I speak particularly of this use
of glaze because it is very important. Until people knew how to glaze
their wares many of the comforts and conveniences of living were
impossible. Men carried water or wine in leather gourds, or in clay
vessels coated on the inside with a layer of gum to prevent the
contents from leaking or evaporating."
"I should think the gum would have made the liquid taste," said Theo.
"It did. That was precisely the trouble. Beside that think of the
waste. Suppose you lost half the water you needed for your journey by
having it evaporate. Think in addition what it meant if a large part
of your food dried up in the cooking."
Theo looked grave.
"I should not like that at all."
"Nor did your ancestors," laughed Mr. Croyden. "Well, it was to
these Mohammedan Arabs, or Saracens, as they are termed, that Europe
fundamentally owed its knowledge of the use of glaze, and its
consequent beginning in the art of pottery-making. The Saracens did
not, however, remain in Spain. There was an uprising of the Christians
and they were either driven out or slaughtered, almost every relic of
their civilization being destroyed. A stray temple or palace alone
remains as a monument to them and this was more the result of chance,
probably, than of intention.
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