36 



PECIvED, GROUKD AXD POLISHED STOIfE. 



process (Fig. 140, quartzose rock, Indiana). There is a cast in the collection, 

 presenting the flxc-simile of a flat implement of rhomboidal outline, showing 

 very glossy side-surfaces which seem to have been used in polishing (Fig. 

 141 Louisiana). Other specimens are shaped like very flat celts of equal 

 thickness, in which, as it appears, the blunt edges formed the working parts. 

 It is possible, however, that specimens of this form were intended for other 

 operations. A curious class of implements supposed to have served as polish- 

 ers, consists of stick or club-shaped stones — mostly natural formations, but 

 sometimes modified by art — Avhich bear at their ends the marks of friction 

 (Fig. 142, lydite, Pennsylvania). 



14, Stone Vessels. — Though nearly all classes of aboriginal relics are rep- 

 resented on a large scale in the Xational Museum, the seiies of vessels of 

 stone is particularly distinguished by the number as well as by the diversity 

 of the specimens. The most elaborate objects of this kind are derived from 

 the Californian islands (San Miguel, Santa Cruz, Santa Catalina, etc.), and 

 from the opposite coast, a region Avhere the aborigines excelled in various 

 kinds of manufactures. 



14-4 



116 



145 



I'lS 



1*7 



STOXE VESSELS (^). 



It appears that vessels consisting of hard kinds of stone occur rarely 

 in that part of the United States which lies east of the Eocky Mountains. In 

 the Atlantic and Middle States, however, vessels made of the comparatively 

 soft potstone (commonly culled soapstone — the lapis oUaris of the ancients) 

 have often been met. They differ, of course, in shape and workuianship, some 



