18G9.] Archseohgy. 253 



at Swampscott, and other places, and they seemed from their form 

 well adapted for sinking a fish-net. 



There were several stones of a flattened oval form, and others 

 nearly round, all having a groove cut round them : also some flat, 

 smooth stones, with two holes bored through them, perhaps used in 

 the process of rope-makmg to twist strips of skin or bark together. 

 Besides these were some stones of very perfect finish and of various 

 shapes, but all provided with a hole through the thickest part ; in 

 blowing into which (as one does into a key) a loud call or whistle 

 could be sounded. Mr. C. Cooke gives a description of an Indian 

 burying-place in Essex county, containing six skeletons, lying from 

 18 inches to 2 feet beneath the surface, and placed in a row north 

 and south, 5 feet apart, save two, which were within 18 inches 

 of one another. Beneath each skeleton were placed three flat pieces 

 of red sandstone — a rock not found in this region — one piece 

 beneath the head, another near the middle of the body, and the 

 third under the feet. All the skeletons were in the same position ; 

 namely, lying on their left side, with their faces turned to the west, 

 the hands under the head, and the knees drawn up against the chest. 



M. Kouhn laid before the Academy of Sciences* a report on a 

 series of stone implements from Java, collected and forwarded, by 

 M, Van de Poel, of Cheribon, as a present to the French Govern- 

 ment. The collection comprises thirty-nine articles of polished 

 stone, which were successively dug up from great depths in the 

 soil. They belong to a period antecedent to all the records and 

 traditions of the country. It is difficult to obtain any from the 

 natives, owing to the adoration they profess for them. The speci- 

 mens differ in general aspect from any already in the possession of 

 the Academy ; they are remarkable for the beauty of the materials 

 out of which they have been shaped, and for the symmetry of 

 their form. They vary in size from 385 millimetres in length to 

 only 26 millimetres; these being the two extreme measurements. 

 Owing to the want of any information relating to the mode of occur- 

 rence of the specimens, the report is confined to their direct exa- 

 mination, and the comparison of them with analogous modern 

 objects. Nearly all of them belong to implements of labour ; there 

 are, besides, three bracelets and a thin plate of oval shape, probably 

 " destine a une incrustation," which from their style of workman- 

 ship are evidently to be associated with the other specimens. There 

 is a very striking absence of all kind of arms. It is impossible to 

 su])pose that the ancient Javans were entirely wanting in weapons 

 of warfare or of the chase ; but perhaps these were made of wood, 

 like those now used over a large portion of Polynesia, Under 

 ordinary circumstances it does not requh'e many years to efiace the 



* ' Comptes Reudus de I'Acad. des Sciences.' Paris, 28 Dec, 1868. 



