Fig.10.

cient Indian bow-drill, which may have presented the shape indicated by Fig. 10. The ring, it seems, encircled a massive drill-holder, to which it was fastened by pegs driven through the holes on its periphery. Their purpose is thus fully explained.

May not an apparatus of similar construction also have been known in Europe during the bronze age, and even at an earlier period? In using the pumpdrill, described and figured by me, constant oscillations of the shaft, tending to enlarge the bore, cannot be avoided; but they are altogether obviated when,

as in Fig. 10, the upper end of the shaft or drill-holder revolves around a fixed point. And further, may not in Europe as well as in America the latter more perfect apparatus have superseded, in the course of time, the simpler contrivance with which I have experimented? This view will not appear strange, considering that man in all parts of the globe progressed slowly, and that every new development of ingenuity was based upon the results of former experience.

The greater number of drilled Indian implements which I had occasion to examine bore the unmistakable marks of having been perforated with hollow drills; yet I have also seen Indian performances in drilling indicating the application of solid implements. As an illustration I annex (Fig. 11, full size) the

Fig.11.

drawing of a pipe consisting of almost transparent rock crystal, which was taken from a mound near Bainbridge, Ross county, Ohio, and is now the property of Dr. Davis. Its shape, it will be observed, is that of a barrel somewhat narrowing at the bottom; it is regularly formed and highly polished. I left the drawing purposely without shading in order to indicate the two hollows, of which the upper one served as the receptacle for the smoking material, while that which meets it from the side was destined for the insertion of a stem. The terminations of the hollows are rounded, and consequently have been drilled with a solid implement.

It is very likely that the hollow drills of the aborigines of North America were pieces of that hard and tough cane (Arundinaria macrosperma, Michaux,) which grows abundantly in the southern part of the United States, mostly along the banks of large rivers, and forms at present an article of trade, being used for pipe-stems and fishingrods. This cane varies considerably in thickness; sometimes as thin as a straw, it assumes, when fully grown, the diametral proportions of a strong rifle-barrel, and even of larger cylindrical objects, in which cases it reaches the enormous height of 25 or 30 feet. A piece of this cane, from which the knotty joints have been cut, forms a regular hollow cylinder sufficiently strong to serve as a drill. I learned from Dr. Davis that many years ago a stone pipe with an unfinished hollow, partly filled with vegetable matter, was sent from Mississippi to the late Dr. Samuel G. Morton, of Philadelphia. When subjected to a microscopical examination the vegetable substance exhibited the fibrous structure of cane, and thus appeared to be the remnant of a drill broken off in the bore. It is, however, my intention to try the applicability of this cane by drilling experiments. In conclusion, I will observe that the more finished stone articles of the former inhabitants of North America, and especially the pipes from the mounds, are

perhaps the best specimens of art left by any people to whom the use of metal was unknown, and that in examining the archæological collections of Europe, I have seen no objects produced under similar circumstances which display an equal degree of skill in the art of fashioning stone.

Ancient Stone Axes from North Germany,

A DEPOSIT OF AGRICULTURAL FLINT IMPLEMENTS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.

BY CHARLES RAU.

In an article published in the Smithsonian report for 1863 I gave, for the first time, an account and drawings of certain North American flint implements of large size and superior workmanship, which were evidently used by the aborigines for cultivating the soil and other digging purposes, and hence, according to their shape, classified by me as shovels and hoes. The annexed figures represent both kinds of implements. I described the shovels (Fig. 1) as oval plates of flint, flat on one side and slightly convex on the other, the outline being chipped into a sharp edge. The specimen here figured measures above a foot in length, a little more than five inches in its greatest breadth, and is about three-quarters of an inch thick in the middle. Others are narrower and not quite as heavy. The shape of the hoes is illustrated by Fig. 2. This specimen is seven and a half 2

inches long, nearly six inches wide, and about half an inch thick in the middle. The rounded part forms a sharp edge. The material of which these implements are made is a peculiar kind of bluish, gray or brownish flint, of slightly conchoidal fracture, and capable of splitting into large flat fragments. I never succeeded in discovering this stone in situ. The agricultural implements of my collection were all found in St. Clair county in southern Illinois,

with the exception of one shovel, which was dug up in 1861 in St. Louis, during the construction of ear thworks for the protection of the city. Both shovels and hoes were, doubtless, attached to handles, those of the latter probably forming a right, or even an acute angle with the stone blade, which is always provided with two notches in the upper part to facilitate the fastening.*

