The Archaæological Collection of the United States National Museum, in Charge of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Smithsonian Institution, 1876 - 104 pages |
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The Archaeological Collection of the United States National Museum: In ... Charles Rau No preview available - 2017 |
The Archaeological Collection of the United States National Museum, in ... Charles Rau No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
aboriginal relics aborigines adzes aperture archæological argillite Arrow-head beads bear bone bowl California California Fig carved cast Catlinite cavities celts Ceremonial Weapon character chipped chlorite circumference clay vessels concave consists convex copper curved Cutting Tool cylindrical described Discoidal Stone Drilled Ceremonial Weapon elongated employed exhibit ferruginous quartz flakes flat four-sided greenstone Grooved Axe H. H. Bancroft hafted hammer-stones handle head-dress hematite holes hollowed hornstone human head implements inches Indians jasper Kentucky kind Louisiana manufacture material Mexican Mexico mortars mound narrow National Museum neck North American notched number of specimens Nunivak Island objects obsidian obtained Ohio Ohio Fig ornamented oval Pennsylvania perforated pestles Pierced Tablet pipes polished potstone pottery probably quartzite raw-hide represented resembling round San Miguel Island sandstone Santa Cruz Island Scraper semi-opal serpentine shape shells sides silicious Sinker Spear-head stem striped slate syenite tapering Tennessee Tennessee Fig tribes truncated utensils vase wooden
Popular passages
Page 29 - They are kept with the strictest religious care from one generation to another, and are exempted from being buried with the dead. They belong to the town where they are used, and are carefully preserved.
Page 74 - In manufacturing their pottery for cooking and domestic purposes,' he says, ' they collect tough clay, beat it into powder, temper it with water, and then spread it over blocks of wood, which have been formed into shapes to suit their convenience or fancy. When sufficiently dried, they are removed from the moulds, placed in proper situations, and burned to a hardness suitable to their intended uses. Another method...
Page 29 - ... that the end may lie close to the stone. When this is the case, the person counts two of the game, and in proportion to the nearness of the poles to the mark, one is counted, unless by measuring both are found to be at an equal distance from the stone. In this manner the players will keep running most part of the day at half speed, under the violent heat of the sun, staking their silver ornaments, their nose, finger and ear rings; their breast, arm and wrist plates, and even all their wearing...
Page 74 - They make earthen pots of very different sizes, so as to contain from two to ten gallons, large pitchers to carry water; bowls, dishes, platters, basons, and a prodigious number of other vessels of such antiquated forms, as would be tedious to describe, and impossible to name. Their method of glazing them, is, they place them over a large fire of smoky pitch pine, which makes them smooth black and firm.
Page 75 - When sufficiently dried, they are removed from the moulds, placed in proper situations and burned to a hardness suitable to their intended uses. Another method practised by them is to coat the inner surface of baskets made of rushes or willows, with clay to any required thickness, and, when dry, to burn them as above described. " In this way they construct large, handsome, and tolerably durable ware; though latterly, with such tribes as have much intercourse with the whites, it is not much used,...
Page 29 - They have near their state house, a square piece of ground well cleaned, and fine sand is carefully strewed over it, when requisite, to promote a swifter motion to what they throw along the surface. Only one, or two on a side, play at this ancient game. They have a stone about two fingers broad at the edge, and two spans round : each party has a pole of about eight feet long, smooth, and tapering at each end, the points flat.
Page 74 - ... a plate or a vase, they take hold of one of these rolls by the end, and fixing here with the thumb of the left hand the centre of the vessel they are about to make, they turn the roll with astonishing quickness around this centre, describing a spiral line; now and then they dip their fingers into water and smooth with the right hand the inner and outer surface of the vase they intend to fashion, which would become ruffled or undulated without that manipulation. In this manner they make all sorts...
Page 29 - ... oil, with a proper force, as near as he can guess in proportion to the motion of the stone, that the end may lie close to the stone — when this is the case, the person counts two of the game, and, in proportion to the nearness of the poles to the mark, one is counted, unless by measuring, both are found to be at an equal distance from the stone. In this manner, the players will keep running most part of the day, at half speed, under the violent heat of the sun, staking their silver ornaments,...
Page 74 - Elsewhere, in speaking of the manufacture of clay vessels by the natives of Louisiana, the same author remarks : "The women make pots of an extraordinary size, jars with a small opening, bowls, two-pint bottles with long necks, pots or jugs for preserving bear oil, holding as much as forty pints, and, finally, plates and dishes in the French fashion...
Page 75 - When these vessels are large, as is the case for the manufacture of sugar, they are suspended by grape-vines, which, wherever exposed to the fire, are constantly kept covered with moist clay. Sometimes, however, the rims are made strong, and project a little inwardly quite round the vessel so as to admit of their being sustained by flattened pieces of wood slid underneath these projections and extending across their centres."* Lastly, I will quote here the remarks made by Catlin relating to the fabrication...