46 
Plate IX, figure 7. The impressions on the fragment illustrated on Plate 
XI, figure 13, suggest that the design of the fabric used in impressing it was 
of diagonal weave. 
In New Brunswick, cord impressions, as well as those of fabrics, are 
considered by Mr. William McIntosh to be absent from the pottery. Mr. 
McIntosh bases his knowledge chiefly on the specimens in the Museum of 
the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, St. John. 
After the decoration was finished the pot was set to dry. The firing 
of the pottery was crudely done at low temperatures, as is clearly shown by 
the crumbling nature of the body and its imperfectly oxidized interior. 
The more complete oxidization of the exterior gave it a buff, salmon, or 
red colour, unlike the brownish grey, incompletely oxidized interior. 
Complete oxidization took place only on the exterior, and sometimes even 
the surface was partly underburned, uneven exposure to the fire producing 
a mottled effect. That the firing was done in more or less open fires is 
indicated by the blackness of the inner part of the pottery and by the 
mottled or irregularly burned surface of the ware. The shell fragments 
included in the clay are an indication of the temperature of burning. Shells 
are fairly pure carbonate of lime, and if heated to about 1 ,650° F. change to 
quicklime, and afterwards slake to powder, destroying the pot which con- 
tained them. As the shell fragments referred to are intact in the body, 
the temperature must have been far below 1,650 degrees. A temperature 
of about 1,300 degrees will produce a light red colour on the surface of a 
red burning clay, but will leave the interior grey or black, and this is 
probably as great a heat as the potters were able to obtain. Fragments 
of charcoal were frequently found, some of which may be products of the 
open fires. Burned patches of ground were also discovered, which may have 
been the pottery-firing sites. Examination of the fragments of pottery 
shows that none of the ware was surface-cracked or crazed, either in air 
drying or burning, so that the various stages of manufacture up to the 
finished product were successfully conducted. 
HABITATIONS 
No remains of habitations were discovered. It seems altogether 
likely that the habitations used by these people were such as to leave no 
marked depressions or signs other than the abundance of village refuse 
making up the shell-heaps. According to Lescarbot, the Micmacs in sum- 
mer dwelt mostly on the coast and in winter retired to the more sheltered 
interior 1 and camped on the shores of lakes. 
Caches. Cache holes for food, such as have been found in southern 
New England, or caches of objects, such as occur throughout the Atlantic 
states and in the Mississippi valley, were not found here, but probably 
this may be ascribed to scarcity and accident rather than to their absence; 
or, food may have been cached above ground. 
i Cf. Piers (al, p. 101. 
