276 ETHNOLOGY. 



It will be noticed tliat we Lave outliued a base in the illustration as 

 simply a sliort straight projection of the width only of the fractured 

 surface. AVe think this was the shape of the complete specimen, since 

 a few fragments of about this size and shape have been picked up, none 

 of which, however, would fit any of the specimens that we gathered. If 

 our hypothesis as to tbe shape of the stem is correct, it was probably 

 simply inserted into a slit made in the end of the haft, and, while secure 

 enough when being carried about, was i^robably dislodged in the body 

 of the animal into which it was thrust. Since the wound it caused 

 would almost certainly be fatal, the spear-point could be recovered. 

 Of course, such a spear-point as this, although intended for hunting, 

 would be valuable, and was probably used in war. Perhaps no relic 

 (used for a single purpose) was exclusively available for several uses ; 

 but everything considered, we believe this and the i^receding and fol- 

 lowing " spears " to have been intended for hunting. 



Figure 43 is a very beautiful specimen, a very unusual form of spear- 

 head, chipj)ed from a pale pea-green mass of jasper. It is a pretty, 

 regularly-outlined triangle of jasper, the base measuring two and five- 

 eighths inches in width, which is the exact length of the specimen from 

 the point to the commencement of the tang or stem. The stem itself is 

 but a little over three-fourths of an inch in length, and a little broader 

 than the length at the base of the body of the specimen. It suggests 

 the chase rather than war. But in either, it would not require much 

 force to drive such a spear-point through an animal, even though it 

 might come in contact with a bone. 



Figure 44 represents the ordinary hunting-spear, made of slate and 

 other comparatively soft stone, so abundant in some portions of New 

 Jersey. Three inches in total length by about one and one-half in 

 greatest width, as a class they differ somewhat in the details of outline, 

 but have a general resemblance that at once distinguishes them from 

 everything else, unless they are looked ui^ou as simply large arrow- 

 heads. We have found very many single specimens of this form of 

 spear-point in " out of the way " places along the shores of small streams, 

 formerly and still marshy, and worthless for grain or grass, and there- 

 fore the resort of some of the few mammals that are rapidly becoming 

 extinct by the encroachments of man. The finding of such single speci- 

 mens in likely hunting-places is more confined to just such spear-heads 

 as the specimen figured than to any other class of relics, not excepting 

 even axes, which are pretty evenly distributed over our State. 



Figure 45 represents a rude slate hunting-spear, such as is occasion- 

 ally found wherever relics of any description at all occur. It seems a 

 little curious that so few specimens of this pattern, made of slate, should 

 be met with, as it certainly is a good form for hunting or war purposes; 

 nor are those of this shape made of jasper very abundant. Specimens 

 of this size, of any mineral, are not common ; and nearly all that we have 

 found, and the majority of the specimens in the various cabinets we have 

 visited, have been in a more or less fragmentary condition. 



