FEOM 1STEW MEXICO. 377 



blows than for cutting purposes They are of small size and may have 

 been mounted for use as implements of war, similar to the iron tomahawk 

 of a later date. Five others ought rather to be called axe-shaped ham- 

 mers than axes, for they evidently never were furnished with anything 

 approaching a cutting edge, and their rounded and fractured edges show that 

 they have long been used as hammers. In this respect these axe- like im- 

 plements differ widely from the sharp-edged axes of the country east of 

 the Mississippi, nearly all of which were cutting implements, and some 

 were probably used as weapons. These pueblo " axes" are highly polished. 

 They are made of hard materials* of various colors and form a pleasing 

 and striking- contrast with the majority of similar implements which a"re so 

 abundant in the Atlantic States. Another prominent character is shown in 

 the manner of grooving the stones for the purpose of attaching them to 

 handles by means of withes. This peculiarity will be best understood by 

 examining the figures on the plates. It will be noticed that the grooves 

 are not simple, as is usually the case with axes from the Mississippi valley 

 to the Atlantic coast, but that they generally consist of two or three dis- 

 tinct indentures. In some, there is a principal groove which passes 

 round the stone, and a second consisting simply of grooves on the oppo- 

 site edges, as shown in Fig. 5 of Plate XIX. Another interesting variation 

 from the simple groove is seen in Fig. 2 of Plate XVII, which in addition 

 to the double cross-groove above has a deep notch on one side only. Fig. 

 4, of Plate XVIII, shows three well-defined grooves extending round the 

 stone. Occasionally an axe with two grooves has been found in the Eastern 

 States, but they are so rare as to be marked exceptions to the rule. Dr. 

 Abbott has figured such an axe from New Jersey. In these pueblo speci- 

 mens the but-end is rough or but slightly worked, while the rest of the 

 implement is highly polished. This may indicate that the head was 

 inclosed by some material when hafted. 



Plate XVII, Fig. 1, represents, of natural size, an axe-like hammer with 

 a blunt or much worn edge. This is of a grayish actinolite, with dark 

 spots and lines, as shown in the figure. It was obtained by Dr. Yarrow fit 



* Dr. Wadsworth has informed me that these implements are made from highly metamorphosed 

 rocks composed now chiefly of actinolite. Most of them contain magnetic or tibaniferons iron, and part 

 appear to be altered diabases. 



