POTTERY.
To Glaze Pottery.--Most savages have pottery, but few know how to glaze it. One way, and that which was the earliest known of doing this, is to throw handfuls of salt upon the jar when red-hot in the kiln. The reader will doubtless call to mind the difficulties of Robinson Crusoe in making his earthenware water-tight.
Substitute for Clay.--In Damara land, where there is no natural material fitted for pottery, the savages procured mud from the interior of the white-ant hills, with which they made their pots. They were exceedingly brittle, but nevertheless were large and serviceable for storing provisions and even for holding water over the fire. I have seen them two feet high. What it was that caused the clay taken from the ant-hills to possess this property, I do not know.
Pots for Stores and Caches.--An earthen pot is excellent for a store of provisions or for a cache, because it keeps out moisture and insects, and animals cannot smell and therefore do not attack its contents.