Page:Anthropology.djvu/138

Rh were commonly mingled with the clay to prevent cracks in drying; and the ware was finished, without glaze, by burning in the same manner as modern bricks. In fact, it may be regarded as in substance soft brick of poor quality. One of these pots, recently obtained by Dr. Wood, was found in the bank of Connecticut River, in Massachusetts. It was much broken, and has been clumsily reconstructed, but is nearly entire. The bottom is quite sharply conical, and the neck has no contraction, but slopes inward quite uniformly to the brim. The figure is somewhat that of a gigantic beet. Now, if we had given us a strap of leather, say 2 inches wide and 18 inches long, and were required to fasten it as a bail to this kettle, an obvious method would be to punch several small holes in the strap near its ends, and drill corresponding holes in the opposite sides of the neck and brim of the kettle and lace the strap thereto with a couple of strings. Whether this particular kettle ever had such a bail we cannot know, but there are the holes of suitable size and arrangement for the purpose. When I first saw them they struck me as an experimental attempt of the finder to sew or lace the broken parts together; but closer examination satisfied me that they had been drilled before the pot was baked, and while the clay was soft, with some tool like an arrow point. Subsequently I learned that the finder testified that the holes were in the sides of the neck when the kettle was found. There are no other drilled holes in the kettle besides these on opposite sides of the neck.

Breaks in Indian pottery sometimes seem to follow lines originally unsound, which gives a hint that the process of manufacture was not continuous, but that successive portions of the work were built up after previous ones had become firm by drying, from which there sometimes resulted an imperfect union between the wet clay and the dry.

About the year 1840 students of the Theological Institute, then located at East Windsor Hill, found on the bank of Connecticut River, at the west end of the institute grounds, a deposit of Indian relics. The place was a sandy knoll, above the highest water-mark of floods, and was traditionally known as "Gun's Hill," and as the site of an Indian fort. The articles then dug up consisted of fragments of large soapstone kettles, of the form previously described, axes, chisels, gouges, arrow points, and other relics of stone. Referring to the Smithsonian work.

No. 287, by Dr. Rau, there was an article identical with figure 210; the only specimen of its kind that I have known to be found in this region. These relics were scattered among those who found them, and the sand hill has since been cut into by the river, beyond the place where they were found. I have, from that locality, a cup of soapstone that will hold about a pint; and an ancient musket bullet of large size. I have a copper chisel, like Fig. 236; length, 3 inches; width,2; thickness,⅜;