150 PERFORATED STONES. 



Fig. 20 represents the Peruvian stone, which is the largest and heaviest 

 of all these perforated stones that I have met with, weighing three pounds 

 thirteen ounces. It measures 5J inches in its greatest diameter, and has a 

 thickness of 2h inches measured on one side of the hole and 3 inches at the 

 opposite side. The hole through the stone is 1 4 inches in its least diame- 

 ter and 2 inches across its outer margins. This seems to have been made 

 from a natural granite pebble. Its whole surface, with the exception of a 

 few abrasions, is very smooth and polished, as if by long-continued use, and 

 the same is the case with the perforation. Such a heavy stone as this 

 would add great power to a digging implement, while it seems rather- heavy 

 and clumsy for a club-head, for which purpose one of smaller size and more 

 nearly symmetrical would probably be equally effectual. A smooth circu- 

 lar stone made of serpentine (?) in Mr. Vaux's collection, and found near 

 Lake Titicaca, is better adapted for a club-head than the large one men- 

 tioned above. This is about 3 inches in diameter and 1 J thick, with a hole 

 1 inch wide. 



As allusion has been made to the probable use of perforated discoidal 

 stones as spindle-whorls, particularly in reference to some of those found in 

 the prehistoric sites of the Lake Dwellers, it may not be out of place here 

 to call attention to several discoidal and conical pieces of terra-cotta, bone, 

 and wood, which are unquestionably spindle-whorls, and closely resemble 

 in shape many of those to which allusion has been already made in this 

 chapter. Indeed, Figs. 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, and 13 of Plate X correspond in size 

 and outline with several of these. 



The whorls to which I refer, some of which are attached to the spindles, 

 are from Brazil and Peru. Some of them are of prehistoric date, while 

 others were obtained from the present Indian tribes of those countries. 

 The largest of those obtained from existing tribes is one (P. M. 7705) from 

 Brazil, about which Mr. 0. A. Derby writes to the Peabody Museum as 

 follows : " This constitutes the spinning-wheel of the Brazilian Indians, and 

 is still in general use. The cotton is rolled out loosely and attached to the 

 notch at the longer end of the spindle. Then by rolling the shorter end 

 along the leg* it is set revolving and thrown to the floor, where it spins like 

 a top while the cotton is played out between the fingers." The stick 



