Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/236

186 to the utilitarian process of scoring the bottoms of bowls for use as graters in the preparation of peppersauce (chilmolli)) and applied ornament is practically non-existent. Miniature tripod bowls with smooth bottoms are found, used to support the revolving spindle in the operation of spinning, and incense-spoons were also manufactured in this ware. The second main type consists chiefly of hour-glass shaped standing cups, of reddish, softer paste, with thicker walls coated with a burnished red slip and painted with black and white linear designs also in slip (Fig. 36, 2).

Less common are bowls of greyish paste with burnished red and yellow slip coating, on which are well-drawn curvilinear patterns in black, or bowls of grey ware with a very highly burnished yellow slip with a matt design in slip of similar colour. Characteristic, too, of this district are two-handled censers, heavy and solid in construction, of grey clay with a black burnished surface, or of reddish clay with a burnished red slip (Fig. 36, 1). Besides vessels, pottery figurines are found in great numbers, in the form of various gods, warriors, miniature temples, and so forth (Pl. IX, 2-6). These are in a hard red ware or a very soft pale cream clay; some are solid, while others are hollow and form rattles or whistles; most of these figurines