ETHNOLOGY. 435 



They were buried near the bank of a small ravine, within a few miles of 

 the Kaskaskia River ; and, from the wear and hard service of which 

 they bear signs, it is inferred that they constituted a « kit of tools " cached 

 until further needed. 



The author of "Antiquities of the Southern Indians " informed me 

 that he has frequently found these disks also about old Indian camping- 

 grounds, along the water-courses of Georgia. Consequently they must 

 have been tools in common use by tribes inhabiting a wide range of ter- 

 ritory. 



The deposit briefly noticed, on the authority of Dr. P. R. Hoy, in 

 Lapham's "Antiquities of Wisconsin,"* consisted of about forty disks, 

 scarcely differing in any respect from those last mentioned, and exhibit- 

 ing the same unmistakable indications of hard usage. One of these 

 flints from a peat-bog near Eacine, Wis., was given to me by Dr. Hoy, 

 who told me that the specimen, though equal in size to any of the forty 

 others found with it, was different in shape from the rest, haviug one 

 end broader, while all the other specimens were nearly round or oval. 



Mr. John P. Jones, of Keytesville, Chariton County, Missouri, com- 

 municated to me some particulars of three deposits of flint implements 

 which at various periods of time were brought to light in the neighbor- 

 hood of his home. The first was a store of spear-heads and arrow- 

 points, several hundreds in number, which he was too late to secure or 

 satisfactorily examine. The weapons were all new, a fact conclusive 

 that here had been the arsenal of a tribe, or the secreted stock in trade 

 of another primitive American merchant. Better fortune attended Mr. 

 Jones in the discovery of a second deposit, consisting of seventeen new 

 flint knives, as the greater number of them fell into his possession. 



A third deposit, described by Mr. Jones, was discovered in the valley 

 or " second bottom " of the Chariton River, aud contained about fifty 

 small, flat, ovoid, pointed flints. They had been stuck into the ground, 

 point down, in concentric circles, and were then covered with earth, 

 forming over them a low, flat mound 12 or 18 inches in height by 5 or 

 6 feet in diameter. These implements had been in use for a long time 

 before receiving their final interment. Some were gapped on the edges, 

 and all were to a certain extent polished. 



The deposits of stone implements in the ground, to which I have re- 

 ferred, are but a few representative instances of the kind from a great 

 number discovered in all parts of the United States. In the cases I 

 have cited, the intention of the person making the deposit is at once 

 apparent. The property was placed in the ground to hide and thereby 

 to secure it. Those implements found which bear the marks of use are 

 such as were not at the time needed, and were hidden away until again 

 wanted, or for safe-keeping during the temporary absence of the owner. 

 The new or unused articles, it is presumable, were the stores of traders 



Published by the Smithsonian Institution. 1855. Pp. 8 and 10. 



