173 
THE SCIENTIST. 
as well as those on the image, are the 
characteristic markings of the Toltec 
pottery. The image is lighter in 
color, being of a dark brick red. It 
has been badly broken; all the pieces 
except the head were found and 
glued together. 
The round covered vase in the 
right of the group was found twenty- 
live miles east of the City of Mexico. 
There are three rows of faces around 
the vase and one row around the 
cover. These faces are good types 
of those usually found illustrated in 
works on Mexican antiquities. 
To the right of the foot of the 
headless image, is the head of a tur- 
tle (probably). This Mr. Brigham 
found at the base of the great pyra- 
mid at Cholula. He says that the 
ground around this pyramid is cov- 
ered with fragments of pottery and 
broken images. This pyramid was, 
no doubt, once a place of worship. 
The other specimens were secured 
from friends in Mexico; the loca- 
tions are not yet known. 
Many imitations of Mexican pot- 
tery are being made and sold to 
tourists; this, however, does not war- 
rant any one to make the statement 
that there are only a few pieces of 
genuine Mexican pottery in exist- 
ence. Any one who has spent much 
time in Mexico knows that there is 
an abundance of genuine pottery to 
^e had, and one can tell the genuine 
from the imitation after examining 
a few specimens, although there are 
.a few imitations that are hard to tell 
from the genuine. 
A German firm at Zarcetacas make 
a business of manufacturing imita- 
tions of Mexican pottery, and they 
have the business well learned, for 
their work is sold for fancy prices 
and the country is flooded with their 
imitations. 
Persons traveling in Mexico and 
wishing to secure genuine Aztec pot- 
tery, can do so by securing the ad- 
vice of some responsible person be- 
fore making a purchase. Prof. Josi. 
J. Garcia at the Hotel Grand, Zarce- 
tacas, Mexico, one of the professors 
in the college there, is a good judge 
of the genuine article; the professor 
of the National School of Agricul- 
ture in the City of Mexico, and the 
curator of the Mexican National 
Museum, are also experts. 
Prof. Edwin Walters has visited 
the noted pottery field of Guadlajara 
(pronounced wawd-ly-hairy) and has 
seen the genuine pottery exhumed. 
From Prof. Garcia at Zarcetacas and 
from his own personal observations, 
he has secured the following facts 
that will aid one in selecting the 
genuine Aztec pottery : 
All the pre-historic pottery was 
burned by applying heat to the inner 
walls when it was possible to do so. 
It was probably burned by plac- 
ing each separate piece in the ground 
and then building a fire within it. 
It is never homogeneous in con- 
sistency. 
It is often made of two or more 
layers of different clays. 
The outer wall is always more 
porous than the inner. 
