105 (Jordan. 
the West. But it is hardly within the scope of this brief paper to enter 
into a discussion of the comparative ages of the pottery of the two sections. 
In view of the very limited number of perfect specimens which have their 
origin in the Middle Atlantic States, a thoroughly satisfactory treatise of 
the earthenware of that locality, omitting all other considerations, is 
hardly within the realm of possibility. 
It may surprise those unacquainted with the data, to learn that the 
entire number of unbroken vessels will not exceed twenty-five, and of 
these the largest proportion, as well as the most remarkable, was found 
in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, many hundreds of the most valu- 
able specimens have been recovered in perfect condition from the ancient 
earthworks and sepulchral mounds in the district beyond the Alleghanies. 
In some instances these tumuli are of vast proportions, but in the absence 
of sufticient evidence on which to form anything like an accurate opinion, 
their antiquity must remain a matter of conjecture. With their identity 
established, and with the knowledge that the Arnerican Indians, following 
custom almost universal among semi-barbarous nations, deposited arti- 
cles of earthenware with the dead, these ancient tombs may be explored 
without subjecting their contents to accidental destruction. 
In the Middle Atlantic States, however, where this mode of sepulture 
rarely obtained, and where an Indian grave has no visible existence, its 
discovery is usually one of chance, and then almost invariably made by the 
plough, a medium very apt to efface all traces of its prehistoric character. 
Incredible as it may appear, I am informed by Dr. Charles Rau that the 
National Museum, at Washington, within two years did not contain a sin- 
gle perfect specimen from the Eastern and Middle States in its archxolog- 
ical collection. In 1878 Prof. E. Hitchcock, of Amherst, Mass., sent to 
the National Museum colored plaster casts of three clay vessels found in 
New England. The most remarkable of them is figured in Vol. v, page 14, 
of the American Naturalist. This vessel, together with the largest of the 
three sent, is in the collection of the University of Vermont, at Burlington. 
The original of the third cast is in the possession of Mr. George Sheldon, 
Deerfield, Mass., who found it in the lot adjoining his home. ‘‘I know 
of but one other vessel of this nature,’’ says Pro!. Hitchcock, ‘‘ever found 
wholein New England. Thisisin the hands of Dr. 8. A. Green, of Boston.”’ 
The pottery of New Jersey possesses no distinctive features, if we are to 
be guided by the two or three unbroken vessels that have been uncovered 
Within her borders, Dr. Abbott figures but one in his ‘Stone Age”’ of that 
State. 
Delaware is even more disappointing, as she has thus far failed to con- 
tribute a single specimen to aid usin our comparative examination. On the 
banks of nearly all her water-courses are to be seen refuse shell deposits, 
Many of them of considerable size, and all of great age, indicating a popu- 
lation more dense than any of her sister States. Mingled with the remains 
of these deserted villages are large quantities of broken pottery, but the 
fragments are those of coarse and generally undecorated pots that have 
PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. Xxv. 127. N. PRINTED APRIL 18, 1888. 
