No. 2. Charm Stones. 



been employed as weights in fishing." Had they been 

 used in spinning and weaving, as Dr. Jones suggests, 

 they would probably have been made of uniform size 

 and shape. 



Dr. Charles Rau.in "The Archaeological Collection of 

 the United States National Museum, "published by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, illustrates a variety of stone 

 implements under the name of Pendants and Sinkers, 

 which name, he says, have been given to a class of sym- 

 metrically-shaped and well-finished objects, which were 

 evidently designed for suspension, though it is not quite 

 certain for what special purpose they were used. On 

 account of their shape and the pains bestowed upon 

 their production, they have been classed among abo- 

 riginal ornaments. Yet the former inhabitants of this 

 country devoted much time and labor to the manufac- 

 ture of objects of a useful character, and hence it ap- 

 pears not improbable that the articles in question were, 

 in part at least, weights for fishing lines. 



After a short description of a number of the imple- 

 ments figured, ascribing to them several uses, such as 

 net sinkers or weights, ornaments or amulets and per- 

 forated net sinkers, he says, in reference to net weights 

 (page 27) : "Some are roundish stones of various 

 sizes, either worked or left in their natural state, and 

 grooved around the middle for fastening the strings or 

 thongs by which they were connected with the nets. 

 It is not always easy to distinguish specimens of this 

 description from grooved hammer-heads." C. C. Ab- 

 bott, in Vol. vii, "Reports of U. S. Geological Survey 

 West of the One Hundredth Meridian," suggests the 

 possibility of some of the so-called "plummets" having 

 been encased in skin and fastened to a flexible handle. 

 thereby making a war club that, properly wielded, 

 would have been a formidable weapon. 



"In the absence of all information that might throw 

 light on its use, we consider it best to class this speci- 

 men (referring to his Fig. 66), although wanting the 

 all-important groove, with the preceding plummet- 

 shaped stones." 



