54 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
Some of the central shaft-holes are plain and smooth all through, showing no fur- 
row near the middle. [In some specimens the hole might have been formed by 
drilling from only one side. 
As is well known, it was with water and fine hard sand that this drilling was 
done. Dr. Charles Rau in his essay ® writes: ‘It is very likely that the hollow 
drills of the aborigines of North America were pieces of that hard and tough cane, 
Arundinaria macrosperma Michaux, which grows abundantly in the southern part 
of the United States, mostly along the banks of large rivers, and forms at present 
an article of trade being used for pipe-stems and fishing-rods. ‘This cane varies 
considerably in thickness; sometimes as thin as a straw, it assumes, when fully 
grown, the diametral proportions of a strong rifle-barrel and even of larger cylin- 
drical objects, in which case it reaches the enormous height of 25-30 feet. A piece 
of this cane from which the knotty joints have been cut, forms a regular hollow 
cylinder sufficiently strong to be used as a drill.” 
Professor W. H. Holmes in his ‘“ Archeological Studies among the Ancient 
Cities of Mexico,” Part II, pp. 304-309, describes an onyx tablet from the valley 
of Mexico which had broken and revealed the presence of a tubular drill of bone 
probably from the leg of a crane or other large bird, 2.75 inches long and 0.375 of 
an inch in diameter. It was shattered and worn at the upper end, while the lower 
end or point had the appearance of having been freshly cut off. 
Professor M. H. Saville in the “Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 
History,’ Vol. XIII, Article XI, pp. 105-107, has described and figured an onyx 
jar in process of manufacture, which was found in Oaxaca. This specimen illus- 
trates the use of the hollow drill in exactly the same manner as the club-heads. 
In the neighborhood of the pueblo of Nicoya near ancient remains I observed 
spots covered with thickets of an Aruwndinaria sp., undoubtedly in former times 
cultivated here. From an Indian I obtained a flute which he had made from a 
piece of this kind of cane. In Salvador amongst the Pipiles I found this same cane 
in certain localities planted on their fields and used extensively for the manufacture 
of baskets, screens, etc.™ 
Some specimens of the clubs show circular pits for eyes, which have been made 
with a solid body, probably a wooden stick. These pits are conical, not very deep, 
and show no circular strize. 
To judge from the thickness of the walls left by the hollow drill most of the 
larger drill-holes of the clubs apparently could have been produced with similar 
13 Rau, Charles, ‘‘ Drilling in stone without metal,’’ Smithsonian Report, 1868, p. 399. 
‘ Hartman, C. V., ‘‘ Ethnografiska Undersokningari Salvador,’’ Stockholm, 1901, p. 308. 
