84 Pottery Among Savage Races. [ February, 
mented by applying thin strips of clay laid on in spirals, and 
other figures as among the Greeks and Romans. 
The ancient Bluff-Dwellers were very fond of ornamenting their 
pottery in this way. The “apple-pie” border, made by impress- 
ing with the extremity of the finger, or by pinching up a line of 
‘elevations between the thumb and forefinger, was also in common 
use among the same Indians, and is still perpetuated on the 
modern pottery of the Amazonas. It was rarely used by the 
Indians of Pacoval. 
In- Amazonian pottery, ornaments are rarely impress or 
stamped. I have observed on the Bluff-Dwellers’ pottery, circles 
made with the end of a hollow stick. The Chambioas and 
Carajás of the Araguaya make wooden dies, with which to 
ornament their pottery, the Carajas using a sort of Maltese 
cross. 
- The surface of the vessel, after having been smoothed down, is 
often washed with a thin layer of pure, creamy clay, which appears 
to be sometimes burnished before cooking, producing a beautiful, 
hard and almost polished surface. The common ware of the 
civilized Indians of the province of Para is usually very plain and 
rarely ever painted, but that of the Upper Amazon is often most 
beautifully ornamented in several colors, with frets and borders, 
and other purely esthetic forms, the absence of all attempt at 
representations of plant forms being remarkable. Edwards says 
that the colors are laid on this Amazon pottery with a brush 
made of the spine of a palm." The black color is made of the 
juice of mandioca. 
The ancient pottery of Pacovalid is often adorned with frets and 
‘scroll borders and other ornaments, drawn ona white ground ~ 
with marvelous accuracy (Am. NATURALIST, V., 1871; Pop. Sc. 
Monthly, Jan., 1875). 
Ornaments are sometimes scratched with a sharp point on the 4 
surface of modern Amazonian pottery, and, occasionally, ornaments 
are made consisting of aseriesof holes. The etching on the Pacoval 
pottery is exceedingly delicate. Sometimes the same pottery is 
decorated by first washing the surface with white clay, and then 
engraving so as to leave an ornament in relief. The instrument _ 
used seems to have been a tooth of a paca, or some other rodent. 
Some of the large burial vases are covered with ornaments of this a 
kind, which r must have pequira long and patient labor. 
EET E CO i EN 
