MCGEE] THE HUPF AND AHST 235* 



smaller implement is hupf or kupf {the initial sound explosive, combin- 

 ing the phonetic values of h and 1c; the vowel nearly as in -'put", or like 

 "go" in "took") ; the term is clearly an onomatope, imitating the sound 

 of the blow delivered on tlesh, on a mass of partially crushed raesquite 

 beans, etc — indeed, both the word and the sound of the blow seem to 

 connote food or eating, while regular pounding with the implement 

 (either in ordinary use or by special design) is a gathering signal. So 

 far as ascertained, the term is not extended to other objects save poten- 

 tial implements in the form of suitable pebbles; but it is significant 

 that there is no distinction in speech — nor in thought, so far as could 

 be ascertained — between the natural pebble and the wear-shaped imple- 

 ment.' The local terms ahst and hupf are explicit and specific, and 

 without i)recise equivalents in other known tongues; moreover, the 

 objects designated are too inchoate in development and hence too pro- 

 tean in function to be appropriately denoted by the designations of 

 implements pertaining to more differentiated culture (mortar, metate, 

 pestle, muller, mano, etc). Accordingly it seems desirable to retain the 

 Seri desiguations.- 



A typical specimen of intermediate size, used commonly as an ahst, 

 but susceptible of employment as a hupf, is illustrated (natural size) in 

 plates XXXV and xxxvi.^ It is a hard, tough, hornblende-granite or 

 greenstone, with a few structure-lines brought out by weathering and 

 wave- wearing. Its weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces (2.10 kilograms); its 

 form and surface are entirely natural, save f(U- slight battering shown 

 on the two principal faces and still less conspicuous bruises along one 

 edge (as imperfectly shown toward the left of plate xxxv). The speci- 

 men was found in a Jacal (illustrated in plate vi) on Kada Ballena, 

 within a few hours after abandonment, in the position in which it was 

 hastily left by the last users; it was smeared with blood and fat (which 

 still remain, as is shown in plate xxxv) and bits of flesh, and bore bloody 

 finger prints of two sizes — those of a man and those of a woman or 

 large child; beside it lay the hupf depicted in plate xlii. In its last 

 use the uuwieldly cobble served as an ahst, but the markings on the 

 edge record use also as a hand implement. 



A functionally similar implement is illustrated in plate xxxvii (on 

 reduced scale; maximum length 8^ inches = 210 cm.). It is of tough 



■ ^Tho failure to discrimiDatii natural objects from artilieialized iiupleiuents produced from .such 

 objects by wear of use is a noteworthy trait of primitive folk. It is consjjicuous among t lie acorn 

 Indiana of California, who fail to apperceive the manufacture of their own mills and who conceive that 

 their bowlder mortars and creek-pebble pestles, even when cuuipletely artificialized by a generation's 

 use, are merely found and apitropriated ; and a similar state of mind persists among the well-advanced 

 Papago, who have no conception of making Iheir well-finished mortars and pestle-s, or even the stone 

 tomahawks occasionally surviving, but regard the implements as fruits of discovery or treasures- 

 trove only. 



*It shouUl he noted that the terms used in the titles of the accompanying plates are not denotive, but 

 merely descriptive. 



^This, like the other illustrations of the series (except plate Lvr, which is a litliograph, partly proc- 

 ess and partly handwork), are photo-mechanical reproductions made directly from the oljjects; all 

 are natural size unless otherwise specified. 



