456 The Ancient Pottery of Colorado, ete. [ August, 
In many fragments of the mouths of jars a horizontal projection 
around the inner circumference of the lip is noticeable. (Plate 
VIL, Figure 3). This, no doubt, was intended for the resting- 
place of a lid, and indeed we find many of these scattered through 
the débris of the ruins. The most ordinary form of lid is a sim- 
ple flat circle (Plate VII., Figure 4) which fits closely into the 
mouth of the vessel. Plate IX., Figure 4, shows another dis- 
coidal lid. Mr. Holmes found, in an old ruin in the Mancos 
Cañon, two vessels with their lids fitted into them. He remarks, 
“ Roughly-hewn stone lids were fitted carefully over the tops, 
but both were empty. One had been slightly broken about the 
rim, while the other had been pierced on the under side by some 
. Sharp instrument, and had been mended by laying a small frag- 
ment of pottery over the aperture on the inside and cementing 
it down with clay. They are of the ordinary corrugated pottery, 
and have a capacity of about three gallons.” An improvement 
on this is the lid with a central button (Plate VII., Figure 5), by 
which it can be lifted more readily. Advancing in the scale of 
improvement we find the ornamental knob which is suggestive 
of our modern sugar-bowl top. Plate VII., Figures 6 and 7, will 
show two other varieties of ancient lids. 
Nearly every article of household ware was adorned with one 
or more handles, and these, being so very numerous, present the 
greatest possible diversity in shape, design, size, and finish. 
There is the straight, long handle of the dipper, either plain or 
fanciful; there is the semicircular handle of the mug or cup, an 
the circular loops of the water-jug. All these general forms are 
so varied that it is seldom that two are found of like patterns. 
It is very evident that this ancient race was particularly parti 
to handles, and every vessel upon which a handle could be placed 
was supplied with one or more. These usually had been hol- 
lowed out when the clay was still damp, by thrusting sticks oF 
straws through their centres, as may be proved by the impres- 
sions left in the clay. This was done, no doubt, for the purpose 
of making the vessel as light in weight as possible. Occasionally, 
however, we discover a handle which is solid, especially when it 
is slender or curved. The extremities of some of these were, a$ 
previously mentioned, occasionally molded into rep 
the heads and ears of animals or beaks of birds. (Plate VIII., 
Figure 2, representing an owl; see also Plate XI., Figure 10.) 
Often the glazed appendages were painted in various designs. 
A very curious and ingenious contrivance was picked up among 
E. r ae E e E s OAE 
resentations of ` 
Son a Se i a A ine aE A a nr a a aa Te a a S OA a OO a li asad 
