Chap. 2.] upon it,) and from this circumstance probably, was it made " sacred to Jupiter.' The elder Pliny, in the proem to his 16th book, speaks of trees which bear mast, which says he," ministered the first food unto our forefathers." Thus Ovid in his description of the golden age: The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough, Metam. ii, 135. In the ancient histories of the Chinese, it is recorded of their remote ancestors, that they were entirely naked and lived in caves; their food wild herbs and fruits, and the raw flesh of animals; until the art of obtaining fire by the rubbing of two sticks together was discovered, and husbandry introduced. There are persons however, who suppose it dishonoring the Creator, to imagine that ADAM, the immediate work of his hands, and the intellectual and moral head of the human family, should at any period of his existence have been destitute of many of those resources which the Indians of our continent, and other savages possess; although it is evident, that some time must have elapsed before he could realize, (if he ever did,) all the conveniences which even they enjoy. There is nothing unreasonable or unscriptural in supposing that all the primitive arts originated in man's immediate wants. Indeed, they could not have been introduced in any other way, for it is preposterous to suppose the Creator would directly reveal an art to man, the utility of which he could not perceive, and the exercise of which his wants did not require. Nor could any art have been preserved in the early ages, except it furnished conveniences which could not otherwise be procured. On no other consideration could the early inhabitants of the world have been induced to practice it. But when success attended the exercise of their ingenuity in devising means to supply their natural and artificial wants, the simple arts would be gradually introduced, and their progress and perpetuity secured by practice and by that alone. This appears to have been the opinion of the ancients: Jove willed that man, by long experience taught, Should various arts invent by gradual thought. Geor. i, 150. 14 Original Water Vessels. [Book I. CHAPTER III. ORIGIN OF VESSELS for containing water-The Calabash the first one-It has always been usedFound by Columbus in the cabins of Americans--Inhabitants of New Zealand, Java, Sumatra, and of the Pacific Islands employ it-Principal vessel of the Africans-Curious remark of Pliny respecting it -Common among the ancient Mexicans, Romans and Egyptians-Offered by the latter people on their altars-The model after which vessels of capacity were originally formed-Its figure still preserved in several-Ancient American vessels copied from it-Peruvian bottles--Gurgulets--The form of the Calabash prevailed in the vases and goblets of the ancients-Extract from Persius' Satires---Ancient vetsels for heating water modeled after it---Pipkin---Sauce-pan---Anecdote of a Roman Dictator---The common cast iron cauldron, of great antiquity; similar in shape to those used in Egypt, in the time of Rameses---Often referred to in the Bible and in the Iliad---Grecian, Roman, Celtic, Chinese, and Peruvian cauldrons---Expertness of Chinese tinkers---Croesus and the Delphic oracle---Uniformity in the figure of cauldrons---Cause of this---Superiority of their form over straight sided boilers---Brazen cauldrons highly prized---WATER POTS of the Hindoos---Women drawing water---Anecdote of Darius and a young female of Sardis---Dexterity of oriental women in balancing water pots---Origin of the Canopus ---Ingenuity and fraud of an Egyptian priest---Ecclesiastical deceptions in the middle ages. WATER being equally necessary as more solid food, man would early be impelled by his appetite, to procure it in larger quantities than were required to allay his thirst upon a single occasion; and, also the means by which he might convey it with him, in his wanderings, and to his family. It is not improbable that this was the first of man's natural wants which required the exercise of his inventive faculties to supply. The luxuriance of the vegetable region, in which all agree that he was placed, furnished in abundance the means that he sought; and which his natural sagacity would lead him, almost instinctively, to adopt. The CALABASH OF GOURD, was probably the first vessel used by man for collecting and containing water: and although we have no direct proof of this, there is evidence, (that may be deemed equally conclusive,) in the general factthat man, in the infancy of the arts, has always, when under similar circumstances, adopted the same means, to accomplish the same objects. Of this, proofs innumerable, might be adduced from the history of the old world, particularly with regard to the uses and application of natural productions; and when at the close of the fifteenth century, Columbus opened the way to a new world, having in his search after one continent discovered another (of which neither he, nor his contemporaries ever dreamt, and which in extent exceeded all that his visions ever portrayed;) he found the CALABASH the principal vessel in use among the inhabitants, both for containing and transporting water. The calabashes of the Indians, (says Washington Irving,) served all the purposes of glass and earthenware, supplying them with all sorts of domestic utensils. They are produced on stately trees, of the size of elms. The New Zealanders possessed no other vessel for holding liquids; and the same remark is applicable at the present day to numerous savage tribes. Osbeck, in his Voyage to China, remarks, that the Javanese sold to European ships, among other necessaries, "bottles of gourds filled with water, as it is made up for their own use."b When Kotzebue was at Owhyhee, Tamaahmaah the king, although he a Irving's Colum. i, 105, and Penny Mag. for 1834, p. 416. bi, 150. Chap. 3.] The Calabash. 