HOLMES] 



THE CLIFTON STEATITE QUARRY 



115 



profile of the slope. Mucli impure stone had beeu cut away in etfbrts 

 to reaoli the purer masses, and this was a most laborious worlc. l!ut 

 it is safe to say that oiielialf or tliree fourths of the excavation was 

 acfomplislied by cutting out, with chisels and jiicks, the solid and 

 nuissive steatite. The whole surface, with its uodes and iiumps and 

 depressions, covered everywhere witli the markings, groovings, and 

 pittiiigs of the chisel, presented a striking example of the eHectiveuess 



Fig. 18 — Sketch map of the Clifton quarry; scale al>ont 50 feet to the inch. 



of native methods and the persistence of native eftbrts. A view of the 

 quarry, after it had beeu thoroughly cleaned out and swept, is shown 

 in plate lxxxi. The photograph was obtained by erecting a platform 

 20 feet in height in the stream bed at the foot of the quarry. The 

 deepest part of the pitting is at the back, where the figure of a man 

 may be imperfectly made out. The farther extension of the quarry is 



