12 



light brick red. Theie is no bkckening upon the surface, neither is there a 

 trace of the red paint. 



The designs are all carved, or wrought out of dry clay before baking, in the 

 same manner as a certain class of pottery found with them. With the excep- 

 tion of the largest one, they all appear to be more or less worn. One of them 

 has the design almost wholly effaced. 



For such solid and well made objects, it is curious that they are all broken. 



It is difficult to conjecture their use. The fact that they are ornamented on 

 both sides, some of the figures being in high relief, and in some instances the 

 design being carried over the margins, excludes the idea that they were used 

 as stamps to impress designs upon cloth, if the fabricators possessed such material. 

 It is impossible that they could have been used for weapons, or implements of 

 any kind. 



That they were considered choice, is evident from the -fine material of which 

 they are made, and the care and skill bestowed on their ornamentation. 



That they were used as personal ornaments seems out of the question, because, 

 excepting in one instance there seems to be no arrangement for suspending them 

 about the person. Their pottery so often presents knobs, loops or boles, for the 

 purpose of suspending their vessels, that such conveniences might be looked for 

 in the tablets if they had been designed for personal ornaments. 



That they were household idols, or objects of veneration, seems air equally 

 untenable supposition, for they are much worn ; and this would net be the case 

 if they had been at all protected, or cared for in their huts. 



We can hardly conceive of their being weights, because the weighing of things 

 in traffic is an advance we should hardly expect in a people of so primitive a 

 character as these appear to have been. They certainly were not objects to be 

 buried with their dead, from the fact that they appear to have been much used. 



It is hardly possible that they represent substitutes for coin, for we should 

 expect to find more variation in their size ; and judging these people by other 

 primitive races, we might suppose that wampum, or some other small objects 

 would have been adopted for such a currency. 



We may hazard some conjectures regarding their use. First : they might 

 have been used in some game, like quoit, in which the object is pitched, or 

 thrown at a mark ; their being worn, and broken, and the convenient size the 

 larger ones have for grasping, and tossing, suggest this idea. Second : they may 

 represent insignia of authority in which case they would be carried about the 

 person. Third : they may represent amulets, or the charms, possibly, of some 

 medicine man, in either case to be carried, or worn about the person. 



»So far as we know, they are unique. We can only compare Ihem to the 

 famous Cincinnati Tablet, to which they bear some resemblance, in the incurv- 

 ing sides and general proportions. 



