The use of moulds is found chiefly in the Americas and in North and Central Africa. In North America the Gulf Indians and those of the Great Lakes made large pots in baskets of wil low which were subsequently burnt in the firing. A similar method is used by some of the tribes in the Sahara, northern Nigeria and Somaliland. The people of the Uele, in the Congo basin, combine moulding and modelling, shaping the belly of the pot over a ring of vegetable fibre, then adding the neck and base. In all these examples a mould is destroyed with every pot made. More advanced is the method by which one mould is made to serve several times. Among the Hausas of Nigeria a pot is inverted and over this a sheet of clay is spread so as to form a bell-like dome. This is then removed from the mould and the shoulders and neck modelled by hand (fig. 2.). They also dig a hole in the ground and mould the belly of the pot in this. Where the base of an old pot is used as a platter on which to work, this frequently acts as a mould for the base of the new one. A moulded pot may be made in two or more sections. Among the Babuna of Stanley Pool (Central Africa) the clay is applied to hollow moulds and the parts thus formed are joined together. For making globular water jars in northern Nigeria two slabs of clay are moulded over the lower part of a disused pot or calabash. These are then joined together to form a sphere. A hole is cut out of the top half and out of this the neck and mouth are modelled. An identi cal method is used in Egypt. (See W.
Blackman, "The Making of Pottery in Ancient and Modern Egypt," an address to the British Association, 1925.) Shaping a pot by means of throwing on the wheel is unknown among primitive peoples, with the possible exception of a tribe on the Lower Congo, among whom we find the rudiments of it. The mech anism consists of a rotating platter raised a few inches from the ground and set in rapid motion by the hand, the clay being manipulated as on the true wheel (fig. 3).
A similar device, but used only for slow rotation is reported from Perak. Else where the clay is frequently worked on a platter or base of a broken pot which can be turned round by hand slowly so that all parts of the new vessel can be brought within easy reach of the potter's hands, and in this we may perhaps see the beginnings of the wheel. The potter's wheel is rare and spreads slowly, because primitive potters are able to produce by hand vessels which for fineness and symmetry can rival those which are thrown, and further because the technique of throwing is one of considerable difficulty which it takes many years to acquire.
tain pots which are destined only to contain grain and other dry goods, all vessels must be fired.
After being shaped the pot is set aside to dry for some hours.
This makes it safer to handle and, were it not done and the pot fired at once, the free water might suddenly turn to steam and the pot be inevitably broken, or, even were this avoided, the resultant too rapid and probably uneven shrinkage would crack and distort it. For this reason, too, the pots are usually set to dry in a place where there is a free current of air to encourage evaporation.
Except among certain Pueblo Indians of America, who, in the process of rendering their pots waterproof, fired them two or even three times, primitive peoples do not seem to do this more than once. Among the Akikuyu of Kenya Colony the purchaser of a new pot does indeed burn some grass outside and in it, not as a second firing, but as a preventive against magical evil influences which may lurk in the vessel. Usually the firing is done in the open. The pyre is carefully built and the pots stacked so that the heat may circulate freely and affect all parts alike. Often special light wood is used with heavier logs on top so that it may not burn away too rapidly and the heat be dissipated. In the Nicobar islands there are special contrivances to prevent the wood from weighing on the pots. The latter are set mouth downwards and supported some four to five inches off the ground by potsherds stuck into the earth. Over the upturned base a wheel-like object is placed, against which the firewood is rested, while below the pots fine wood ash and light kindling is laid. A genuine kiln has only been recorded from the region of the Lower Congo. It seems to be a beehive shaped structure. Here the more common prac tice is to bake the ware in a hole in the ground. The "oven" is fairly elaborate, for charcoal is used and openings are therefore cut through the soil to the chamber that bellows may be em ployed to sustain the necessary heat (fig. 4). Elsewhere in Africa, as among the Ba-Thonga and Ba-Ila, and also among the Zuni of America pots are placed in a simple hole or trench and fired with wood. The time taken for firing varies greatly, from about half an hour to one or even two days. Pots which have been fired for only a short time are less durable than others. For this reason the Nicobar islanders supplement the brief firing given to their ware by storing it for a time on a shelf hanging over the fire-place where in the heat and smoke it becomes seasoned. There is great diversity of shapes and an amazing similarity in wares widely separated from each other in time and space. One village alone may manufacture several varieties, each for a particular use. Very interesting are the many-mouthed, many-handled types, such as those from the Lower Congo and from Fiji. Some elabo rate forms have an utilitarian purpose, others a religious signifi cance, while others appear to be the outcome of the artist's desire to create something beautiful. In many cases the pots are modelled in imitation of natural or manufactured objects, which before the introduction of ceramics served the people as vessels.