56 



tliat they must Lave had rafts or nicle canoes of some kind, but no trace of 

 them is left. On tlie whole, it is eminently probable tliat they were sunk 

 in the lowest depths of barbarism. Are we to ascril)e the sudden change 

 in their food, and the sudden increase in the kind and number of imple- 

 ments found in the deposit, to the stimulating example of some genius who 

 had invented a seine, or is it to a new incursion of people who had devel- 

 oped in a less restricted field the ingenuity which led to the invention and 

 manufacture of neAV and varied implements'? Probability would seem to 

 point to the latter explanation. 



B.— THE FISHING PERIOD. 



On the uppermost surface of the Echinus layer are found a few rude 

 net-sinkers, indicating that to the primitive hand-nets or scoop-nets, with 

 which the echinus-eaters might have secured their food, had been added 

 the larger, more elaborate, and more eifective seine. 



/ 



No. 13C0-.— Itu.lf ii.tsiiikiT ffDiii liott"iii iif Nil. ICJOT (-If C) — Moilc 111 iift-siukcT. village- 



FisL bone layer, Amakuak Cavo, AmaUuakliihiud, site, CiiiiilvolTlslaud, J linear. 



Unalasbka, § linear. 



While the rude character of tlie early sinkers, and the better-formed 

 and more carefull3--linished character of modern ones, would he evidence 

 of progress in one direction, yet it must be noted that rude sinkers occur in 

 all, even the most modern, deposits. Yet the fact that all the more ancient 

 ones are rudely fashioned, and it is only among the modern ones that 

 Ave iind any attempt at finish or symmetry, indicates that there was a 

 progression, even if this was not attested in other ways. 



