IMPLEMENTS OF M E T A L . 203 



shores of Lake Superior, where alone this pecuHar combination is known to exist. 

 The circumstance that the mound axes are made of unalloyed copper, does not 

 aflect this conclusion ; for a large proportion of the native metal found at this 

 locality is pure. The conclusion is further sustained by the amount of the metal 

 extracted from the mounds, implying a large original supply. Besides numerous 

 small pieces, some large fragments are occasionally discovered. One of these, 

 weighing twenty-three pounds, and from which portions had evidently been cut, 

 was found a few years since near Chillicothe. Still, it does not appear that copper 

 was sufficiently abundant to entirely supersede the use of bone and stone imple- 

 ments. 



