STRANDLOOPER INSTRUMENTS AND ORNAMENTS. 463 



in the Fish Hoek material. In the former group, made with a 

 slot-work apparatus, some of the Fish Hoek specimens indicate 

 that "in running the flaker up the edge, the backward and forward 

 movement took off the tiny flakes from both faces, giving rise to 

 an almost rectangular edge," but in others such is not the case. 1 

 In the Wilton material, however, I can find no specimens showing 

 a rectangular edge thus formed, nor any which are merely the 

 old edges of scrapers and burins. In the Paviland Cave, on the 

 other hand, "numerous small flakes occur which could never have 

 been retouched in their present state : they are no doubt the worn 

 ends of burins and scrapers which have been struck off to renew 

 the edge."— (Prof. Sollas.) 



Various suggestions have been made on the former use of such 

 crescents. The most acceptable view, in my opinion, relegates 

 them to the category of hooks or throttles for catching fish or 

 other prey. This is based on the fact that in many cases the only 

 serviceable part of the implement is the sharply-pointed ends : 

 these are certainly the only constant features of crescents. 



Further, these implements are chiefly, if not invariably, found 

 in the middens of ichthyophagous peoples. 



An aboriginal site on the banks of the Great Fish River, near 

 Cradock, has long been known. According to Mr. Hubert James, 

 there are extensive middens about 50 to 100 yards from the banks 

 of the river, which are covered by three to five feet of alluvial 

 soil, except where this has been removed by erosion. These 

 middens are very abundant along the Fish River, both above and 

 below Cradock, and are also found on the Tarka River. Imple- 

 ments therefrom have been described both by Dr. Peringuey 

 and J. P. Johnson, and the site is noteworthy as being the only 

 one in the Cape whence well-shaped arrow-heads have been taken, 

 although inferior examples are recorded by Peringuey from 

 Queenstown. I have lately had the opportunity of examining two 

 such arrowheads found by Mr. Hubert James, on a Fish River 

 site at Halesowen, on which specimen the following notes and 

 illustrations are based. 



The larger example (Plate IX, Fig. 2) is of black lydianite, 

 quite unweathered. The tang is sharply defined from the body 

 of the implement, and has been very carefully worked all round, 

 the bulb of percussion being removed. Otherwise the general sur- 

 face above and below remains as in the original flake, except that 

 in the apical half of the implement both edges have been trimmed 

 on the upper side, and one edge towards the tip on the lower 

 side. The length is 2.9 inches, breadth 0.7 inch, and greatest 



1 I take this opportunity of drawing attention to a remarkable 

 record given in the same paper by Mr. Lewis Abbott. He saw a 

 collection of crescents similar to the above in all respects, in technique 

 and material, labelled as from Australia (Miss Nina Layard) in the 

 Ipswich Museum. This would be important, if correct; but in view 

 of the fact that such implements have not otherwise been recorded 

 from Australia, so far as I can ascertain, and that Mr. E. L. Layard 

 was for many years the Curator of the South African Museum, Cape- 

 town, there seems room for suspicion of error in the locality. 



