MCGEE] A HIGHLY VALUED HUPF 243* 



iucluding tlie dislodgment of a flake toward the narrower eud; but its 

 most couspicuous feature is a broad subpolished facet (rounding slightly 

 toward the thinner edge) produced by grinding on a flat-surface ahst. 

 This face, too, exhibits tirestaining,while the surface beyond the facet — 

 and to a slight extent the facet itself — is veneered like the other face. 

 There are a few scratches on this side also, as well as a slight pitting 

 due to contact with metal. The thicker edge (plate lii) displays con- 

 siderable battering, especially a recent pitting near the middle evi- 

 dently due to use as an anvil held between the knees for sharpening a 

 harpoon point by rude hammering. The specimen was one of a score of 

 implements lying about the interior of the principal jacal in the great 

 rancheria at the base of Punta Tormenta (illustrated in plate vii). 



A related specimen, though of somewhat aberrant form, is illus- 

 trated in plate Liii. It is of peculiarly tough and quite hard green- 

 stone and weighs 2 pounds 1 ounce (0.93 kilogram). Somewhat less 

 than half of the surface is that of a wave- worn pebble; the remainder 

 is either battered out of all semblance to wave work, or thumb- worn by 

 long-continued use. The object well illustrates the choice of the most 

 prominently ijrojecting portion of the hand-implement as the point 

 of percussion, and consequently the concentrated wear on such por- 

 tions whereby the object is gradually reduced to better-rounded and 

 more symmetric form. This specimen displays some minor flaking, 

 apparently connected with the battering and regarded by the user as 

 subordinate to the general wear. It was found at Punta Tormenta, con- 

 cealed in the wall of a jacal, as if preserved for special use. 



One of the best-known examples of a use-perfected hupf is illustrated 

 in plate liv. It is of coarse-grained but massive and homogeneous 

 granite, similar to that forming Punta Blauca, Punta Granita, and, 

 indeed, much of the eastern coast of Bahia Kunkaak. It weighs 1 

 pound 10 ounces (0.74 kilogram). In general form it is just such a 

 pebble as is i)roduced from this material by wave-wear, and might be 

 duplicated along the shores in numbers. The artificial surfaces com- 

 prise (1) both ends, which are battered in the usual manner; (2) both 

 lateral edges, of which one is slightly battered and worn, while the 

 other is somewhat battered and also notched, evidently by a chance 

 blow and the dislodgment of a flake; (3) both faces, which are flattened 

 by grinding, while one of them (that shown in the plate) is slightly 

 pitted, evidently by metal working; so that the natural surface is 

 restricted to small areas about the corners. The implement was found 

 at the camp site ou Punta IMiguel, already noted (page 189), whence a 

 group of five Seri were frightened by the approach of the 189.5 expedi- 

 tion ; it was covered with blood and shreds of turtle flesh, and is still 

 .saturated with grease. Moreover, it is quite confidently identified 

 (not only by form and material, but especially by the fortuitous notch) 

 as a hupf seen repeatedly at Costa Rica in 1894; it was the property 

 of a matron of the Pelican clan (whose portrait appears in plate xxii), 



