32 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING POTTERY AND BASKETS. 
desert, the beginning of Coahuila valley. The clay, after being 
cleared of all rocky and land substances, is preserved in dried 
lumps for use. Of this clay a stiff “ dough ” is made by adding 
water and kneading it thoroughly. Some Indians, however, as for 
instance those of Sonora, mix powdered potsherds with the earth. 
In the neighborhood of White Water river the clay is very suitable 
in its natural state and is so used. 
The “ dough ” is formed into cylinders of a foot and more in 
length, and, according to the size of the vessel to be made, more 
or less than half an inch in diameter. 
The bottom of the vessel, which is usually globular or semi- 
globular, is made by coiling the cytinders in the desired form. 
They are then knit and smoothed to the required thickness by the 
hands, which are placed in such a position that the fingers operate 
inside the concavity, and the thumbs, pointing towards each other, 
work on the outside. The bottom of the vessel thus made is then 
placed in a shallow dish, either of wood or of burned clay, which 
takes the place of a potter’s wheel and enables the worker to 
turn the vessel as he proceeds without endangering the form. 
Squatted on the ground, the worker turns the form as the cylin¬ 
ders are coiled into the desired shape, joining them together with 
the fingers and thumbs, holding the hands in the position already 
described. 
When the vessel has thus been gradually built up, the clay is 
made compact and smooth by holding a rounded and smooth rock 
against the wall of the vessel on the inside, and patting the 
outside with a wooden trowel opposite the rock. The outside 
is then made even by a wooden scraper, corresponding in shape 
to the curve of the pot, which is dipped in water to accelerate this 
work. The dents inside, caused by the supporting rock, are 
usually allowed to remain. Experts among the manufacturers do 
away with the smoothing scraper and accomplish the same end 
with light taps of the trowel,the marks of which are sometimes 
plainly visible in the burned pottery, especially when done with a 
slightly corrugated trowel, caused by the protruding fibres of the 
wood. The narrow neck of the alia , or, especially, of the jar used 
for the transportation of water, which barely admits a hand, is 
last finished by the same method, but more clumsily, and is left 
more porous, as rock and trowel can not be used on that portion 
of the vessel. 
