IMPLEMENTS OF METAL 



197 



only found reduced to great thinness, and plated upon copper. By plated, it should 

 not be understood that any chemical combination, or a union produced by heat, 

 exists between the two metals, but simply that thin slips of silver were wrapped 

 closely around the copper, their edges overlapping, so as to leave no portion exposed. 

 This was done so neatly as, in many cases, almost to escape detection. 



Axes. — Among the implements recovered from the mounds, are several copper 

 axes, the general form of which is well exhibited in the engravings herewith pre- 



sented. They are well wrought, and each appears to have been made from a 

 single piece, — showing that the metal was obtained in considerable masses. The 

 largest of these. Fig. 81, weighs two pounds five ounces. It measures seven inches 

 in length, by four in breadth at the cutting edge, and has an average thickness of 



about four tenths of an inch. Its edge is slightly curved, somewhat after the 

 manner of the axes of the present day, and is bevelled from both surfaces. 



Fig. 82 is less in size, but of heavier proportions. It weighs two pounds, and 



