142 Hopewell Mound Group 



the broken part of the beak, made a corresponding hole in the fragment, 

 and doweled the two together. The pipe is dark brown, but has prob- 

 ably been darkened by the altar fires, as fresh surfaces show light gray 

 or clay color. Part of the beak, where a sliver has broken off, is reddish. 

 It is evident that the pipe had been wrapped in, or placed upon, cloth; 

 for a few small pieces of the fabric still adhere to it. 



Mica. — Mention has already been made of the great find of mica 

 in Mound 17. There was so much of it that when packed for shipment 

 it filled two barrels. Some of the larger masses or books were 50 cm 

 in diameter and 1.5 cm thick. Mica of this size must have come from 

 surface outcrops in North Carolina. The West Virginia mica blocks are 

 smaller; and New Hampshire, the nearest other possible source, is too 



Fig. 38. 

 Effigy of Human Thumb Made of Cannel Coal from Skeleton 278. 



far away. It was not difficult for the Indians to cut mica with flint 

 knives. An experiment proved that squares and circles could be cut 

 from thin sheets with comparative ease. A number of objects of cut 

 mica, most of which were found in Altar i , are shown in Plate LXXIX 

 and Figs. 39 and 40. Those in Fig. 40 were probably fragments of 

 larger designs. There were about two hundred of these designs includ- 

 ing circles, scallops, knife forms, ovals, human heads, and unknown 

 designs. Willoughby says that a study of these objects and of the 

 designs in copper, as well as on shell and bone, proves that the Mound 

 Builders of Ohio had attained a high degree of skill in free-hand drawing, 

 and that they employed as aids guidelines, straight edges, and some 

 form of artificial aid in drawing circles. 



