The Harrison times., 1914-10-10
Original outline Of Filter and Vessel,

OTlglndl Oulllnc VI TNteT anu NobsSb
numbered some 100000 souls, having
been reduced to about 10000, Event
ually even these last were killed off
or worked to death In the mines and
at tho present day there are no pure
blooded Indians left on the island
1t was my good fortune to discover
on this last trip a totally unknown fact
about the aboriglnes Of Haiti namely,
that these people were acquainted
with the principle Of liltering their
drinking water through charcoal, a
discovery all the moro astonishing
when ono remembers that filters are
supposed TO be comparatively modern
inventions Of the white race, The aG'
eompNnyng photographs show quite
clearly what shape this aboriginal filter
had.
A series OF water Jars Of u similar
shape, although without the "hlter
disk" enabled me to make the deter.
minatIon Of the original outline with
accuracy, Ono can gain some impress.
sion OF the scarcity Of West Indian
pottery when one considers that the
total number Of unbroken vessels OF
clay from tho West Indies in different
institutions throughout tho world IL
not over fifty
/ was exploring some Of the limo.
stone caves that one finds throughout
the Island Of IlNiu when came upon
ono which had IN II q small 8ubterra'
mean froshswNter lake, from which the
Indians IN the nolghborhood evidently
must have taken their drinking water
This lako was about thirty feet lower
than the mouth Of the cave, and ono
descended 10 II by series Of natural
steps, formed by bOuldor9 which IN the
course Of centuries had fallen from the
roof Of tho cave. Between these boul'
ders and In tho water Of tho lako /
found many broken wator vessels Of
various sizes and shapes which the
Indians evidently had thrown away
The recovery Of these jars and ffag.
mentB was quite an exciting task It
neeessitatod diving occasionally into
t2 feet Of water and, though !hs is
not q great depth when ono IL diving
undor natural conditions, II was quite
difficult and rather hazardous IN this
case,
In the first place ! had to burn u
magnesium light In order to locate
whatever piece | wanted to recover, ~
my aGotylono lamp was not strong
enough 70 do this then placed u
long polo, which had cut of tree
outside tho cave, alongside the vessel
and then dove down, following the
polo With ono hand and cropping for
the vessel with the other,
Returning TO the surface was another
problem, because the roof Of the cave
glanted down 60 the w0ter, and II one
came straight up TO the surface ono
would strike the root Of the cave and
probably drown, To overcome this, !
had u rope fastened TO my wrist and
one Of the men with me would pull
toward him when he saw that / had
recovered the object / had gone after,
thus making me come to the surface
IN the proper spot
Among the pieces Of pottery that |
found between the bouldors leading
down to tho lake wOg q fragment Of
the filter illustrated Alongside tho
fragment I found some OF the smaller
Bhreda belonging 60 tho bottom part
OF tho jar and also several large plceoa
OF charcoal These pieces Of charcoal
evidently were packed IN the top part
Of the vessel and served to filter tho
water, both when Il was poured into
the jar and when II was poured out