STONE INDUSTRY. 225 



PROCESS OF MAKING MILLS. 



Material for making small corn mills may often be picked up 

 loose on the surface in San Esteban. That for the larger mills, 

 whether for corn or rice, usually has to be split out of the rock. 

 After the desired piece has been taken out by means of chisel 

 holes, wedges, and prying with a crowbar, it is roughly shaped 

 with a hammer. Then the maker, with the help of a chisel and 

 a piece of string, scratches one or two circles to serve for his 

 guidance in further shaping of the stone. He then proceeds 

 with hammer and chisel to chip the stone to the shape desired. 

 The finishing touches are usually given with a hatchet. By this 

 means he not only gives a certain rough finish to the exterior 

 of the mill, but makes small converging ridges on the inferior 

 surface of the upper stone and the superior face of the nether 

 one. This is believed by the makers to add to the efficiency 

 of the mills. 



OTHER ARTICLES. 



Beside mortars, paving stones, and mills, which are the staple 

 objects of the stone manufacture at San Esteban, the following 

 articles are made : 



Metates for crushing cacao. These are of various sizes. The 

 few specimens which I have seen at San Esteban were made 

 of single slabs of stone. The stone is chipped away in such a 

 manner that the slab, as it lies on the floor, offers a sloping 

 surface on which the cacao beans are crushed with a stone 

 roller. 



Threshing floors are also made of San Esteban stone. A few 

 large slabs are set flat into the ground, forming a floor, while 

 other slabs are set up on edge around its sides as a wall to 

 prevent the grain from scattering. The rice in the ear, which 

 comes from the field in large bunches, called manojos, tied with 

 a bit of bark, bamboo, or other fastening, is laid on the floor 

 and held down by the foot of the operator pressing on the straw, 

 while he or she beats out the grain with the long heavy pestle 

 used in husking rice. Threshing floors of San Esteban stone 

 abound not only in that pueblo but in neighboring ones. 



Feeding and watering troughs. These articles of San Esteban 

 stone are very common there and in neighboring towns. They 

 are of various shapes — square, oblong, oval, and round — and 

 range in size from those holding a dozen liters or more to those 

 holding a cupful and intended for poultry. Occasionally one 

 is made with two compartments, one for food and one for water. 



