210 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Beluga is without the fin. The flippers or pectoral fins are represented by the 

 protuberances on the sides, and the mouth is cut in and well indicated. Tho 

 broad horizontal tail is decidedly cetacean in character, and the whole carving, 

 though rudely done by picking the syenitic rock, from which it is made, with 

 stone implements, is yet so characteristic as to indicate at once that a porpoise 

 or Beluga was intended. A hole through the portion representing the tail shows 

 that the object was suspended, but the stone is so large and heavy that it can 

 hardly be classed as a personal ornament, though it is probably to be regarded 

 as a totem. It measures ten inches in length by about two in depth at the 

 pectoral fins, and is about two and a quarter inches wide across the pectorals as 

 measured on the under side. This interesting specimen was found at Seabrook, 

 New Hampshire, and it is said that two other similarly worked stones have been 

 found at the same place. The figures here given represent the ' totem ' in profile 

 and from the under side."* 



Among the relics collected by Mr. Schumacher on the Santa Barbara, 

 Islands is a series of curious stone-sculptures, in some of which certain animals 

 can be recognized, while others are so conventional in execution that it requires 

 much fancy to ascribe to them any definite character. It is probable, at any 

 rate, that they represent charms, perhaps designed to insure the capture of the 

 animals they are intended to imitate. M. Leon de Cessac likewise obtained a 

 number of such objects on San Nicolas Island, and he has described them with 

 great precision/)- He calls them fetiches ; but I hardly think this term here 

 applicable in its English acceptation. 



I give representations of two specimens found by Mr. Schumacher on San 

 Nicolas Island, and both carved from a greenish-gray stcatitic material. 



The original of Fig. 354 seems to be a conventional representation of some 

 cetacean animal, the identification of which would be a difficult task. The 

 maker, perhaps, thought of the fin-back (Balcenoptera) or killer (Orca). The 

 base of the figure measures one inch from fin to fin, insomuch that it will stand 

 when placed on a level surface. 



The other specimen, shown in Fig. 355, is an imitation of a seal, the general 

 contour of the figure and the distinct flippers leaving no doubt as to its character. 

 This object is much weathered all over by exposure, and the original of Fig. 354 

 on the side not seen in the illustration. Both are evidently old. 



* Putnam : Description of a Carved Stone representing a Cetacean, found at Seabrook, N. H.; Bulletin of the 

 Essex Institute; Vol. V, June, 1873. 



A 



f De Cessac: Observations sur des Fetiches de Pierre sculptes en forme d'Animaux, dccouverts a 1'Ile dc 

 Sun Nicolas (Californie); Revue d'Ethnographie, publiee sous la Direction do M. lo Dr. Hamy ; Vol. I, Paris, 

 1882 ; p. 30, etc 



