Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1894 — Merely a Speculation. [ARTICLE]

Merely a Speculation.

At first thought, Egypt would be the last place to look for the invention of hooped vessels, its arid climate making it especially unsuited for their employment. Possibly, however, that may have been the compelling cause of their invention. All through the East the bamboo is largely used for making hollow vessels, a section of the stem through a node securing a solid bottom, and one between the nodes an open mouth for a natural tub or bucket. In all wellwooded regions, nothing would be more natural than the employment of hollow trie trunks for the same purpose, or sections of tree stumps, hollowed out by fire or otherwise. In drying, such vessels would split and spoil, and it would require no great natural genius to repair them by means of withes or wooden bands, the. primitive form of the hoop. If the users of such natural barrels should migrate to a region where timber was scarce, economy of lumber would be likely to suggest the building of barrels from pieces artificially split, in short, the use of staves, by means of which the primitive cooper would be able to make several barrels out of a block that would suffice but for a single dugout. But this is a speculation merely. It is enouah to know for certain that the cooper’s art, like the potters, is one of extreme antiquity.