352 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
purpose is clear from the blackened outer surface of the pot below 
this spout, showing where the drippings of the pottage has been 
charred by subsequent use of the pot on the fire. 
And indeed we found evidence here, as the explorers at 
Bocabec had at an earlier date, that the cook did not exercise 
much care in cleansing the inside of the pot after use, as this in 
places bore evidence in a charred crust that no trouble was taken 
to clean the inside of the vessel. 
One peculiar feature that marks this pot is the presence of 
holes bored through the ware from the outside, and quite fresh 
in appearance, as though not worn from use. These holes are 
from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter, and are in 
pairs in the hollow or curved part of the pot, about an inch and 
a half, below the brim. There are two pairs, one on each side 
of the spout, and there is another pair in the back part of the 
pot, but exactly where does not appear from the fragments pre- 
served ; possibly there may have been another pair of paired holes 
at the back to correspond to those near the spout. These paired 
holes are not in a horizontal position, but in each pair one is 
considerably below the other. 
Similar paired holes have been found in aboriginal pottery 
found in Ontario, and Mr. David Boyle has suggested that they 
were made to fasten two pieces of pottery together, i. e., to repair 
a break. But this cannot be the case with the holes in the pot 
from Maquapit Lake, for in it there are no breaks between the 
holes. It has been thought that these holes were for strings or 
sinews by which the pot could be suspended or lifted, and Mr. 
Boyle has suggested that these strings could be protected from 
the fire by a covering of clay plaster on the outside of the pot; 
but in the Maquapit pot we find no trace of such material having 
been used over these holes as a shield from the fire. 
What makes the purpose and use of these holes all the more 
difficult to understand, is that a single hole somewhat larger than 
the others was bored at a point which is even below the fullest 
part of the bilge of the pot, whefe, unless plugged, it would have 
drained off the principal part of the contents of the pot. It 
would seem possible that this pot, after it had served its purpose 
