000 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



and Nantucket, might have been collected on the spot; although one 

 variety of jasper of which are made a good number of arrow-heads seems 

 to be very rare in this region. 



Several pestles found on Cape Cod, and one from Middleborough, were 

 made of a slate, belonging in the Carboniferous group, occurring abun- 

 dantly in Rhode Island, and from which several pestles in the collection 

 of Brown University are made. 



Besides these pestles the most interesting objects, which point to some 

 sort of trade or an exchange by force between these Indians and the 

 Narragansetts or some other tribe, are the broken pots of steatite, or 

 soap-stone, found at Bass River, Winslow's Narrows, and Harwich Port, 

 and the pieces of graphite found at Taylor's Pond and Harwich Port. 



The Narragansetts are mentioned first, because they were noted for 

 their industry in manufacturing and exchanging articles with other 

 tribes, and a comparison of the specimens from Cape Cod with some 

 obtained this summer in Rhode Island lead to the belief that both the 

 graphite and the soap-stone came from that region also. 



This summer the famous ledge of soap-stone at Johnston, R. I., just 

 outside of Providence, Avas visited. To this the Indians must have re- 

 sorted for years to obtain material for their stone»pots and pipes. 



Rev. Fred. Denison, of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and one 

 of the committee chosen to preserve this interesting relic, has published 

 a circular which describes the condition of the quarry when first dis- 

 covered. Extracts from this circular, prepared by Mr. Denison, will be 

 given to show the importance of this quarry to the aborigines. 



"This largest excavation measures about 10 feet in length, feet in 

 width, and now 5 feet in depth. From the top to the ledge, as left by 

 the glaciers, the excavation must have been carried down about 15 feet 

 or more, inasmuch as, when it was opened, there lay across its top a 

 fallen slab of slate-stone that once stood full 10 feet high above it, form- 

 ing its eastern wall. 



"The excavation was found partly filled up with dirt, debris of Indian 

 art, some whole stone pots, some partly finished pots, some only blocked 

 out, numerous stone hammers, and a few shells. Many of these valu- 

 able relics have passed into private hands and are highly prized. The 

 sides and bottom of this excavation contain about sixty distinct pits and 

 knobs of places where pots and dishes were cut from the rock, while all 

 parts bear marks and scars made by the stone implements of the swarthy 

 quarryinen. From the excavations and their surroundings have been 

 removed about three hundred horse-cart loads of the stone chips left by 

 the Indian workmen, yet some have been preserved by Prof. J. W. P. 

 Jenks, in the museum of Brown University." In the possession of a 

 friend on Cape Cod, is a broken soap-stone pipe which he found at Har- 

 wich Port. In Rhode Island a perfect stone pipe of this same pattern 

 was seen. The handles or ears on some of the pots fouud at the quarry 

 above described, were exactly like the handle on a piece of a stoiw 



