372 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS, CENTRAL FLORIDA W.-COAST. 



During our visit to Cedar Keys we met Decatur Pittman, Esq., of that place, 

 Justice of the Peace, and a collector of aboriginal relics. By him we were shown a 

 copper fish-spear 11.5 inches in length (Fig. 9), of which Mr. Pittman gives the fol- 

 lowing histoi'y : — 



About seven years ago as Mr. John Clark, his father and his brother were 

 digging in the garden of their place which is two miles below Fannin (see outline 

 map), on the Suwannee river, they found the spear about eighteen inches below the 

 surface. 



Somewhat over two. years ago Mr. Pittman heard of the finding of the spear 

 and, at a later period, acquired it. 



The value of this implement of native copper, coming froiii Florida, was 

 fully appreciated by Mr. Pittman, who relinquished the spear to the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, only because he realized, with true scientific 

 spirit, that such a specimen was more fittingly placed in a museum in perpetuity 

 than in a private collection. 



This spear, a unique discovery as coming from Florida, would not be of unusual 

 rarity in Wisconsin, according to Mr. H. P. Hamilton, of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 

 the well-known expert and collector of " coppers." 



There is one point about the spear which deserves close attention. By exam- 

 ining the cross-sections the reader will see that a small semi-enclosed space has been 

 left on one side of the spear, which might appear as though intended for a shaft, and 

 yet that this space is too restricted to hold a Avooden shaft of a size necessary for 

 the work required of the spear. Neither Mr. Hamilton nor Mr. David Boyle, of the 

 Provincial Museum, Toronto, who is very familiar Avith " coppers," believes that this 

 space was intended for the insertion of a shaft. Mr. Boyle writes : 



" As to the drawing you send of the fish-spear found in the Suwannee River 

 and the question you propound respecting the small space apparently lelt for the 

 insertion of a handle, I beg to give it as my opinion that it Avas never the intention 

 of the maker so to use the narrow channel. The spear or harpoon has been made 

 from a thin piece of copper and the maker had sufficient gumption, no doubt as the 

 result of experience, to knoAv that a piece of native copper of the size your diagram 

 shows this to be, would bend when an attempt Avas made to employ it in giving an 

 effective stroke. He has, therefore, hammered doAvn both edges for the purpose 

 not only of strengthening his tool, but of giving it a tolerably uniform breadth, and 

 this shank Avas no doubt inserted in a handle rather than having been jjrepared for 

 the insertion of a handle. Perhaps it was with only the latter object in view {i e. 

 giving it a uniform breadth) that the hammering Avas done at all because he could 

 reduce his material to a regular form by»beating down the edges much more rapidly 

 than by cutting aAA^ay the superfluous material. I think, hoAvever, there can be 

 little doubt that the ancient coppersmith had arriA'ed at the knowledge that ham- 

 mering the metal gave it stiffness apart from any other reason why, as in this case, 

 such work was performed. If this tool had been inserted in a handle I sup- 



