258 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



world, to be "sky-arrows," thunderbolts that fall during storms, 



and get deeply embedded in the ground, but gradually work 



their way up to the surface, so that they may sometimes be 



found actually on the surface ; sometimes may be turned up from 



just beneath when cultivating their hill-crops (taung-yas), and 



sometimes are discovered when digging for bamboo-rats, still 



deeply embedded in the ground. How a thunderbolt can get 



into the shape of a shoulder-headed celt, and how it can work its 



way up to the surface, they do not stop to enquire ; but the fact 



that they have lost all idea of these things being ordinary human 



implements seems to show that the Neolithic men, whoever they 



were, are separated from the present inhabitants of these hills 



and valleys by a considerable period of time. And this matter 



is all the more curious, seeing that at the present day many of 



these people use implements which are plainly lineal descendants 



of stone implements. Thus, as an example, the Shans use a 



hoe, now made of iron, which is often very little larger than its 



ancestor, the shoulder-headed celt, and exactly resembling it in 



shape, except that, in place of the solid stone haft that had to be 



fitted into a hole made either directly through the handle, or in 



a piece of wood that fitted into the handle, there is now a hoop 



of iron. This, however, is not at right angles to the blade, as in 



a modern hoe, but in continuation of it, exactly as in the stone 



hoe. This is sometimes fitted on to a short piece of wood, which 



is then fixed through a hole drilled in a long handle, or, more 



generally, so far as I could see, a handle is chosen with a fork at 



one end, resembling the brow-tine of an antler, and the iron hoe 



is fitted to this fork. The connection between the Neolithic men 



and the tribes at present living in these parts seems clear, but 



the lapse of time has been sufficient for the intervening history 



to be completely lost. The only person whom I met who seemed 



to have any idea that human beings had had a hand in making 



these implements was the late chief of the Shan State of Thibaw 



(Hsipaw), who, however, had paid two visits to England, and 



was consequently a somewhat enlightened man. He once told 



me that there were two kinds of these stone implements — one 



kind made by the nats (spirits), and dropped from the sky, and 



one kind made by men ; that if you found one of the latter kind 



and smelt it, nothing would happen ; but that if you did the 



