XCVI REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY 



erateclouly in tlimisauds, measured in wagon loads, and weighed 

 in tons. Trained by actual contact with Indians, he inter- 

 preted the specimens and their associations and the ancient 

 quarries as they would be interpreted by Indians accustomed 

 to such work, and every inference concerning the methods 

 employed in quarrying, selecting material for working, shaping 

 the objects, and manipulating the crude appliances Avas tested 

 bv actual imitation, the imitation itself beins: g-uided hv actual 

 knowledge of primitive methods. While this is true of all of 

 the lines and localities of work, it is most emphatically true 

 of the ancient quarries of quartzite bowlders and their products 

 on Piny branch. Even here the investigation was not allowed 

 to rest. The distribution of the ])roducts of manufacture was 

 traced in the light of actual knowledge of Indian habits in such 

 manner as to ascertain the genealogy and development of the 

 implements and the various by-products, failnres, culls, rejects 

 of all sorts, as well as chips, spalls, cores, and bowlders aban- 

 doned after one or more test blows. Thus the study of a typ- 

 ical locality and its products was profound and thorough beyond 

 precedent. The relics were studied with respect to individual 

 characteristics, with respect to form and distribution, with 

 res2:)ect to the forces expended in their manufacture and utili- 

 zation, with respect to their genesis and development, individual 

 and collective, and with respect to the motives and designs of 

 the prehistoric manufacturers. The work began with trained 

 observatitm, passed to generalization based on unprecedented 

 wealth of material, proceeded to inference guided by precise 

 knowledge of primitive modes of thought and action, and went 

 on to verification by imitation and by comparison with known 

 homologues. In extent and thorouglmess of stud^', in wealth 

 of material examined, in thoroughness and scientific character 

 of the investigation. Professor Holmes' work on the quartz- 

 ite quarries and their products may safely be considered to 

 stand unrivalled, at least so far as the Western Hemisphere is 

 concerned. 



The results of the woi"k are set forth too fully in the intro- 

 ductory and concluding divisions of the monograph to require 

 repetition; yet one of the conclusions would seem to be worthy 



