href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@46779@[email protected]#fig7" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">7) none are very bad, and two (Figs. 3 and 4), if not three, are excellent.

Fig. 8.—Peruvian.

Fig. 9.—Peruvian.

The pointed bottom appears here as it does in the early forms of the Greek amphora; and, as the illustrations show, this involves a necessity for a further invention in the tripods upon which they rest. I have seen no explanation of this more difficult construction, and can think of none. It is certainly no easier to make the pointed than the flat bottom, and it certainly is not so useful. Why, then, was it so common? I can only suppose that when first made the point was intended to be thrust into the ground; but the moment they had hit upon the flat bottom, that moment the point, I should fancy, would have been abandoned; but it evidently was not. Perhaps they loved the old as some of us do, not because it was good, but because it was old. Who can tell?