26 PECKED, GKOUND AXD POLISHED STONE. 



straight-sided handle; a perforation marks the place where the handle and the 

 curved part of the implement meet (Fig. 96, greenstone, Kentucky) . These 

 typical objects have been classed as axes, though the smoothness of their 

 edges seems to indicate a different mode of application. It appears more 

 probable that they served as scraping or smoothing tools, and in this case the 

 perforation may have been designed for the reception of a thong, which, 

 passing around the wrist or hand of the operator, enabled him to use the 

 tool Avith greater force. There are, however, unperforated implements ap 

 parently belonging to the same class, in which the handle is almost too broad 

 for convenient use (Fig. 97, cast, Arkansas). A cast in the collection de 

 serves particular mention in this place. It is that of a very large tool with a 

 rounded much-used edge, concave sides, and a curioiis bifurcation at the 

 extremity opposite the working part (Fig. 98, South Carolina). It is not 

 intended to assign any definite use to this remarkable relic. In connection 

 with the tools just mentioned reference may be made to others somewhat 

 resembling diminutive spades, although it is not asserted that they were used 

 as such (Fig. 99, cast, South Carolina). These implements seem to be rare. 

 The best specimen known to the writer (represented by a cast in the collec 

 tion) is in possession of Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans, and was found 

 by him in a Tennessee grave-mound. It consists of greenstone, and measures 

 seventeen inches and a half. 9 



10, Pendants and Sinkers, The names &quot;pendants&quot; and &quot;plummets&quot; have 

 been given to a class of symmetrically shaped and well-finished objects, which 

 were evidently designed for suspension, though it is not quite certain for what 

 special purpose or purposes they were used. On account of their shape and 

 the pains bestowed on their production they have been classed among aborig 

 inal ornaments; yet the former inhabitants of this country devoted much 

 time and labor to the manufacture of objects of a useful character, and hence 

 it appears not improbable that the articles in question were, in part at least, 

 weights for fishing-lines. These pendants or plummets usually consist of 

 hard materials, such as red or brown hematite, jasper, ferruginous quartz, 

 greenstone, etc. Some are nearly pear-shaped, though more or less elongated, 

 and cither entirely smooth (Fig. 100, hornblende rock, Ohio), or grooved near 

 the more tapering end (Fig. 101, red hematite, Tennessee), or pierced with a 

 hole at the same place (Fig. 102, amygdaloid, Arkansas) . It is significant that 

 similarly shaped and pierced leaden sinkers for fishing-lines are sold in the 

 hardware stores of this country. Some articles of the class under notice ex 

 hibit more developed and really elegant outlines (Fig. 103, greenstone, Ohio). 

 A few specimens, apparently partaking of a kindred character, are of a double 

 conoid form (Fig. 104, greenstone, California). Another of the many varie 

 ties expands at the upper end and terminates in a knob (Fig. 105, quartzite, 

 Massachusetts) . 



&quot;Figured in &quot;Antiquities of the Southern Indians,&quot; by Charles C. Jones, Plate XVII, Fig. 2. 



