266 



are being fouiicl in geological positions hitherto considered antecedent 

 to man's creation. They are also important and interesting from 

 their universality, both in chronological and geographical position, 

 and the similarity which characterizes them whenever and wherever 

 found. 



With this brief introduction the subject will be treated in accord- 

 ance with the divisions proposed. 



Division First. The pestles for the preparation of food (a well-known 

 form of stone implement among the North American Indians), are, 

 as far as my observation is concerned, invariably made of the sand- 

 stones of the region from which the specimens are derived, and their 

 construction appears to have been as follows : 



A water-worn stone was selected, approximated by natural agency 

 and action, the abrasion of moving masses in water, to the desired 

 form. The superabundant material was then removed by a process 

 which may be called "pecking,^' the characteristic marks of which 

 appear upon a numerous class of instruments, such as pestles, mortars, 

 chisels, &c. It was effected by blows with the sharp points of horn- 

 stone, jasper, or chalcedony, either directly with a mass of those 

 materials held in the hand, or aided by a mallet or club, or secured 

 to wooden handles, by insertion and ligaments of tendon, or lashings 

 of raw hide; the said blows were given in a direction perpendicular 

 to the surface, and not with the tool placed at an angle, as is usual 

 in chipping or dressing marble, thus strongly and plainly marking the 

 surface of the larger and rougher implements, and more delicately 

 those of the smaller or lesser. 



From the number of fragments found it is evident that many im- 

 plements must have been broken under the operation. It is also 

 evident from the numerous unfinished specimens found, that the 

 characteristic unsustained labor of savages caused many to be aban- 

 doned with careless indifference in an unfinished state, after conside- 

 rable time and work had been bestowed upon them. 



This manner of working off by crushing the surface, is analogous 

 in principle to the usages of modern ^stonecutters' when working 

 upon sandstone and granite, but it is not adapted to marble, which 

 requires that the tool should be held and struck at an angle (with 

 this marked difference, that they use tools of steel), so as to lift off 

 chips without crushing, and thus destroying the structure of the 

 marble J by the first method noted, unskilful workmen destroy or 

 greatly injure works of art. 



After the implement had been brought by perhuKj to the required 

 form, a higher degree of finish was given by rubbing with sandstones. 



