742 PAPEES RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



very much like our handwriting ; we try to imitate certain copies, but 

 we only preserve the type while we stamp our own individualities upon 

 them. All sorts of pebbles lie at the hand of the savage mechanic, 

 none of them just what he wants. He selects the best and founds a 

 new type for the learned archaeologists. A collection of pebbles from 

 the West Indies would be very instructive in showing just how far 

 nature had been the draughtsman and the teacher of the aboriginal 

 artisan. This implement, though rude, shows much use, and rather 

 hints that fine polish is evidence of age and much use in many cases. 

 Length, 5-1^0 inches ; greatest width, 3^ inches. 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 4. A coarsely-chipped blade of purplish-brown surface. The 

 spalls have been taken off with great boldness from the faces and the 

 groove. The specimen is so broken at the edge as to make it uncertain 

 whether it has been used at all. 



Length, 7-^ inches ; width, 4 inches. 



^^.j^^'!'?^*^- 



Fig. 5. 



Fig. 5. A chipped blade of beautiful orange-brown surface, which has 

 been much modified by grinding. In type it belongs to a low order of 

 axes, having only lateral notches. On the faces are very slight haft 



