28 PECKED, GROUND AKD POLISHED STONE. 



sent, based upon the fact that net-weig-hts of corresponding shapes are still 

 employed by primitive races of man. Some are roundish stones of various 

 sizes, either worked or left in their natural state, and grooved around the 

 middle for fastening the strings or thongs by means of which they were con- 

 nected with the nets (Fig. 107, granite, Rhode Island; Fig. 108, potstone, 

 Georgia). It is not always easy to distinguish specimens of tliis description 

 from grooved hammer-heads. Occasionally a sink-stone exhibits two grooves 

 which cross each other at right angles (Fig. 109, talcose slate, Rhode Island). 

 A small sinker-like specimen of the collection is decorated with engraved 

 lines (Fig. 110, sandstone, Oregon). It may not have been a sinker, but an 

 ornament or an amulet. 



A more simple kind of net-sinkers consists of flattish pebbles pf roundish 

 or angular (generally indefinite) shape, and of various sizes, which exhibit on 

 two opposite sides of the circumference an indentation or notch, more or less 

 deep, and produced by blows (Fig. Ill, quartzite, Pennsylvania; Fig. 112, 

 graywacke, New York; Fig. 113, quartzite, Pennsylvania).^" In conclusion, 

 the perforated net-sinkers must be mentioned. They are genei-ally made of 

 flat stones of a roundish outline, and exhibit in or near the centre a rather 

 large perforation, which is drilled from both sides in most cases (Fig. 114, 

 micaceous slate, California). These net-sinkers are often made of potstone, 

 as, for instance, in Georgia, where they mark, as elsewhere, the sites of former 

 fishing stations of the Indians. It is not safe, however, to ascribe indiscrim- 

 inately the character of net-weights to all these pierced flat stones, considering 

 that many of them may have been otherwise utilized. 



Much rarer than the sinkers just mentioned are others consisting of pebbles 

 perforated with an oblique hole, not in the centre, but nearer the circumference 

 of the stone. The hole is drilled from two sides, and generally forms an ob- 

 tuse angle where the perforations meet (Fig. 115, sandstone, Ohio). 



11. Discoidal Stones and Implements of Kindred Shape.— The articles 



enumerated under this head, notwithstanding their resemblance in general 

 form, probably served for different purposes ; but what these purposes were, 

 is not always apparent, and the difliculty of classifying the objects in question 

 is enhanced by the almost imperceptible transition from one form into another. 

 Adair, Du Pratz, Lawson, and other early writers have described an Indian 

 game, in which many of the so-called discoidal stones may have been em- 

 ployed. That game is likewise referred to by Lewis and Clarke, Catlin, 

 Murray, and other travelers of more recent times. Speaking of the games 

 in \ogxie among the Cherokees, Adair describes that diversion in the following 

 words : 



"The warriors have another favorite game called ChungTce, which, with 

 propriety of language, may be called 'Running hard laboi*.' They have near 



'" The writer has seen specimens with four and more indentations. 



