Page:George McCall Theal, Ethnography and condition of South Africa before A.D. 1505 (2nd ed, 1919).djvu/127

Rh coarse in appearance, were capable of withstanding intense heat. The art was lost soon after Europeans came in contact with them and before observations upon their habits were made correctly and placed on record, so that it is only from specimens of their handiwork recently found that an opinion can be formed of the quality of such wares. Pots were useful at times, but were not much needed by people who seldom ate boiled food, nor were earthenware drinking vessels required where ox horns and ostrich egg-shells served that purpose. This may account for the small quantity and the coarse description of the utensils manufactured. Some of the pots found in recent shell heaps along the sea-shore have a number of holes neatly drilled in them, often near the bottom, probably to make them serve as strainers.