642 NOTES ON ABORIGINAL RELICS KNOWN AS PLUMMETS. 
it, or a horse killed at a single blow. It is described as a “ two- 
handed staff, about three feet and a half long, in which at regular 
distances, were inserted transversely, sharp blades of itzli (obsid- 
ian).” Some accidental discovery of this kind may sometime 
indicate to us the use of these strange ‘* plummet” implements, 
wrought with so much care, and bearing such a striking similarity 
to each other, whether found in the débris of the mountains of 
California, the mounds of Ohio, or on the banks of the Missis- 
sippi. In the meantime we can only speculate upon the uses made 
of them, and in this paper I propose to enumerate, describe and 
figure some of them, show the circumstances under which they 
were found and offer some conjectures upon their uses. 
Fig. 132 represents what may be styled the typical form of 
these implements. It is made of iron ore, ground down and 
polished, until it is almost as smooth as glass. It is one of eight 
found by Henry Root, Esq., of Quincy, Illinois. ‘They “= 
found two miles north of Quincy, at the foot of the Mississipp! 
Bluff, about two feet from the surface, embedded in solid clay. 4 
Two were found in digging one post hole, and six others within 
a few feet.” The one figured * above is in my possession, another 
one of the same number very much like it, is deposited in the 
State Geological collection at Springfield, Illinois. Prof. Worthen 
informs me that the iron ore, out of which they were manufac- 
tured, was obtained from Iron Mountain in Missouri. 
A fragment of one found in Scott County, Illinois, upon the 
surface of the earth was also made of iron ore. 
are very much worn, as if ground down by hand or by time. A 
' Another one (Fig. 133), having the general shape of wr p? 
except that it is much wider in the widest part, was sipo a 
on the surface of the earth near the Illinois River in Scott County: 
The dotted lines are the restoration of the sm 
broken off. This was found in a field on top of the bl 
G 
ardner. Within a mile of where it was picked up 1$ 
axes, etC- 
the site 
` found. In the burying ground, upon a hill near by, a 
of funeral se inayat ceed practised by the Indians of 
this locality, when discovered by 
the seventeenth century. Upon opening & 
in diameter and three feet in height, I foun ite 
* All the cuts here given are of the exact size of the implements. 
d as many 89 OB 
7 
The broken ends 
all end, which was — 
uff by Mr. 
= are 
an old. Indian village, where pottery, arrow heads, apre : 
art al 
the French in the latter part 2 
mound about wn. 
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