22 STONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC., IN THE TORSET MUSEUM. 



stands. But most likely it was thrown aside unused. From the 

 nature of the boring I should think it to be of late date. In this, 

 however, I may be quite mistaken. While speaking of bored 

 hammers and axes I cannot help throwing out a conjecture that in 

 perforating, and perhaps in shaping, these implements water may 

 possibly have been sometimes used here, as it is now in New 

 Britain. Powell thus describes the method : * " The native . . 

 takes a piece of suitable granite, which he places in a slow fire of 

 cocoa-nut shells . . and allows it to become redhot. He then, 

 by the aid of a split bamboo in the place of tongs, removes it from 

 the fire and begins to drop water on it drop by drop. . . That 

 portion of the stone on which the water falls begins to fly and 

 crack off until the heat has gone out of the stone. He then repeats 

 the process until an irregular hole is formed through the centre." 

 This method could be used, probably, only with igneous stones, as 

 basalt and granite. They are of old used to fire, and do not 

 crumble with great heat as flint and some other stones would do. 

 It seems possible, I repeat, that both boring and fashioning may 

 sometimes have been done partly by water by our early ancestors. 

 But I do not think, to tell the truth, that any of the few bored 

 implements of igneous stone in the Dorset Museum have been thus 

 perforated. Evans points out a puzzle connected with some perfo- 

 rated implements. Our great Cranborne maul is an instance in 

 point. The difficulty is to understand how a haft small enough to 

 go through the hole could be strong enough to wield the great 

 weapon with. Evans half thinks that the handle may have been 

 of twisted raw hide or sinews, which would harden into a haft of 

 great toughness, and also stiffness, as he thinks. Is it possible 

 that a short handle might be made of an ox-horn ? The solid part 

 might be fitted into the hole of the weapon, and the hollow part, 

 if pretty thin, might be held in the hand. Or, again, this hollow 

 part might have a wooden handle fitted into it. 



iv. We have next to consider flakes and scrapers. The former 

 are found in very large numbers, which is no wonder. They are 

 * " Wanderings in a Wild Country," p. 160. 



