ANTHROPOLOGY. 181 
or “for condensing the raw hide or sinews used as bowstrings.” 
We have, however, looked upon them as “ breast plates ;” using 
that term not to designate a protective covering, but as an orna- 
ment that was suspended by a cord so as to rest upon the breast ; 
or by the perforations, sewed or fastened securely to the skin 
mantle of the red man 
We have considered this to be the case, because. in the ‘‘ sur- 
face” burials—that is, graves originally on the surface, and now 
but little beneath it—which we have frequently discovered, we 
have found these perforated stones, of various shapes, lying upon 
the strip of black mould which once was a human body, always in 
such a position as to show that, whatever the object’s use, it was 
placed upon the breast of the dead man, when the burial took 
place, or was one of the ornaments about him during life, and so 
was buried with him; and it seems strange, that if such a stone 
had been used solely as a “twister,” that it should be placed 
upon the breast, instead of at the feet where the domestic imple- 
ments are found, or at the right side, where we find the arrow- 
heads, an axe or two, spears, knives and lanceheads. 
Very many of these perforated stone relics, too, have but a 
single hole drilled through them, and being of such small size, 
and variously outlined, it is no stretch of the imagination to set 
them down as ornaments for suspension from the nose and ears. 
These single-holed specimens run into the others, as it were, just 
as the spear and lancehead are but large arrowpoints. Again, 
there are other specimens of this class of relics, which have more 
than two holes, sometimes as many as seven; as though the stone 
had been drilled again, when coming into the possession of another. 
At the ends of these many-holed specimens particularly, there is 
often found a series of well-cut notches, too small and closely set 
for any special use; but it seems to us very suggestive of a 
record that the owner of the stone has kept; and if so, the use 
of the stone as an ornament, worn at the breast, becomes the more 
probable, the specimen having additional value ee it by the 
record, if such it was, that is engraved upon its 
Mr. Evans, in his work, “‘ Ancient Stone naik of Great 
Britain,” figures, on pages 380-1, specimens allied to those we have 
described, but having the holes drilled in pairs, at each end. They 
differ further from the American forms, by being usually ‘round 
on one face and hollow on the other ;” while as a rule, at least in 
