352 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
These questions have it aclicd us too late to say nioretlian tliat as yet no very 
aceurate records have been made of tlie soils in whicli these instruments have 
been imbedded in the countries named. Some are undoubtedly of the historic, 
others may be of the geological period. TVe may refer our con-espoudenl to vol. i. 
of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge (Washington, 1848). In this 
work, iu an article on the "Ancient Moimmeuls of the Mississippi Valley," by 
Messrs. Squier and Davis, there is figured, at p. 211, a spear-head, apparently 
similar in shape to the specimen fo\ind by Mr. Wetherell at Horusey, and 
figured in Mr. Mackie's Geological Diagram No. VI. (fig. 7). At page 21 1 
are figured on a very reduced scale thi'ce unplemeuts, which appear, as far as 
one can judge of the engravings, to be of like form to the so-called flint 
"celts," (but which are more probably spear-heads) from the drift. In writing 
of these, the authors say : — 
" It is a singular fact, however, that few weapons of stone or other materials 
are discovered in sepulchral mounds ; most of the remains found with the 
skeletons are such evidently as were deemed ornamental, or recognised as 
badges of distinction. Some of the altar or sacrificial mounds, on the other 
hand, have the deposits within them almost entirely made up of finished arrow- 
and spear-points, intermixed with masses of the unmanufactured material. 
From one idtar were taken several bushels of finely-worked lance-heads of 
milky quartz, nearly all of which had been broken up by the action of fire. In 
another mound an excavation six feet long and four broad disclosed upwards of 
six hundred spear-heads, or diws of hormfone, rudely blocked out, and the deposit 
extended indefinitely on every side. Some of these are represented in the accom- 
panying engraving. They are recessardy much reduced. The originals are 
about six inches long and four broad, and weigh not far from two pounds each. 
Some specimens from this deposit are nearly round, but most are of the shaj)e 
of those here figured.* We are wholly at a loss respecting theii' puiposes, 
unless they were designed to be worked into the more elaborate implements to 
which allusion has been made, and were thus roughly blocked out for the 
greater ease of transportation from the quarries. With these relics were 
found several large nodules of similar material from which portions had been 
chipped off, exposing a nucleus, around which the accretion seems to have taken 
place. These nodules are covered to the depth of half an inch with a calcareo- 
siliceous deposit, white, and of great hardness. Such nodules are found in the 
secondary Limestone formations. Several localities are known from which the 
material may have been obtained. One of these, named " Flint Ridge," exists 
in the counties of Muskingum and Licking, in Oiiio. It extends for many 
miles, and countless pits are to be obseiTcd throughout its entire length, from 
which the stone was taken. These excavations are often ten or fourteen feet 
deep, and occupy acres in extent. It is possible that the late as well as the 
more remote races worked these quarries. Like the red pipe-stone of the 
Coteav, des Frairies, this locality may have been tiie resort of numerous tribes 
■ — a neutral ground, where the war-hatchet for the time was buried, and all 
rivah'ies and animosities forgotten." 
This topic is one which we shall follow further out in our intended series of 
papers on the " First Traces of Man," which we commenced in the " Gkolo- 
gist" in vol. ii, p. 432, and which we intend very shortly to resume. 
♦ Flatly pear-shaped, or more or less pointed. 
