346 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
This donation is of unusual interest, as the remains of the 
pot are sufficiently complete to enable us to reconstruct a typical 
piece of the pottery used by the people of the Stone Age who 
inhabited the valley of the St. John river before the advent of 
Europeans. 
Heretofore we have .had only small fragments of pots, etc., 
which may have belonged, as regards the several finds, to one 
vessel, or to many ; and so doubt and uncertainty existed as to the 
size and form of the vessels to which these fragments belonged. 
With Mr. London’s fragments of a single pot, we are able 
to reconstruct the vessel from the bottom up to the lip, and 
observe the pattern which the ancient potter traced on the sur- 
face of the vessel, and judge of the amount of artistic skill dis- 
played in its ornamentation. 
Further, with this pot as a standard, we can study to advan- 
tage the numerous pieces of ancient pottery of the Stone Age in 
the Society’s possession, and to note any difference that may 
exist in form and ornament between it and others from the same 
district, and from other parts of the province. From these com- 
parisons we hope to form some opinion of the possibility of these 
earthenware fragments belonging to successive inhabitants of this 
region, or to different tribes inhabiting parts of the province, or 
adjacent regions. Where a people have left no written records, 
we are thrown back upon such methods as these, for obtaining a 
knowledge of their domestic habits, and stage of advancement 
in the arts of civilization ; which is of more importance to 
humanity than a record of their wars and conquests. 
Since the visit of our Society to French Lake in 1893, when 
we held a summer camp there, and made a study of the natural 
features and archaeology of the district,* Mr. London, who lives 
near there, has taken a great interest in the remains left by the 
Stone Age people, and has been in frequent correspondence with 
one of the authors of this paper. More than once he has shown 
his liberality by giving to our museum articles of this nature 
which he has secured around French and Maquapit Lakes. 
The remains of this pot were found by Mr. London in the 
*N. H. S. Bulletin No. XII, p. 84. 
