204 POTTERY. 



mauls or Tiammers, of which, from one place ten cart-loads 

 were obtained. With these were " stone axes of large size, 

 made of greenstone, and shaped to receive withe-handles. 

 Some large round greenstone masses, that had apparently 

 been used for sledges, were also found. They had round 

 holes bored in them to a depth of several inches, which 

 seemed to have been designed for wooden plugs, to which 

 withe-handles might be attached, so that several men could 

 swing them with sufficient force to break the rock and the 

 projecting masses of copper. Some of them were broken, 

 and some of the projecting ends of rock exhibited marks of 

 having been battered in the manner here suggested." * 



Wooden implements are so perishable that we could not 

 expect many of them to have been found. Two or three 

 wooden bowls, a trough, and some shovels with long handles, 

 are all that appear to be recorded, 



It has often been stated that the Indians possessed some 

 method, at present unknown, by which they were enabled to 

 harden the copper. This, however, from examinations insti- 

 tuted by Professor Wilson, seems to be an error. Some 

 copper implements, which he submitted to Professor Crofts, 

 were found to be no harder than the native copper from 

 Lake Superior. " The structure of the metal was also highly 

 laminated, as if the instrument had been brought to its 

 present shape by hammering out a solid mass of copper/' 



POTTERY, 



Before the introduction of metallic vessels, the art of the 

 potter was more important even than it is at present. Ac- 

 cordingly, the sites of all ancient habitations are generally 

 marked by numerous fragments of pottery : this is as true 

 of the ancient Indian settlements, as of the Celtic towns of 



* Prof, W, W. Mather in a letter to Mr. Squier, I.e. p. 184. 



