NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



399 



particulars, and must coufiue myself to tlie statement that the speci- 

 mens shown to me present in general the outline of the original of Fig. L*, 

 though they are a little smaller ; and that they are thin, sharp-edged, 

 and exquisitely wrought, aud consist of a beautiful, variously-colored 

 flint, which bears some resemblance to chalcedony. 

 Concerning the use or Fig. 2. 



uses of North American 

 leaf-shaped articles, I am 

 hardly prepared to give a 

 definite opinion, though 

 I think it probable that 

 they served for purposes 

 of cutting. They were 

 certainly not intended for 

 spear-heads, their shape 

 being ill-adapted for that 

 end I nor do I think that 

 they were used as scrap- 

 ers, as other more massive 

 implements of a kindred 

 character probably were, 

 of which 1 shall speak 

 hereafter. 



The aborigines were in 

 the habit of burying arti- 

 cles of flint in the ground, 

 and such deposits, some- 

 times quite large, have 

 been discovered in various 

 l^arts of the United States. 

 These deposits consist of 

 articles representing va- 

 rious types, among which 

 I will mention the leaf- 

 shaped implements in the 

 possession of Mr. Cowing ; the agricultural tools found at East Saint 

 Louis, Illinois, of which I have given an account in the Smithsonian 

 report for 18G8 ; and the rude flint articles of an elongated oval shape, 

 which were found about 1860 on the bank of the Mississippi, between 

 Carondelet and Saint Louis, Missouri, and doubtless belonged to a de- 

 posit. I have described them in the above-named Smithsonian report, 

 (p. 405,) and have also given there a drawing of one of the specimens 

 in my possession. This drawing has been reproduced by Mr. E. T. 

 Stevens, on page 441 of his valuable work entitled "Flint Chips," (Lon- 

 don, 1870,) with remarks tending to show that the specimen does not 

 represent an unfinished implement, as I am inclined to believe, but a 



