STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 3-59 



with the corn-meal, made a dongb, or batter, not unlike the modern 

 "fritters." It was a common practice with the Indians to mix other 

 articles of food with the meal made from maize, and for this both corn- 

 mills and mortars are admirably adapted. Loskiel mentions their 

 mixing dried bilberries with corn-meal, and also smoked eels chopped 

 fine. 



Pestles, very abundant throughout the whole State, are those long, 

 cylindrical stones, which, as a class, have been chipped, or chipped and 

 ground, until their length is many times greater than their diameter. 

 Of course, so simple an instrument will not vary much except in size. 

 We have seen none in New Jersey showing any attempt at ornamenta- 

 tion. Mr. Perkins,* describing some Indian relics from Vermont, in 

 speaking of pestles, says : " I have seen only one that had any kind of 

 ornament upon it. This is a large one, over two feet long, in the 

 museum of the University of Vermont. It is cylindrical, as usual, 

 and is rounded at one end, while the other is carved to resemble the 

 head of some animal — it may be a wolf." Mr. F. W. Putnam, in a 

 foot-note, referring to the above, adds : '' In the collection of the New 

 York State museum at xVlbany, there is a long ' pestle,' of identical pat- 

 tern and having the same rough carving as the one described from the 

 Burlington museum. These are the only ones that have come under my 

 observation having the handle carved to represent an animal, though 

 most of the longer implements of this character have a knob at the 

 handle, as if for the purpose of suspension." We have seen pestles 

 from New Jersey twenty-five inches in length, but all are plain through- 

 out ; not a single example, with even " a knob at the handle," having 

 occurred in any collections in this State which we have visited. 



Figure 200 represents an excellent average specimen of the stone 

 pestles as found in New Jersey. This example measures seventeen and 

 a half inches in length and nearly eight inches in circumference. It is 

 somewhat polished and beveled at either end, which would indicate that 

 the ends were used in the deep mortars, and not the sides, by rolling in 

 the saddle-shai)ed corn-mills. There is no indication whatever of the 

 sides having been used, they being now as rough, or nearly so, as when 

 the implement left the hands of its maker. The marks of the stone- 

 hammerare plainly visible even to the very ends of the specimen, showing 

 that a great amount of labor was expended in producing the implement. 

 Its weight is seven pounds, enough to make it a cumbersome article for 

 carriage. As such pestles were useful only where there were stationary 

 mortars, it is probable that this and allied specimens were used princi- 

 pally in the permanent towns, as, for instance, the one where Trenton, 

 N. J., now stands, which, according to Uaeckwelder, was the headquar- 

 ters of a great chief. Figure 200 was found within a mile of the big 

 mortar we have mentioned as in Center street. Wo have, however, 

 seen several fine specimens of long and heavy pestles in the cabinet of 



* Amer. Nat., vol. vi, j). 12. 



