324 
[No. 3, 
Proceedings of the Asiatic Societg. 
other stone weapons compared with the multitude of celts, one stone 
hammer and a single arrow head only as recorded by M. Le Mesurier 
in addition to the numbers of celts scattered by threes and fours under 
pipal trees and in temples about Karoi. In the same neighbourhood 
a stone punch or chisel was procured by me and at Powari east of 
the Son River a stone hammer , which should encourage us to search 
more diligently for other relics of this most interesting stone period. 
Very few of the celts in this collection offer any evidence of 
their ever having been fixed in handles, and where such has been 
the case, it was probably by a race of far more recent date than the 
original fabricators, for it is difficult to conceive a form less adapted 
for such a purpose than the typical celt or more liable to be always 
falling out: this difficulty is greatest in the case of the smallest 
celts and when we consider that a little flattening or notching the 
sides could have enormously facilitated their retention in any handle, 
it seems difficult to suppose that their original makers ever so used 
them. Can Nos. 1, 7 or 12, ever have been so used? No. 4 though 
merely chipped and not smoothed at the sides, presents the most 
perfect cutting edge of any in the collection, and what could have r been 
easier than to fashion its sides if ever intended for a handle, or what 
form can possibly be suggested as less applicable for firm retention 
in a socket than that given to it, carefully wrought though it be ? 
Some celts perhaps may have been fitted to handles, but hardly I 
think by their original makers, for reasons above stated, unless No, 6 
is an exception. This celt presents a curious pit or depression on one 
side which might have been intended to receive the head of a handle 
and could certainly have contributed to its firm retention, though but 
slightly, and the general form is as in all celts singularly ill-adapted 
for such an application. The only other possible use I can suggest 
for this depression is, that of breaking nuts or fruit stones, which 
would not be so likely to fly off or slip aside if struck with the cupped 
side of this celt. 
Celt No. 14 is the only one in the collection which exhibits any 
traces in fact of an adaptation fitting it for a handle, and it only differs 
from others in certain rude notches cut in the side, which certainly 
suggest the probability of their having been made to receive some 
sort of lashing. Their rough finish, however, suggests doubts of their 
being as old as the original date of the weapon. The several typical 
