In the matter of decoration there is found a general similarity of methods in the different regions. Apparently the first decorations were the unavoidable result of methods of manufacture, whether moulded or coil-made. In the first instance the meshes of the wicker mould, or such part of them as could not easily be covered up with a sandy paste to prevent adhesion, impressed themselves upon the soft clay; or the fabric that was employed to remove the work from a mould made impressions upon the ware. If coil-made, the pinching of the clay rope into position left marks of the finger-tips and the finger-nails with a regularity that doubtless came to be admired and then modified to conform to fancy, and finally finger markings and other markings and indentations grew, especially in our South-west, into a regular system of decoration. The irregularity due to pinching the rope in place is less with the expert than it was with the primitive potters, and it is now smoothed off entirely with a “rib,” the left hand being placed opposite the pressure applied with the right.[97] In the earlier forms the fingers of the right hand held stiffly downward seem to have been used to even up the irregularity of the coils to some extent, as may be discerned in figure page 116, where there are diagonal grooves across the lines of the coil, evidently made, the left hand being inside the jar, by drawing the fingers of the right, or rather the forefinger braced against the others, diagonally upward upon the outer surface. The operation would be almost identical with the modern practice except that the fingers were used instead of a “rib.” Indentations were also made with a sharp instrument in a pattern, and another method seems to have been to smooth off all the pinch marks, except in certain areas that when left would form a pattern. Thus in the latter case the pattern was produced by a system of obliteration. In figure on page 118, a vase from the Moki country, of the ancient Pueblo manufacture, shows this method of making a pattern by smoothing down pinch marks. To do this the pinch marks would intentionally be made with some regularity. [Illustration: ENGRAVED WARE, ARKANSAS.] [Illustration: BLACK CUP, CHIRIQUI.]