NORTH AMERICAN STONS IMPLEMENTS. 401 



discs, if finished at all, are certainly very rongb samples of the handi- 

 craft of a race that constructed earthworks of astonishing regularity and 

 magnitude, and was already highly skilled in the art of chipping flint 

 into various shapes. 



On page 214 of the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,'' a 

 group of the flint articles from Clark's Work is represented. The drawing- 

 exhibits pretty correctly the irregular outline and general rudeness of 

 these specimens ; yet Mr. Stevens states (Flint Chips, p. 440) that " the 

 representations are not at all satisfactory." The only fault, I think, that 

 can be found with these drawings is their small scale, a fault which is very 

 excusable, considering that at the period when Messrs. Squier and Davis 

 published their work, (1848,) flint articles of such shape were no objects 

 of particular attention ; for just then the results of the researches of 

 Boucher de Perthes were first laid before the scientific world, which, it 

 is well known, ignored for a long time the significance of the rude flint 

 tools discovered by the indefatigable and enthusiastic French savant in 

 the diluvial gravel-beds of the Somme. It is true, however, that some 

 of the flint discs of Clark's Work are wrought with more care than those 

 represented in the ".Ancient Monuments." This fact may be ascribed 

 to a whim of the worker or workers, who gave some of the articles a 

 greater degree of regularity by some additional blows. Mr. Stevens has 

 only seen specimens of this better class, for such were those which Dr. 

 Davis sold to the Blackmore Museum among his collection of Indian 

 relics, and hence the author of "Flint Chips" seems to attribute to them 

 a better general character than they really possess. I learn, however, 

 that Mr. Blackmore, during a recent visit to Ohio, has succeeded in re- 

 covering a considerable number of the implements of Clark's Work, and 

 thus an opportunity will be afforded again to investigate the true nature 

 of these relics of a bygone people. 



The objects in question consist of the compact silicious stone of " Flint 

 Eidge," in Ohio, a locality described on page 214 of the "Ancient Mon- 

 uments."* A careful comparison has established this fact beyond any 

 doubt. The flint or hornstone which occurs in that region, is a beauti- 

 ful material of a dark color, resembling somewhat the real flint found in 

 nodules in the cretaceous formations of Europe. It is occasionally 

 marked with darker or lighter concentric stripes or bands, the centre of 

 which is formed by a small nucleus of blue chalcedony; and this inter- 

 nal structure appears i:)articularly distinct in specimens which, by ex- 

 posure, have undergone a superficial change of color. The stone, in 

 general, possesses peculiarities by which it can be recognized at once, 

 even when met in a wrought state far from its original site. According 

 to Mr. Squier, arrow-heads made of this hornstone have been found in 

 Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. That they occur in Illinois, 

 I can attest from personal experience. 



* More particularlv in Squier's "Aboriginal Monuments of New York," Buffalo, 1851, 

 p. 120. 



26 s 



