 

 long and of a thickness suitable to their purpose. If they intend to fashion a 

 plate or a vase, they take hold of one of these rolls by the end, and fixing here 

 with tl;e thumb of the left hand the centre of the vessel they are about to make, 

 they turn the roll with astonishing quickness around this centre, describing a 

 spiral line; now and then they dip their fingers into water and smooth with the 

 right hand the inner and outer surface of the vase they intend to fashion, which 

 would become ruffled or undulated without that manipulation. In this maimer 

 they make all sorts of earthen vessels, plates, dishes, bowls, pots, and jars, 

 some of which hold from forty to fifty pints. The burning of this pottery does 

 not cause ihem much trouble. Having dried it in the shade, they kindle a large 

 fire, and when they have a sufficient quantity of embers, they clean a space in 

 the middle, where they deposit their vessels and cover them with charcoal. 

 Thus they bake their earthenware, which can now be exposed to the fire, and 

 possesses as much durability as ours. Its solidity is doubtless to be attributed 

 to the pulverized shells which the women mix with the clay."t 



Adair, more than a century ago a trader with the tribes who occupied the 

 southern portion of the present Union, confines himself to the following remarks : 



" They make earthen pots of very different sizes, so as to contain from two to 

 ten gallons; large pitchers to carry water; bowls, dishes, platters, basins, and 

 a prodigious number of other vessels of such autiquated forms as would be te- 

 dious to describe and impossible to name. Their method of glazing them 

 is, they place them over a large fire of smoky pitch-pine, which makes them 

 smooth, black, and firm. Their lands abound with proper clay for that use.".j: 



Losklcl, who describes the manners of the Delawares and Iroquois, states 

 that they made formerly kettles and cooking-pots of clay, which they mixed 

 with finely pounded shells, and burned until they became black throughout. 

 Quite large pieces of their pots, he says, in which the pounded shells could still 

 be seen, were often found in such places where the Indians had dwelt in ancient 

 times ; but after the arrival of the Europeans very light kettles of brass had 

 generally been introduced among them.§ Thus we see that these tribes began 

 at an early period to neglect the manufacture of clay vessels. 



A very good account relating to the art of pottery, as formerly practised by 

 the western tribes, is given by Hunter. "In manufacturing their pottery for 

 cooking and domestic purposes," he says, "they collect tough clay, beat it into 

 powder, temper it with water, and then spread it over blocks of wood, which 

 have been formed into shapes to suit their convenience or fancy. When suffi- 

 ciently dried, they are removed from the moulds, placed in proper situations, 



* Du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, Paris, 1758, vol. i, p. 124, and vol. ii, p. 1T9. 

 t Dumont Mimoires Historiqucs sur la Louisiane, Paris, 1753, vol. ii, p. ~71, &c. 

 X Adair's History of the American Indians, London, 1775, p. 424. 



§ Loskiel, Gescbicbte der Mission der evaugelischen Briider unter deu Indiancrn in Nord- 

 Amerika, Barby, 1789, p. 70. ,, 



