l
known that with most peoples particular forms were devoted to especial
ceremonial uses. The construction of vases exclusively for mortuary
purposes was probably not generally practiced, although a few
examples, notably those illustrated in Figs. 372 and 420, point
decidedly in this direction.

The simple conditions of life with these people are indicated by the
absence of certain forms. Lamps, whistles, toys, bricks, tiles, and
other articles in common use with many barbaric nations, are not found
in this province. Pipes, so neatly shaped by other mound-building
peoples, are here of a very rude character, a point indicating
decided distinctions between the tribes of this province and those of
neighboring sections.

CONSTRUCTION.--The methods of manufacture have evidently been of a
primitive character. The wheel or lathe has not been used. At the
advent of the whites, the natives were observed to build their vessels
by a process known as "coiling," and by modeling over gourds, and over
blocks of wood and masses of indurated clay shaped for the purpose.

It is probable that in many cases the support was not a mold in the
ordinary sense, but was simply a rounded object of small size held in
one hand while the base of the vessel was formed over it by the other.
Rounded pebbles, or the mushroom-shaped objects of clay sometimes
found in the mounds, would have served the purpose perfectly. Trowels,
paddles, stamps, polishing-stones, and other implements were used in
finishing.

Baskets were also used as molds, and pliable fabrics, such as nets and
coarse cloths, were employed in some sections. The methods of baking
have apparently not been described in much detail by early writers,
but the ware itself bears the marks of those simple processes known to
our modern tribes. It is highly probable that the work was done by the
women, and that each community had its skilled potters, who built and
baked the ware in the open air, going through those simple mummeries
that accompany the work among most primitive peoples.

MATERIAL.--The material employed was usually a moderately fine-grained
clay, tempered, in a great majority of cases, with pulverized shells.
The shells used were doubtless obtained from the neighboring rivers.
In many of the vessels the particles are large, measuring as much
as one-fourth or even one-half of an inch in width, but in the more
elegant vases the shell has been reduced to a fine powder. Powdered
po