288 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS, BLACK WARRIOR RIVER. 
phosphate rock, doubtless representing a panther, since neither the wolf nor the 
bear, the only other large carnivores frequenting the neighborhood of Moundville 
in the past, assumes the crouching position shown by the effigy. This pipe, shown 
in two positions (Figs. 165, 166), is 4.2 inches in height and 5.75 inches from end of 
snout to tip of tail. Traces of carbonized tobacco or of some other herb, remain 
in the bowl. 
Alongside this pipe and projecting beyond it, was what seemed to be a sharp 
fragment of stone. This fragment, when taken from its position, proved to be part 
of the rim of a large bowl, from which projected upward а beautifully-carved 
arching neck and head of a crested duck, evidently the drake of the woodduck. Part 
of the crest is missing. Some distance away, in the same pit, lying on its side just 
below the surface of the ground, as if it had been removed at the time the skeleton, 
with which part of it remained, was cut off, was the rest of the bowl to which the 
duck-head belonged. On the side of the bowl opposite the head is the conventional 
tail usually found on vessels of earthenware on which a head is represented. Тһе 
vessel, the parts of which have been reunited, is 11.5 inches in maximum height. 
The height of the bowl proper is 6.8 inches; its diameter is 11.75 inches. The 
thickness of the rim, which varies slightly, ranges between .25 and .5 of one inch. 
On the head and neck of the duck, on the conventional tail and on the body of the 
vessel, is incised decoration executed with wonderful accuracy, all things being con- 
sidered. This triumph of aboriginal endeavor, the “ Portland vase” of prehistoric 
art in the United States, is shown in Fig. 167; the head of the duck is represented 
in three positions in Figs. 168, 169, 170; the decoration on the back of the neck 
and head is shown in diagram in Fig. 171. 
The missing part of the crest of the duck was vainly sought by five men, who, 
for several hours, passed between their fingers all material that had been thrown 
from the excavation—the clayey nature of the soil unfortunately precluding the 
use of sieves. Presumably the blow that broke the head from the rest of the bow], 
struck the crest also, shivering parts to small fragments. 
When this vessel was found we knew it to be the result of much labor, although 
we supposed it to be of soft stone—slate presumably. Examination, however, showed 
the material to be of far greater hardness than characterizes slate. Naturally, the 
vessel has not been mutilated for exact determination of its material, which, how- 
ever, probably has been arrived at with a reasonable degree of certainty. We have 
referred to a maul found in the low mound from which this vessel came. Not far 
away, a member of our party picked up a fragment of what had been a polished 
bowl of stone of about the thickness of the duck-bowl, and, as indicated by its cur- 
vature, probably of about the same size. This fragment, a part of the maul, 
and the vessel found by us, were submitted to Dr. E. Goldsmith, who, by minor 
tests, decided that all three were of the same stone, and named the group from which 
they came. 
Complete quantitative analyses by Dr. H. F. Keller, of part of the maul and of 
a portion of the fragment of the stone vessel showed them to be practically of the 
