3o6 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



Another implement of which I am showing a photo was plough- 

 ed up in Lower Albany, and presented by the discoverer, Mr. Baines. 

 On the photo it looks exactly like a chisel. It is made of a long 

 slal) of quartzite, originally rectangular in transverse section, but 

 slightly trimmed for about "ji of its length in such a manner 

 that the edges have been rounded off. One end has a sharp edge. 

 As it is 2 1 inches long, its former use as a chisel is most problematical. 

 I have suggested that it may have formed a portion of a trap by 

 which small game was killed, but I do not feel at all confident that 

 this interpretation is correct. 



Amongst the best known implements which have been found, 

 though in limited numbers, all over South Africa are oval stones, 

 which are grooved on one side. They have been looked upon, and 

 probably rightly so, as " whetstones for sharpening and bringing to 

 a point, pins and other implements of bone, and they seem well 

 adapted for such a purpose, and are still so used by the Eskimos. 

 They ma\ also have served for smoothing the shafts of arrows. 

 " Serpentine pebbles with a groOA'e in them are used for straightening- 

 arrow shafts by the Indians of California, and shaft rubbers of sand- 

 stone have been found in Pennsylvania " (Evans, I.e., p. 268). As a 

 rule. South African ones are very convex on the surface, and slightly 

 so (in the back. We have, however, a portion of one found near 

 Port Alfred, which is made of a rough piece of stone that has only 

 been smoothed on the grooved surface. 



With these stones that have only one groove, another found near 

 L'pington. and presented by the Hon. Mr. Justice Jones, has been 

 placed, which has no less than eight grooves, fairly evenly distributed 

 on the longer sides of an egg-shaped body. I must, however, admit 

 that if this implement has been used as a whetstone, I cannot see 

 the use of this number of grooves, which are all of approximately 

 e\en depth. When I first saw it, it reminded me of a wooden tool 

 which ropemakers use. They let the strands which the} wish to 

 combine to a rope run along the grooves, and while it is held steady 

 the turning wheel can only twist the strands between the wheel and 

 this implement. Now, considering that to this day the Bushmen 

 make very nice string, of which they manufacture the nets to carry 

 with them ostrich eggs filled with water, it is not improbable that our 

 implement was really used for rope-making. In any case, the 

 suggestion should be considered until a more likely one is brought 

 forward. There is one specimen in the collection of the Albany 

 Museum which may have been used as a spindle whorl. In any case,. 

 I cannot suggest any other use for it. It is made of soapstone. It 

 was found at the junction of the Vaal and Orange Rivers, and pre- 

 sented to the Museum by the late Mr. P. Nightingale. It is a flattish 

 perforated disk, gradually tapering to a sharp edge. It is about 

 ^ inches in diameter, and the hole in the centre is about % in. across. 

 According to Sir John Willoughby, hard clay disks, having a small 

 hole in the centre, are used by the natives (of Mashonaland), evei^ 

 to the present da\ . in spinning bark fibres and thread made from th. 



