266 IN AUTUMN. 



suming that the age or object of any given form 

 of stone implement can be determined by the 

 character of the locality where it happens usually 

 to be found exception, of course, being made to 

 the palaeolithic implements of an earlier geologi- 

 cal period. To a certain extent this is true. A 

 bead is none the less an ornament, whether 

 dredged from the river-bottom or found in an 

 upland field ; and yet how very seldom does any 

 implement or other relic of the Indians occur, 

 except where we should expect to find it ! In 

 basing any conclusions upon the characteristic 

 features of a locality where implements are found, 

 it is necessary to determine if there has been any 

 recent general* disturbance of the spot. This is 

 readily done usually, and the principal barrier to 

 a logical conclusion is removed. Long experience 

 in archcEological field-work has fully convinced 

 me that, in the vast majority of instances, stone 

 implements are practically in the same position 

 that they were when buried, lost, or discarded. 

 A single specimen or many of them might mis- 

 lead ; but it becomes safe to base a conclusion 

 upon the locality, when we have the material in 

 such abundance as in this instance of these rude 

 spear-points, and find that fully eighty per cent 

 are from the alluvial mud of the river meadows, 

 or such isolated upland areas as have been de- 

 scribed. But more significant than all else is the 



