116 Annah of the South African Museum. 



a more utilitai'ian purpose, as shown by one of its worn sides, which 

 points clearly to it having been used as a muller, or may be, a whet- 

 stone for spears. 



I received lately a pyriform specimen (PL XXIII., Fig. 169), 

 which differs greatly in shape any ! kwe either mentioned or 

 figured ; it is, like many other stone implements, made of dolerite, 

 but is thickly covered with a deposit of lime. One end has been 

 ground and the bore begun there ; the other end, or opposite pole, is 

 conical, and in order to start the orifice on the opposite side this 

 end would of necessity have to be truncated, or reduced by grind- 

 ing. The perforation has reached the centre ; it is smooth, and 

 therefore presupposes the use of stick and sand. Had it been com- 

 pleted the example would absolutely resemble the pyriform club- 

 heads occurring along the Mediterranean littoral, and especially 

 those from Sicily. 



Symbolism is attributed by some antiquarians to these perforated 

 stones, the latter being part of the linga-yoni, namely, the rosette. 

 Inacceptable as this theory may appear to many, it is not a mere 

 accident that led to the production of the singular implement figured 

 in PI. XXI. No. 6 of Fig. 162. Partisans of the symbolic doctrine 

 may find there a reproduction, although not an orthodox one, of 

 Sivaism. It should also be remembered in connection with it that 

 the club figured in PI. XIX. is shaped as a phallus. Nor are the 

 numbers 1-5 of Fig. 162, in PL XXI., to be considered, although at 

 first sight they may appear to be so, as rimmers or borers, because 

 their composition is seldom sufficiently hard to prove effective, and, 

 moreover, none fits the conical hole." When these holes are 

 smoothed, the smoothness has been produced by the use of stick, 

 sand, and water, the first being made to rotate between the hands 

 in the manner that fire was produced. There is no reason to sup- 

 pose that the makers were acquainted with the bow-drill. But the 



rapidity round the fore-finger, and projects it to a distance of some 60 yards, seldom 

 missing his aim. Stone " tchakras " have been found in India and Cochin-China. 



But whether or not these ring-discs (Anneaux-disques) are symbolic or not 

 (Vichnou or Indra throwing the bolt under the form of a disc rotating round the 

 index of the right hand), the exact counterparts of Dr. Schonland's specimens are 

 found in France and Italy, and, as far as I know, have been discovered nowhere 

 else. Their similarity can be only appreciated by a comparison with the Figs, 

 given by Cartailhac (" L'anthropologie," 1904, p. 264). As armlets these ring-discs 

 would prove undoubtedly very cumbersome, but the aperture of the South African 

 ones, varying from 4^ to 5 cm. , is hardly wide enough for the insertion of a woman's 

 hand, to say nothing of that of a man. 



* An old Koranna, said to be a Bushwoman, asserts that implements like Cuts 4 

 and 7 of Fig. 162, were held in the hand to dig bulbs with. 



