498 SOME ABORIGINAL SITES ON RED RIVER. 
Vessel No. 7. А pot of inferior, yellow ware, having incised designs four times 
shown, each somewhat resembling the leg-symbol found farther eastward along the 
Gulf (Fig. 4). This vessel, otherwise uninteresting, has one feature worthy of 
remark. In the center of the base is a 
hole about .25 inch in diameter, which 
is not an accidental break or made by 
vegetable growth in the mound, but a 
perforation made previous to the firing 
of the pot, as is shown by bulging of 
the ware around the hole in the in- 
terior of the vessel. We have here a 
ceremonial vessel with a perforation 
made to “kill” the pot in order to free 
its soul to accompany that of its owner 
to the spirit land, a custom practised 
chiefly by the aborigines of Florida. 
FIG. 3.—Vessel No. 4. Saline Point, La. (Height 3.1 inches.) Vessel No.8. A diminutive vase, 
half-fired, bearing rudely-incised deco- 
ration and evidently made as a toy for a child. 
Vessel No. 9. A bowl (Fig. 5) of fairly 
well-fired ware, though the surface is lacking 
in smoothness. The decoration of the vessel, 
a scroll combination, presents no novelty in 
the way of design, but in its execution the 
bowl greatly excels the pottery of Red river, 
found by us, south of Gahagan, Louisiana, 
which is a long distance farther up. 
Incidentally it may be noted that the 
beautifully-decorated earthenware found on 
| Ouachita river, La., is encountered north of 
| the town of Monroe, which is about оп a line 
| with Shreveport on Red river. Shreveport 
is about forty miles by land above Gahagan. 
Vessel No. 11. This pot, of soft yellow 
ware (Fig. 6), has a design four times shown. 
This design, which closely resembles one found 
Fie. а s 7. Saline Point, La. on a vessel from a mound on the Mayer Place, 
eight 4.5 inches.) 
to be described shortly in this report, seems 
to be made up of two serpents with additions or possibly of long-necked birds having 
a body in common. We are inclined, however, to the belief that serpents are 
intended to be represented, as the figures resemble those on a vessel’ from Sun- 
flower river, Miss., in which the body of the snake is isolated and without addition. 
Phila. E ава of Arkansas and of Mississippi,” р. 587, Fig. 4. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. of 
