STONE AGE IX NEW JERSEY. 333 



the exception of a very slight depressiou at the opening of the perfora- 

 tion. One end is somewhat flattened, the other less abruptly outlined. 

 The under or concave margin is less defined than the upper, and more 

 sloping from the center toward each end than a segment of a circle. 

 Both the upper and lower margins are flat, the width of each decreas- 

 ing from the perforation at the middle of the specimen toward each end. 



The hole which passes entirely through the middle of figure 172 is a 

 very noticeable feature. It measures a little less than nine-sixteenths of 

 an inch in diameter 5 it is perfectly circular, of uniform dimensions from 

 end to end, and faintly exhibits those rings that characterize holes drilled 

 ■with a hollow instrument, as a reed, as this perforation must have been. 



Professor Eau, of ZsTew York, has so fully and accurately gone over the 

 whole subject of drilling in stone without metal, that we refer our 

 readers to his paper* for the details of the modus operandi of making 

 these larger perforations which characterize such relics as we have called 

 banner-stones. A superficial examination of the hole drilled through 

 figure 132 shows that such perforation has been made with a hollow 

 instrument. We presume it to have been a reed, and Professor Eau 

 states, in the paper above mentioned,! " It is very likely that the liolloiij 

 drills of the aborigines of JSTorth America were pieces of that hard and 

 tough cane [Arundinaria macrosperma^ Michaux) which grows abund- 

 antly in the southern part of the United States, mostly along the banks 

 of .large rivers, and forms at present an article of trade, being used for 

 pipe-stems and fishing-rods. This cane varies considerably in thick- 

 ness; sometimes as thin as a straw, it assumes, when ivWy grown, the 

 diametral proi)ortions of a strong rifle-barrel, and even of larger cylin- 

 drical objects, in which cases it reaches the enormous height of 25 or 30 

 feet. A i^iece of this cane, from which the knotty joints have been cut, 

 forms a regular hollow cylinder sufficiently strong to serve as a drill, f 

 learned from Dr. Davis that many years ago a stone pipe with an ui:- 

 finished hollow, partly filled with vegetable matter, was sent from Mis- 

 sissippi to the late Dr. Samuel P. Morton, of Philadelphia. When sub- 

 jected to a microscopical examination the vegetable substance exhibited 

 the fibrous structure of cane, and thus appeared to be a remnant tf 

 a drill broken off in the bore. Squier and Davis \ figure one exam- 

 ple of a banner-stone, very similar to figure 132, and say of it. and 

 others somewhat similar, " It is clear, both from their form and mate- 

 rial, that they were not designed for use. They may be regarded as 

 having been intended simply for ornament or display." 



Whatever may have been the manner of exhibiting such stone ornsi- 

 ments it is impossible to determine, but the fortunate possessor of such 

 a specimen might well be proud of it. May it not be that such stones 

 were the ''charms" of the "medicine" men? Stones that were con- 

 cealed from the general gaze of the crowd, and only brought to view 



* Smitlisoniau Rep. for 1868, p. 392. t L. c, p. 31)9. 



X .\nc. Moil. Mi8S. Vullev. i>. -JIS, fig. 114, No. J. 



