232 SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



the New Caledonian sling-stones are shaped like two spherical segments, 

 joined at their bases, giving a sharp circumferential ridge. The same 

 form is found in New Zealand and in the stone age missiles of Sweden. 

 Wooden slings and ribbon slings were used by the ancient inhabitants 

 of Sweden, and slings of bast are in the museums of Lund and Stock- 

 holm. 55 Slings of plaited flax are among the lacustrine remains of Keuf- 

 chatel. 56 



The Solomon Islanders also use slings. The Fuegians 57 excel in the . 

 use of the sling, as well as of the bow and arrow and spear. The sling 

 has a pocket of seal or guanaco skin and two thongs three feet in length 

 of twisted sinews. The natives throw with great force and accuracy. 



Pliny ascribes the invention of the sling to the Phoenicians. He 

 always had a guess to make; sometimes a very wild one. The Balearic 

 Islanders 57 * were celebrated for their expertness in its use. The slingers 

 of the Greek and Roman armies were considered an inferior class of war- 

 riors, the sling being but an auxiliary weapon. 



Another mode of slinging is by means of a stick thrust through a per- 

 forated stone and whirled so as to discharge the missile when it has 

 attained a maximum centrifugal motion. 



Fig. 32 shows two throwing-stones from Peru, adapted to be slung 



by a stick which is thrust into 

 the hole. The Peruvians were 

 very expert in the use of the 

 sling. 58 Whorls of star shape 

 were found in great quantities 

 by Schliemann in the excava- 

 tions at Hissarlik. 59 Although 

 '"• :! -'- r/ "" they may be considered spindle 



whorls, it is altogether probable, so great was their number, that they 

 were ammunition. Disk-shaped and cylindrical throwing-stoilcs per- 

 forated Cor the stick are found among the remains of the Lake Dwellers. 60 

 The Fijians have a rough game of jerking stones at each other with 

 elastic bamboo. 61 



Numerous stones fashioned into shapes, and many of them with circum- 

 ferential grooves, arc to be found in European and American collections, 

 labelled plummets (net-sinkers), sling-stones, &c, according to the fancy 

 or opinion of the discoverer or owner. The same may be said of Ameri- 

 can perforated stones which may be plummets or gorgets. There is a 

 tendency to give a warlike signification to such finds recovered in the 

 soil, in mounds or in graves. The civil uses of these objects were prob- 

 ably much more frequent than the warlike ; as the search for food is a 



Sven Nilson "<)n the Stone Age." Ed. by Sir John Lubbock, pi. v, pp. 49, 53. 

 1 Morlol in Smithsonian Report, 1863, p. 377. "Wood, ii, p. .">17. 



""Caesar's Comm., ii, 1. 6S Prescott's "Conquest of Peru," i, 72. 



W'Troy and its Remains," No. 444, PI. xl. 

 « " Culturgeschichte," Tat'. •■>, Figs. 60-63. «i Wood, ii. 



