330 Mr. R. Walker on Ancient Shell 



merits and pottery than was compatible with the scope of the 

 previous part of the paper. 



The stone implements are formed chiefly of clay- ironstone, 

 a rock common nearly everywhere (along the shore, and where 

 the sedimentary rocks crop out) in this locality. The specimens 

 showing any appreciable design or shape are few in comparison 

 with the great number of broken stones and chips, which, in 

 most cases, are neither more nor less than pieces of stone broken, 

 many of them, to a sharp edge ; and although evidently broken 

 by the hand of man, they are in general so destitute of form, 

 that one would think, if they were intended for use at all, that 

 at best it would be the sharp edges only that could be of much 

 service : these, of course, might be applied to various cutting- 

 purposes, as seems to be still the practice of some savage tribes. 

 And it is very likely that a considerable number of these frag- 

 ments are merely the refuse left from the manufactory of a better- 

 shaped class of weapons. However this may be, there are about 

 a dozen specimens made of the same material, which, although 

 rudely enough formed, evince a certain degree of care and 

 skill in breaking and chipping them into the requisite shapes. 

 None of these objects have been polished ; but most of them 

 have undergone a grinding or rubbing process, extending an 

 inch or so up from the cutting edge, which it was meant, no 

 doubt, to improve. The grinding appears to have been some- 

 times confined to one side of the implement. Some of the spe- 

 cimens, however, are so much corroded, pieces about Jth of an 

 inch in thickness having scaled off them, that it is impossible to 

 say with certainty whether they have been ground to an edge on 

 both sides or not. The largest of these articles, which seems 

 to be of the usual chisel shape, is 5 inches in length, and 1 J inch 

 in breadth. One of the smaller kind (fig. ], Plate V.) is 3 inches 

 long by J inch in breadth, and is hollowed or ground out at the 

 cutting edge in the form of a gouge. Fig. 2 is another of the 

 chisel forms ; it is 3-§ inches long by 1 inch broad at the cutting 

 edge, which is rounded. This specimen has split in two. Fig. 3 

 is 2§ inches long by 1 inch at broadest, and is bevelled off ob- 

 liquely at the cutting edge. Fig. 4 is 2 inches long, at broadest 

 part I5 inch; it is concave at the cutting edge, and is hollowed 

 out toward the edge on both sides. Fig. 5 is thin, blunt, and 

 circular at the lower end, and has the body of the implement 

 rubbed or ground to a nearly round form ; it is 2\ inches long. 

 Fig. 6 is 2-| inches long, and is of the human canine tooth form, 

 but is somewhat blunt at the cutting edge, and tapers away to 

 a sharp point at the upper end. Fig. 7 is 2J inches long by 1| 

 inch broad at the edge, which is straight transversely. Fig. 8 

 is 2| inches long, 2£ inches where broadest; it is nearly flat on 



