ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES 
95 
set close together. These dots have not been impressed singly, 
but each of the shorter lines, both straight and curved, have 
been impressed as a whole with a stamp, and the longer lines 
built up by repeated applications of the tool, in lengths of 
about half an inch (Fig. 4 and PI. VIII, Nos. 12 to 18). 
Occasionally a small circular stamp was used also. In some 
cases, perhaps originally in all, the impressions have been 
filled with white carbonate of lime after firing. 
The purpose of this note is to point out that this distinctive 
technique and at least one of the elements of the Watom 
patterns, occur on pottery water jars and bowls from Upper 
Perak, Malay Peninsula, of late nineteenth century date; 
examples of which are in the India Museum, London. On 
these vessels there is much less decoration than on the Watom 
pots. It consists only of a few simple bands or zones, but these 
include zig-zags built up of short straight lines, and also the 
“fan” element in Fig. 4 and PI. VIII, Nos. 17, 18. The lines 
are rows of small square dots, impressed in exactly the same 
way as those on the Watom pots. In the British Museum 
there are other examples of Malay water-bottles and jars 
decorated in the same manner except that the lines are solid 
and not dotted. In these the ‘ ‘ fan” element occurs, and bands 
of overlapping curved impressions similar to those of the top 
zone in PI. VIII, No. 14. Both the “fan” and the overlapping 
curves are found on many of the Watom pots. 
Most of the Watom pottery is now in various museums in 
Europe. This museum has only a few fragments, but recently 
Father Meyer and the Catholic Mission Musemn at Vunapope 
have been good enough to send several hundred pieces show- 
ing decoration to Melbourne on loan. As some of this has been 
found since the potteiy was first described, the opportunity 
is taken to illustrate the main features of that which is avail- 
able. 
The ware is mostly of a dull red colour tending towards 
brown. Beneath the surface the paste is dark brown in 
colour, and is of a coarse texture with particles of grit and 
shell. It has been fired at a low temperature and is not very 
strong. The pots vary in thickness from 3/16 to almost 1 inch, 
but the great majority are approximately f inch thick. 
The pieces available represent only a small proportion of 
the total found, and as they are all fragmentary it has only 
been possible to reconstruct a few complete sections. These 
are all of the basin form (PI. VIII, No. 1), which predomi- 
nates numerically. There are, however, clearly many other 
