30 I i; ws \< TloNs OF THE 



degree of art. The vessels were Large and bore a close re- 

 semblance to the decorated pottery of ancient Egypt. 



FOURTEENTH REGULAR MEETING. 



December L6, 1879. 



The President read the folk story of the "Tar Baby" 

 from a copy of the Evening Star of Washington, I). C, and 

 staled that be bad found the same, modified in different 

 ways, among many I ndian tribes. 



lie also related the Indian story of the "Three (Van- 

 berries,'' which has an extensive circulation among the 

 tribes of North America. In the latter story the moral is, 

 " To escape from wolves you must elimb a tree." 



Turtle-Back Celts and their Uses. 



|!v ELMER II. REYNOLDS. 



The class of implements known as turtle-back celts were 

 first mentioned by Dr. Charles Abbott in the Smithsonian 

 annual report for L875, and more" fully described in thetenth 



and eleventh annual reports of the Peabody Museum. 



Mr. Reynolds, in answer to Dr. Abbott's hypothesis that 

 " each celt combines in itself a knife, a celt, and a spear," 



recounted his own experience in the discovery of these 



implements. 



The objects exhibited and described were found on the 

 site of an old Indian village, near Benning's Bridge in the 

 District of Columbia, where at least ten thousand other 



relics have been collected. 



The materia] of flu 1 celts is a, metamorphosed new red 



sandstone, the color having changed to a bluish grey. 



