54 CUP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDAEIAN SCULPTUEES. 



IV. Diameter, 3| inches. Depth, ^ inch. 



V. Diameter, 2| inches. Depth, ^^ inch. 



VI. Diameter, 1J-|X 2^ inches. Depth, ^ inch. 



The centre of III is a trifle out of the Hne between the centres of II 

 and IV. 



Of the hnes or grooves upon the side of the boulder, the irregular 

 curved one may simply mark the boundary of erosion caused by the ele- 

 ments, and the straight ones may be nothing but common strife. The 

 stone is a hard granite of tolerably fine texture. Its present upper surface is 

 clean and smooth, and entirely free from moss. The portion of the side 

 below the dotted line in the sketch and the present under-surface, as far as 

 Ml-. McCook could ascertain without turning the stone quite over, are cov- 

 ered with moss. The boulder measures nearly six feet and a half in its 

 greatest dimension. 



So far Mr. McCook. It becomes evident by his description that the 

 cavities on the Niantic boulder are somewhat different from those on the 

 Cincinnati block, and possibly may have been designed for another pur- 

 pose. Rounded stones with single cavities not larger and deeper than those 

 described by Mr. McCook are not rare in the United States, and were 

 evidently used as mortars ; and larger cavities which have served for the 

 same purpose are excavated on rocks in situ in certain parts of this country, 

 as I shall have occasion to state more in detail hereafter. However, not 

 having seen the Niantic boulder, I will refrain from expressing with any 

 degree of positiveness an opinion at variance with Mr. McCook's vie^f. 



For the present my information with regard to large cupped stones or 

 boulders in the United States goes no further. The discovery of others is 

 a mere question of time. They will be found when properly looked for. 



As early as 1805, Captain William Dupaix, charged by the King of Spain 

 with an exploration of the antiquities of Mexico, saw not far from Orizaba 

 what has been thought to be a cup-stone. Many years afterward a dupli- 

 cate of his report and copies of the designs made by his artist, Castaneda, 

 were published in Lord Kingsborough's "Mexican Antiquities" (Volumes 

 IV, V, and VI, 1830-31). A few years later, in 1834, the work entitled 

 "Antiquit^s Mexicaines" (by Alexandre Lenoir) was published at Paris. 