15 possessed elegant European table utensils, used at dinner, a gourd containing taro-dough, into which he dipped his fingers, and conveyed it by them to his mouth, observing to the Russian navigator," this is the custom in my country and I will not depart from it."a This conduct of Tamaahmaah, resembled that of Motezuma. Solis observes, that he had cups of gold and salvers of the same," but that he sometimes drank out of cocoas and natural shells.b When Kotzebue revisited the Radack Islands, "he carried to them seeds of gourds for valuable vessels," as well as others of which the fruit is eaten.c "There is a gourd more esteemed by the inhabitants of Johanna for the large shell, than for the meat. It will hold a pailful. Its figure is like a man's head, and therefore called a calabash."d The people of Sumatra drink out of the fruit called labu, resembling the calabash of the West Indies: a hole being made in the side of the neck and another one at the top for vent. In drinking they generally hold the vessel at a distance above their mouths, (like the ancient Greeks and Romans) and catch the stream as it falls; the liquid descending to the stomach without the action of swallowing. The Japanese have a tradition that the first man owed his being to a calabash.f Capt. Harris, in his "Wild sports of Southern Africa" (chap. xvii.) in describing the residence of the king of Kapaue, observes, "the furniture consisted exclusively of calabashes of beer, ranged round the wall." And again in chap. xx:-" a few melons, rather deserving the name of vegetables, were the only fruit we met with; and these I presume are nurtured chiefly for the gourd, which becomes their calabash or water flagon." Clavigero says, "the drinking vessels of the ancient Mexicans, were made of a fruit similar to gourds."g For such purposes, the calabash has ever been used wherever it was known, and will continue to be so, as long as it grows and man lives. The elder Pliny, in speaking of the cultivation of gourds, a species of which were used as food by the Romans, observes, "of late they have been used in baths and hot houses for pots and pitchers;" but he adds, that they were used in ancient times to contain wine, "in place of rundlets and barrels." From him we learn that the ancients had discovered the means of controlling their forms at pleasure. He says, long gourds are produced from seeds taken from the neck; while those from the middle produce round or spherical ones, and those from the sides, bring forth such as are short and thick.h Among the offerings which the Egyptians placed on their altars, was the gourd. An undeniable proof of its value in their estimation; for nothing was ever offered by the ancients to their gods, which was not highly esteemed by themselves. The consecration of this primeval vessel, in common with other objects of ancient sacrifice, doubtless originated in its universal use in the early ages; and most likely gave rise to the subsequent practice of dedicating cups and goblets, of gold, silver, and sometimes of precious stones. As the gourd or calabash was not only the first vessel used to collect and convey water, but one apparently designed by the Creator for these purposes, a figure of it is here given. a Voyage Discov. Lon. 1821. i, 313, and ii, 193. iii, 175. A New Account of East India and • Marden's Sumat. 61. Montanus' Japan. 275. b Nat. Hist. xix, 5. Wilkinson i, 276. b Conquest Mexico, Lon. 1724. iii, 83. Persia, by Dr. Fryer. Lon. 1698. 17. Hist. of Mexico. Lon. 1837. i. 438. 16 Ancient Vases. [Book I. This interesting production of nature is entitled to particular notice, because, it is, in all probability, the original model of the earliest artificial vessels of capacity; the pattern from which they were formed. It is impossible to glance at the figure without recognizing its striking resemblance to our jugs, flasks, jars, demijohns, &c. Indeed when man first began to make vessels of clay, he had no other pattern to guide him in their formation but this, one with which he had been so long familiar, and the figure of which experience had taught him was so well adapted to his wants. Independent of other advantages of this form, it is the best to impart strength to fragile materials. No. 1. That the long necked vases of the ancients were modeled after it, is obvious. Many of them differ nothing from it in form, except in the addition of a handle and base. The oldest vessels figured in the GRANDE DESCRIPTION OF EGYPT, by the Savans of France, and in Mr. Wilkinson's late work on the ancient Egyptians, are fac-similes of it. The same remark applies to those of the Hindoos and Chinese. No. 2. Ancient Vases. The first three on the left are of earthenware from Thebes, from Wilkinson's second volume, p. 345, 354. "Golden ewers" of a similar form were used by the rich Egyptians for containing water, to wash the