120 



MANUFACTURE OF SOAPSTONE POTS. 



Fig. 40. 



milky quartz, found in abundance all over the island, are sometimes quite 

 well chipped, but oftener simple flakes. I will mention here that we de- 

 tected among the chisel-marks on the living rock, as also on several pot- 

 FlG - 39 - sherds, distinct signs of metallic tools having been 



used. These were probably of iron, and like those 

 which we frequently found in the burying-ground on 

 the Isthmus. 



Fig. 39 illustrates a chisel made of slate (P. M. 

 1341 1), half its natural diameter, and Fig. 40 a scraper 

 made of quartz (P. M. 13412), of natural size. I also 



give a sketch, Fig. 41, of 

 a part of the bluff near the 

 boat-landing, which gives a 

 better idea of how the rough 

 work of detaching the rock 

 was carried on. 



After the pot-form had 

 been worked out, it was 

 broken from the living rock 

 by working under it and by 

 the gradual pressure of the 

 chisel around the base. The 

 detached pot-boulder was 

 next rounded into proper 

 form ; it was then hollowed 

 Scraper of quartz. out until a certain thickness 



of the pot was reached, and was finally carefully finished with the scraper. 

 As the thickness of the olla increases toward the bottom — it usually thick- 

 ens from about half an inch at the rim to one and a half at the bottom — it 

 requires skill to attain this evenly. No mechanical apparatus was used 

 for this purpose (as shown by certain irregularities in the form of the pot), 

 but simply the touch of both hands in antiposition, one gliding outside the 

 already finished surface, while the other worked inside toward the guiding 



