The Stone Ages of South Africa. 91 



It is generally admitted that stone implements of the type here 

 figured were held in the hand. But that some were hafted, and in 

 that manner made more serviceable, is proved by Fig. 150, of 

 PI. XIX. 



Two examples of that sort are now known. The specimen 

 figured is in the Museum Collection, 



Both were found in the sepultures of the Outeniqua caves. 

 Details of the find of our example will be found in Chapter XVI. 

 The wooden handle is greatly decomposed. Had it not been care- 

 fully protected from atmospheric action from the time of its dis- 

 covery, it would have ci'umbled to dust ; even the first exposure to 

 the air caused it to break. It is so saturated with sodium chloride, 

 that even in the few days it was removed from its glass case for 

 reproduction by photography, an efflorescence of salt was produced. 



The ovoid attachment of gum-cement is very large in proportion to 

 the size of the handle. The stone part is roughly trimmed, being 

 somewhat in the shape of a core, and is embedded in the cement to 

 about one-half of its own length, as far as one can judge. The very 

 sinuous edge had been broken before burial probably, as indicated by 

 the comparatively fresh fracture. 



My first impression was that this hafted tool was that of a ruler 

 or medicine-man, somewhat on the lines of the baton cle com- 

 mandement, and I am inclined still to look upon it in that light, 

 because as a serviceable cutting or graving tool it could not prove of 

 much service. 



This mode of attachment which so greatly resembles that of the 

 Australian Aborigines, must, however, have prevailed perhaps more 

 commonly than we imagine. It would certainly facilitate the 

 handling of the very small chips on which care has certainly been 

 devoted. * 



It has also been resorted to in the three arrows represented in 

 Fig. 142. On Cut 1 is a lozenge-shaped, flat lump of cement of 

 apparently the same composition as that of Fig. 150; on one side 

 there remains a small chip of white quartz inserted with the 

 sharp edge outwards from the middle part of the cement to 

 near the front, but without reaching it ; the chip set on the opposite 

 side would reach the very tip ; and the other side being similarly 

 provided would thus complete a sharp triangle, but it is missing, 

 having dropped out of the fastening material. Cuts 2 and 3 are 

 similarly fashioned, but only a tiny piece of white bottle-glass forms 



* Cf. Etheridge's and Whitelegge's " Aboriginal Workshops on the Coast of 

 New South Wales, and their Contents," Rec. Austr. Mas., vi., 1907. 



