24 PECKED, GKOUND AXD POLISHED STOXE. 



tical use. Their material, moreover, generally consists of soft kinds of stone, 

 more particularly of a gray or greenish slate, which is frequently marked with 

 dark parallel or concentric stripes or bands. Yet specimens made of jasper, 

 ferruginous quartz, syenite, and other hard substances are not wanting. The 

 objects in question doubtless were provided with handles and worn as weapons 

 of parade or insignia of rank by the superiors. They present a great variety 

 of forms, bearing testimony to the ingenuity and good taste of their makers. 

 Many of them somewhat resemble double pick-axes (Fig. 83, serpentine, 

 Virginia; Fig. 84, serpentine, Pennsylvania; Fig. 85, striped slate, Wisconsin; 

 Fig. 86, striped slate, Indiana; Fig. 87, striped slate, Pennsylvania); some 

 are egg-shaped, and others may be likened to axes with two very blunt cut 

 ting edges (Fig. 88, cast, original probably brown jasper, Louisiana; 8 Fig. 89, 

 cast, Wisconsin). In rare cases the parts, which would form the cutting edges 

 in real implements are bifurcated (Fig. 90, striped slate, fragment; Indiana), 

 and in some objects here classed as ceremonial weapons the sides corresponding 

 to edges exhibit a slight inward curve (Fig. 91, translucent ferruginous quartz, 

 Indiana). A few specimens are crooked, terminating in a blunt point at one 

 extremity, and in a rounded butt-end at the other. These specimens are ex 

 ceptions from the general rule, not being shaped alike on both sides (Fig. 92, 

 striped slate, Indiana). 



The holes in these implements have no sufficient width for permitting the 

 insertion of stout handles. They are perfectly regular, and the annular 

 striae produced by the revolving motion of the drilling tool can often plainly 

 be distinguished. Some specimens, though otherwise finished, are either des 

 titute of shaft-holes, or merely show their beginnings: a fact demonstrating 

 that in North America (as in Europe) articles of this description were first 

 brought to the required shape, and afterward drilled. On the whole, the ob 

 jects belonging to this class are among the most interesting relics of the 

 aborigines. 



81 Cutting Tools^ Any sharpened stone of suitable size could be used as 

 a cutting tool, and hence it may be inferred that the implements of this class 

 assume various forms. Some are of an elongated oval shape, both ends form 

 ing cutting edges; others have a crescent shape and vertical cutting edges 

 at both extremities ; the most conspicuous form, however, is a flat knife with a 

 semi-lunar edge and a straight back, thick and projecting for greater conven 

 ience in handling. These knives chiefly occur in the Eastern States, and their 

 prevailing material is slate (Fig. 93, black slate, Pennsylvania). Yet some 

 what similar tools, less defined in shape, but likewise made of slate, were used 

 by the aborigines of the Northwest Coast for ripping open fish. There is in 

 the collection a well-defined cutting tool with a curved edge and a lateral tang, 



8 A beautiful specimen in the collection, exhibiting the shape of Fig. 88, though less elegant in outline, 

 consists of a translucent ferruginous quartz of a pale reddish color. It was found, together with the original 

 of Fig. 91, in Indiana, ten feet below the surface of the ground. 



