REAIARKS ON ABORIGINAL ART. 121 



of Steatite, about two and a half inches long and one and a half 

 inches in diameter, having a circular opening in the larger end 

 which terminates at a depth of about two inches. Two small per- 

 forations occur at opposite sides of the rim, possibly for the attach- 

 ment of a cord. In one of these specimens is a hard, compact 

 mass of red ochre, from the surface of which protrude two polished 

 bone implements, each less than half an inch long and one-fourth 

 of an inch broad, bearing incised ornamental cross-lines. The 

 owner objected to the removal of these specimens from the solid 

 mass of paint, but subsequently I saw an extremely sharp-pointed 

 piece of bone with .a head of similar form and ornamentation, the 

 idea occurred to me that this might readily have been used for 

 puncturing the skin for tattooing. The acute point may have been 

 preserved from decay by having, until recently, been imbedded in 

 a similar ochreous mass, though a great number of bone awls and 

 fish-hooks in my possession are almost as sharp and just as Avell pre- 

 served, yet these were taken from graves where they were undoubt- 

 edly more liable to destruction. 



I have not met with any attempts ;it objective drawings or etch- 

 ings which may be attributed to the Tshuma Indians, who were the 

 former occupants of the islands above mentioned, but ornamenta- 

 tions upon shell and bone beads, soapstone pipes, shell pendants, 

 and other ornaments seem to consist entirely of straight or zigzag 

 lines, cross-lines, circles, etc. Two well-carved stone images of 

 whales are in the collection of Mr. Clarke, each having perforations 

 through a slight projection on the back, as if they were intended 

 to be secured by means of thin cords. Similar designs have been 

 reported from other countries, either as religious emblems or fetishes 

 and I have no doubt that these served for a like purpose.* 



* In this connection it may be interesting to compare similar illustrations of 

 bone statuettes obtained by Baron N. A. E. de Nordenskjoeld in Siberia. Un 

 chaptre de F lithnographie des Tschouktschis, in Revue d'Ethnographie. Tome 

 roisieme, No. 5, 1884, pp. 402-423. See Fig. 150, 2, and 11. 



[PltuC. i>. A. .\. b., Vnl,. iv.] i.=s [Doc. L'l, 1881. 



