1 M P L H M E N T S O !■' S T ONE. 



•21!) 



are given, Fig. 1 14. It is clear nevertheless, both from their t'orni iiiid material, that 

 they were not designed for use. They may be regarded as having been intended 

 simply for ornament or display. No. 1 is composed of a beautiful talcose slate of 

 a greenish brown color, slightly veined with dark lines. It measures six inches in 

 length, is two inches and a half broad at the centre, and five inches between the tips. 

 No. 4 was found in South Carolina, and is composed of a dark steatite. The 

 others were found in Mississippi, and are for the most part couiposcd of soft and 

 easily-worked stone.* 



Fig. 1 15 is of similar material with No. 1, Fig. 1 14, is highly polished, and gieasures 

 six inches in length. The hole is half an inch in diameter at one end, but less at 

 the other.f 



Fig. 116 is an example of a kind of hammer or club-head of stone. It weighs 

 about two pounds. Articles of this kind are not frequent ; and none have been 

 found in the mounds. It is probable that a withe was passed around the groove 

 in the middle, and the ends firmly bound together. By this means the implement 

 might be very efiiciently used as a hammer or war-club. Spherical stones are 

 often found, weighing from half a pound to two pounds. The manner in 

 which they were used is, no doubt, correctly explained by Lewis and Clarke : 

 " The Shoshonee Indians use an instrument which was Ibrmerly employed 

 among the Chippeways, and called by them pogamoggon. It consists of a 

 handle, twenty-two inches long, made of wood, covered with leather, about 

 the size of a whip-handle. At one end is a thong two inches in length, which is 

 tied to a stone weighing two pounds, enclosed in a cover of leather. At the other 

 end is a loop of the same material, which is passed around the wrist to secure the 

 implement, with which they strike a powerful blow." It is probable that the 

 pear-shaped stones represented in the above engraving. Fig. 117, were used 

 in like manner. Carver describes a weapon, in use by the tribes beyond the 

 IVIississip|)i river, which consisted of a curiously wrought stone, enclosed in leather 

 as above, and fastened, like the slung-shot of the present day, to a thong, a vard 



* In till- ciibincis of 1>. \.. C. Waii.i;s, Esq., Wasiiiiigtoii, Mi.ss. ; and of Rev. R. Mukris, Mount Sylvnn, in 

 the same Stale. 



f In the cabiiicL "I J.^.mes McBride. Hamilton. Ohio. 



