84 MOETAES Am) PESTLES. 



consistent with the strength necessary to withstand the violent pounding 

 and rubbing action of the pestle. 



Mortars of this character, in some instances, are quite irregular in 

 shape exteriorly, the pebble utilized remaining unaltered ; and when the 

 depression is circular in outline there is a great variation in the thickness 

 of the sides, especially when oval pebbles were selected. Others again 

 have the hollow of the same shape as the pebble used. Such small exam- 

 ples as these, not worked upon their exterior surfaces, most nearly approach 

 the Eastern forms of stone mortars, and are essentially the same, except in 

 size, with the toilet cups already referred to. 



Mr. Schumacher writes to the Peabody Museum as follows, in describ- 

 ing the manufacture of the large stone mortars : 



" On the southwestern shore, near the southeast end of San Cleniente island, where 

 a fair landing exists, we found a station prominently located on a shallow dune, about 

 a mile below what is known as Chinese Point. To this place large numbers of beach- 

 worn boulders of basalt of different sizes had beeu brought, mostly such as were best 

 suited for the manufacture of mortars. Some of the rocks were broken in the rough 

 state in the attempt of splitting off a section of the globular form to make a surface in 

 which to cut the hollow ; others of a more convenient semicircular form, bore marks of 

 the chisel, as, in one instance, a circle, outlining the intended size of the basin. Some 

 broke in the hands of the worker, while working the basin; and one, Ave found had been 

 abandoned ou account of a flaw in the rock. The work of shaping the stone was first 

 done witli the hammer consisting of a piece of hard rock, especially of quartz, of about 

 a pound in weight, with sharp edges and points. Persistent well-directed blows with 

 such a hammer, applied either direct with the hand, or attached to a handle, will 

 detacli even large pieces with sufficient accuracy to form, if the tendency of cleavage 

 is properly taken in consideration ; while the finishing and smoothing of the surface 

 was done by directing the hammer vertically against the face, the same as the serrated 

 hammer of the modern stone-cutter is used. The basalt rock, although very hard, is 

 of a crumbling nature and will granulate easily under a pointed hammer. We found, 

 therefore, but few chisels on the sites of the workshops of Cleniente island, which were 

 applied more for working out the basin, when the hammer could not be conveniently 

 used. When of sandstone, the common material of the mortar, which is softer, and, 

 instead of being brittle like the basalt, is more adhering or tougher, I believe, the 

 chisel has been used to a greater extent, as indicated by the sharper peck-marks. 

 Judging the progress of work by the advance of a single stroke of the hammer or 

 chisel, I am of the opinion, a neat mortar of common dimension — twelve inches in 

 diameter — did not require more than a week's work ; and a pot made of soapstone 

 probably did not require so long a time, not however including tbe detachment of the 

 mass from the ledge, which probably took another week's labor." 



