46 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Large kettle, Gano^'^djowane'. Anciently large clay vessels were 

 used. Later brass or copper .kettles obtained from the whites wer( 

 used. The use of clay vessels was early noticed by travelers^ amon§ 

 the Indians of eastern North America. There are several good de 

 scriptions of the methods of pottery making, references to the us( 

 of the vessels for cooking and several illustrations of them [set 

 fig. 15]. It seems most probable from these early accounts and illuS' 

 trations that the clay kettles were placed directly over the fire, thougl 

 perhaps supported by three or four stones properly arranged. School- 

 craft, however, illustrates one suspended over the fire. The write 

 once found a clay vessel in a fire pit with the remains of the fir( 

 about it and four or five pieces of angular shale at the bottom as i 

 supporting base. There are several illustrations depicting thii 

 method in old works. 



The coming of the traders with brass kettles was an event in th( 

 history of Indian cooking. It enlarged their capacity for cooking 

 food in quantities. As brass kettles became common with them thf 

 smaller clay vessels passed out of use and were made but rarely. Ii 

 this way the art gradually became forgotten. 



Among the Seneca the writer found several persons who remem 

 bered hearing in their youth how the vessels were made. They as 

 serted that clay was thu.s occasionally employed up to the middle o 

 the last century. The Seneca seem to have conserved the art- a 

 any rate for some time after their settlement at Tonawanda, Alle 

 gany and Cattaraugus. 



The use of brass kettles among the Iroquois is still found, som( 

 of the more conservative seeming to prefer them [see pi. 10] , but the 

 majority now use iron or the more modern enameled ware pots. 



Wooden mortar, Ga"niga"ta.^ The corn mortar was made o: 

 the wood of the trunk of a niiu"gagwasa, pepperidge tree or ogo'wa 



1 These vessels are so strong that they do not crack when on the fin 

 without water inside, as ours do, but at the same time they can not stan( 

 continued moisture and cold water long without becoming fragile anc 

 breaking at any slight knocks that any one may give them but otherwis< 

 they are very durable." Sagard. Histoire du Canada. 1638. Tross ed 

 Paris 1866. p. 260. 



2 Cf Harrington. Last of the Iroquois Potters. N. Y. State Mus. Rep' 

 of Director. 1908. 



^ Ga'ni'ga' in Mohawk. 



Sebastien Cramoisy in his relations (1634-36) said "... we hav( 

 learned by experience that our sagamites are better pounded in a woodei 

 mortar in the fashion of the Savages than ground within the mill. I believ( 

 it is because the mill makes the flour too fine." [See Jesuit Relations 

 Thwaite's ed. v. 8] 



