348 FEEJEE GROUP. 
operations by charring it a second time, and grinding it down on a 
smooth stone. 
The potters also constitute a separate caste, of which the women 
only exercise the art, and do no other work. They dig the clay, and 
carry it in baskets to the village, where they knead and temper it with 
sand to the proper degree of tenacity. Their tools are very simple, 
namely: a flat mallet (tala); a small round flat stone (vatu); and a 
circular cushion made of cocoa-nut leaves. 
A lump of the tempered clay is first taken, which is fashioned 
somewhat into the shape of the part of the vessel the workwoman 
desires to form; the stone then being introduced in the inside, the 
mallet or spatula is used on the outside with the left hand. The diffe- 
rent parts are all fashioned or made separately, and afterwards joined. 
The joints are very neatly closed and finished, so much so as to escape 
detection. The strokes with the mallet are exceedingly hard at first, 
but as the vessel approaches the intended shape they become more 
gentle, and the finish is given by smooth pressing. Many of the vessels 
are extremely graceful in shape, and must require a very true eye to 
form the various parts so as to fit. The figures or tracings that are 
seen upon them are executed by young girls with the fibres of a cocoa- 
nut leaf. The pots are baked before an open fire, after which the 
glazing, or rather, varnish is put on, consisting of the resin of a species 
of pine (resembling the Kaurie pine of New Zealand), called makandi, 
mixed with a decoction of the mangrove bark. 
