STOCK-IN-TRADE OF AN ABORIGINAL LAPIDARY. 291 



of clamshells, althongli a few specimens of Area incongriia, Neritina, 

 Melania, and Fusus cinereus are met with. 



Human remains have been found in great abundance even upon the 

 surface. Mr. Cunningham reports the discovery of portions of fourteen 

 skeletons. Of the perfect crania found, one was very much distorted, 

 the other was slightly flattened on one side. Bone implements were 

 also recovered, sharpened at the end like a toothpick. But the most 

 interesting part of the collection is the pottery, thousands of fragments 

 having been recovered on this single occasion. Five entire vessels 

 were sa,ved, and fragments of one or two others which can be repaired. 

 Of the entire vessels, ^o. 1, 18 inches wide and 14 inches deep, is com- 

 posed of coarse material, shells and clay, brown outside and red inside. 

 In shape it is an inverted conoid, with perpendicular rim. There is no 

 ornamentation excepting a line drawn around the base of the neck. It 

 contained human remains, and when found was covered by a flat dish 

 in the same manner as the burial jars of Nicaragua. Ko. 2 is a flat in- 

 verted conoid, 7^ inches deep and 18 inches in diameter, angular at the 

 widest part, and with perpendicular rim. The portion from the bulge 

 to the neck is elaborately ornamented with sigmoid lines and dots, at 

 intervals interrupted by figures which resemble a pair of hands or feet. 

 This is a very unique specimen in smoothness and ornamentation. Sev- 

 eral of the broken jars were similarly ornamented. No. 3 is similar in 

 shape and ornamentation to No. 2, 3 inches deep and 6 inches wide. 

 The rim was formerly furnished with knobs or handles. No. 4 is a plain, 

 round- bottomed cup, 3^ inches deep and 4 inches in diameter. No. 5 

 resembles in shape an ordinary dinner pot, G inches deep and 6 inches 

 in diameter. It is to be hoped that further researches will be made in 

 this interesting locality. 



THE STOCK IN-TRADE OF AI ABORIGINAL LAPIDARY. 



(Mississippi.) 



By Charles Eau. 



In an essay entitled "Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America," 

 which was published in the Smithsonian Eeport for the year 1872, I 

 attempted to trace the beginning of a division of labor among the 

 former inhabitants of this country. I expressed the opinion that certain 

 individuals, who were, by inclination or practice, particularly qualified 

 for a distinct kind of manual labor, devoted themselves principally or 

 entirely to that labor, basing my conjecture on the occurrence of manu- 

 factured articles of homogeneous character in mounds or in deposits 

 below the surface of the soil. There is little doubt, for instance, 

 that there "were persons who devoted their time chiefly to the manufact- 

 ure of stone arrow-heads and of other articles produced by chipping, 

 among which may be mentioned those remarkable large digging tools 



