96 ISLAND CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. ann. 34 



was evidently used for scraping skins or cutting fibers, sticks, or 

 other material. Two stone implements of this type with straight 

 edges are shown in plates 9, /, and 10, A, while in the third, illus- 

 trated in plate 10, B, the cutting edge is almost semicircular. These 

 are supposed to have been used as cutting implements, and to have 

 been held in the hand in such a manner that the straight edge was 

 opposed to the palm and the circular edge free. Their form sug- 

 gests the semilunar slate knives of certain of the aborigines of New 

 England, who, like all primitive peoples, endeavored to have a good 

 knife. 



The notched edge of the implement in plate 10, C, suggests a saw or 

 a scraping implement, like the semilunar knife in figure B. 



The object shown in plate 10, Z>, has a semicircular form, with its 

 convex side so rounded that a section takes the form of a crescent. 

 The concave surface, on the contrary, is flat, and the end of this 

 latter region is prolonged into a crescent horn, which is pointed, the 

 other extremity, or that shown on the right, being almost globular 

 in form. 



One of the most characteristic implements of semicircular shape 

 from St. Vincent is represented in plate 10, E. This implement may 

 have been a spear, its length from one point to the opposite being 

 greater than its breadth. In this implement the curved or cutting edge 

 shows evidence of having been chipped after the polishing shown 

 on the two sides and the cutting of the straight edges. Plate 10, F, 

 like the last mentioned, exhibits marked evidence of chipping, which 

 is here confined to the poll or head and sides, the curved edge being 

 comparatively smooth and sharp and destitute of any signs of second- 

 ary chipping. 



The breadth of the ax, plate 10, G, from one end of the cutting 

 edge to the other, is slightly greater than elsewhere on the blade. 

 Its margin is notched at those points, which imparts an unusual 

 appearance to the whole implement. As prehistoric perforated axes 

 are very rare in America, this fact gives more than usual interest 

 to the specimen shown in plate 10, H. The perforation in this 

 specimen is at right angles to the surface, or from one flat surface to 

 another, not from one edge to the opposite as occurs in those from 

 the Stone Age of Europe. 



The unusual stone object represented in plate 10, /, is unique 

 among stone imjjlements from the Antilles. Unfortunately, it is 

 broken, and the specimen seems, when entire, to have had a projec- 

 tion at that point. This implement is, however, wholly different in 

 form from the double-bladed ax figured and described by Prof. 

 Mason in the following lines: ''A double-edged, grooved blade, of 

 light brown color. The form is common enough elsewhere, but cer- 