hands and feet of their guests. (page 202.) The next is Etruscan, from the "History of the ancient people of Italy." Florence 1832. Plate 82. The adjoining one is a Chinese vase, from "Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture," &c. Lon. 1757. The last is from Egypt. Similar shaped vessels of the Greeks, Romans, and other people might easily be produced. See Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, page 408, and Grande Description, E. M. Vol. 2. Plates I, I, and F, F. In the Hamilton Collection of Vases, examples may be found. In the splendid volume of plates to D'Agincourt's Storia Dell' Arte, the figure of the gourd may be seen to have prevailed in artificial vessels in the fourth, fifth, and up to the twelfth centuries. Numerous vessels from the tombs of the INCAS, are identical in figure with the calabash; while others, retaining its general feature, have the bellied part worked into resemblances of the human face. As several old Peruvian bottles exhibit a peculiar and useful feature, we have inserted (figure 3,) a representation of one, in the possession of J. R. Chilton, M. D. of this city. An opening is formed in the inner side of the handle which communicates with the interior of the vessel, by a smaller one made through the side, as shown in the section. By this device air is admitted, and a person can either drink from, or pour out the contents, with Chap. 3.] No. 3. Peruvian Bottle. out experiencing that disagreeable gurgling which accompanies the emptying of a modern bottle. The openings are so arranged as to form a very shrill whistle-by blowing into the mouth of the vessel, a sound is produced, equal to that from a boatswain's call on board a man of war. These vessels have been noticed by most travelers in South America. They are sometimes found double-two being connected at the bottom with only one discharging orifice. Some are of silver. Frezier, among others, gives a figure of one resembling two gourds united. It "consists of two bottles joined together, each about six inches high, having a hole (tube) of communication at the bottom. One of them is open, and the other has on its orifice a little animal, like a monkey, eating a cod of some sort; under which is a hole which makes a whistling when water is poured out of the mouth of the other bottle, or when that within is but shaken; because the air being pressed along the surface of both bottles, is forced out at that little hole in a violent manner."a These whistles are so constructed, as to play either when the air is drawn in through them, or forced out. Perhaps the water organs of the ancients, were originally little more than an assemblage of similar vessels. M. Frezier thought the smallest of these bottles were designed expressly to produce music; if so, they are (we suppose) the only water instruments extant.b The large earthen vessels used by the water carriers of Mexico, strictly resemble the gourd. Saturday Mag. vol. vi, 128. The "gurgulets" of the Persians, Hindoos, and Egyptians of the present day, are rather larger, but of the same shape as the Florence flask, i. e. of the gourd. They are formed "of a porous earth, and are so called, from the sound made when water is poured out of them to be drunk, as a A Voyage to the South Sea, &c. in 1712, '13, '14. Lon. 1717. 274. b The following extract from a late newspaper affords additional information respecting these vessels in remote ages: “The Peruvian Pompeii.—We recently gave a description of an ancient subterranean city, destroyed by an earthquake, or some other sudden convulsion of nature, lately discovered near the port of Guarmey, in Truxillo, on the coast of Peru. The only account of it which appears to have as yet been received in the United States, was brought by Capt. Ray of Nantucket, who a few weeks since returned from the South Seas in the ship Logan, and who, having visited the spot whilst the inhabitants of Guarmey were excavating the buried streets and buildings, obtained several interesting relics of its ancient but unknown population. The Portland Orion describes some of these, of which we did not find any mention in the Nantucket Inquirer from whom we derived our former information, and they are of a character which may possibly afford the diligent antiquary some clue to the age and origin of the people to whom they belonged. They are two grotesquely shaped earthen vessels, somewhat rudely yet ingeniously constructed, of a species of clay, colored or burnt nearly black. One of these, which is capable of holding about a pint, is shaped somewhat like a quail, with a spout two inches long, rising from the centre of the back, from which also a handle extends to the side. The other is a double vessel, connected at the centre, and also at the top, by a handle reaching from the spout or nozzle of one vessel to the upper part of the other-the latter not being perforated but wrought into the likeness of a very unprepossessing human countenance. At the back of what may be considered the head of this face, is a small hole, so contrived that on blowing into the mouth of the vessel a shrill note is produced, similar to that of a boatswain's call. From the activity with which the excavations were proceeding when Capt. Ray left the place, it may be hoped that discoveries will be made which will greatly add to the antiquarian history of this continent." |