168 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Many of these objects show really elegant forms, are fashioned with the utmost 

 precision, and beautifully polished ; and hence they were formerly, when com- 

 paratively few had been collected, and their wide distribution was not yet known, 

 regarded as articles of ornamental character, as, for instance, by Messrs. Squier 

 and Davis.* Mr. J. W. Foster is inclined to consider them as weights used in 

 weaving, " to keep the thread taut," and tries also other explanations, none of 

 which carries conviction with it.f The opinion that they were used by the mound- 

 builders as plumbs to aid in the construction of earthworks is hardly tenable, 

 for they are found as well in districts where these monuments abound, as in such 

 where they are entirely absent. A close examination of the large sei-ies of such 

 objects in the United States National Museum has led me to consider them as 

 sinkers for fishing-lines, a view which does not exclude the possibility that some 

 of them may have been differently used. Such relics occur throughout the whole 

 breadth of the United States, from New England to California, and the specimens 

 obtained from this extensive territory show, notwithstanding the variety of their 

 forms, a conformity in general character, which, according to my judgment, points 

 to the same mode of application. 



The theory of their use as sinkers is met by the objection that too much care 

 has been bestowed on the manufacture of many of them to risk their loss while 

 employed. But this argument can easily be overcome by an examination of the 

 angling-implements still in use among uncivilized, yet somewhat advanced, tribes. 

 These people take great pains in the production of their weapons and other 

 accoutrements, as any one can perceive who devotes his attention to a collection 

 of such articles. The western Eskimos, for instance, excel in the production of 

 fishing-tackle of every kind, and I will mention, with special reference to the 

 question here treated, that they employ at the present time carefully-made pear- 

 shaped line-sinkers of stone and ivory, and risk to lose them while angling ; 

 and if, by accident, they are deprived of them, they make new ones. 



An elongated pear-shape, it must be admitted, is the form best adapted for a 

 line-sinker, and, indeed, is commonly given to the leaden sinkers found in every 

 hardware-store, where apparatus for angling is sold. 



The sinkers which I am now about to describe mostly would present a 

 circular horizontal section, and any deviation from this form will be mentioned. 



Fig. 282. A specimen 'made of dark-greenish argillite, regular in outline, 

 and well polished. Found in a mound in Licking County, Ohio, and presented 

 by Mr. W. Anderson. 



Fig. 283. A larger specimen of similar form, made of specular iron, and 

 carefully polished. From Hancock County, Illinois. Presented by Mr. M. 

 Tandy. 



* Squier and Davis : Ancient Monuments ; p. 236. 



f Foster : Prehistoric Eaces of the United States of America ; Chicago, 1873 j p. 230, etc. 



