Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/695

Rh deft handling, or, if a basket of the same form was followed, the basket was destroyed in the firing process. This would seem to the modern mind a great waste of time and material, but it must be remembered that the Indian potter had not learned modern haste, and besides could turn up a coarse basket in a very short time. Therefore it does not seem improbable that he may, in the early stages, have modeled his jar on the inside of a basket frame of similar form and then allowed the basket to be consumed in the baking

process when it could not be separated from the vessel. Even when he developed to a point beyond and modeled the upper portions with a free hand, he would find great trouble in separating his jar from its framework. What, therefore, would be the following step? It seems to me it would have been the placing between the clay and the mold of a piece of netting, which would permit him to lift out his jar easily and intact, and transport it to the drying place. He would then speedily discover that his basket was not necessary—was not so serviceable, in fact, as a hole in the ground, for the sides of the hole could be plastered with a layer of very sandy clay, and thus would all sticking of the vessel to its mold be avoided.

The netting, or fabric, having been spread as evenly as possible over the inside surface of the mold hole, the upper edges were allowed to lie out upon the ground. The soft clay being now pressed evenly upon the fabric to the required thickness, the sandy surface of the mold hole easily gave it shape and gave the potter