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I quoted a passage from Du Pratz, which is, perhaps, referable to the hoes. According to this author, the natives of Louisiana had invented a hoe, (pioche) with the aid of which they prepared the soil for the culture of maize. "These hoes," he says, are shaped like a capital L; they cut with the edge of the lower part, which is entirely flat."-Histoire de la Louisiane, Paris, 1758. Vol. II, p. 176.

Plate XXI, in vol. II of De Bry, (Frankfort, 1591,) represents Florida Indians of both sexes engaged in field labor, the men using the hoe and the women sowing. The Latin text (by Le Moyne) accompanying the engraving states that the hoes are made of fish-bone, (ligones e piscium ossibus) and provided with wooden handles. The women sow beans and maize "feminæ fabas & milium sive Mayzum serunt."

Some of the shovels, like the specimen of which a drawing is given, measure a foot and more in length, and consequently are among the largest flint tools thus far discovered in any part of the world. Neither the rude hatchet-like and lanceolate implements found in the "drift" of France and England, associated with the osseous remains of the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and other animals of a bygone fauna, equal them in size; nor have, to my knowledge, the caves of the reindeer period in southern France and Belgium, once the resorts of savage hunting tribes, yielded any chipped flint articles of the same dimensions. Indeed, they are rivaled, as I think, only by the large flint celts of Scandinavia and northern Germany, which belong to a more advanced stage of the European stone age.

That the North American flint tools described by me were really used for digging can hardly be doubted. "If the shape of these implements," I stated in my account, "did not indicate their original use, the peculiar traces of wear which they exhibit would furnish almost conclusive evidence of the manner in which they have been employed; for that part with which the digging was done appears, notwithstanding the hardness of the material, perfectly smooth, as if glazed, and slightly striated in the direction in which the implement penetrated the ground." I further mentioned that this peculiar feature is common to all specimens of my collection as well as to the few which I have seen in the hands of others; and that they seem to be rather scarce, and merely confined to certain States bordering on the Mississippi river.

I was, therefore, much interested in the recent discovery of a large deposit of such implements at East St. Louis, (formerly Illinoistown,) in St. Clair county, Illinois, a place situated directly opposite the city of St. Louis, in the so-called "American Bottom," which forms a fertile plain extending for a considerable distance along the Mississippi shore in Illinois. This region, I must state, is very rich in Indian remains of various descriptions, but particularly interesting on account of numerous artificial mounds, among which the celebrated truncated pyramid called Cahokia Mound, or Monk's Mound, is by far the most conspicuous, reminding the beholder of those gigantic structures in the valley of the Nile, which the rulers of Egypt have left to posterity as tokens of their power and their pride.

The particulars of the discovery to which I alluded were communicated to me by Dr. John J. R. Patrick, of Belleville, Illinois, a gentleman to whom I am greatly indebted for long-continued co-operation in my pursuits relative to the subject of American antiquities. As soon as Dr. Patrick heard of the discovery he hastened to East St. Louis, for the purpose of ascertaining on the spot all details concerning the occurrence of those flint tools; and in order to obtain still more minute information, he afterwards repeatedly revisited the place of discovery which is about 14 miles distant from Belleville, and can be reached after a short ride, the latter place being connected by railroad with East St. Louis. The removal of ground in extending a street disclosed the existence of the deposit, and Dr. Patrick derived all facts concerning its character from Mr. Sullivan, the contractor of the street work, who was present when the tools were exhumed, and therefore can be considered as a reliable authority. The results of my informant's inquiries, communicated in various letters addressed to me, are contained in the following

account:

In the early part of December 1868, some laborers, while engaged in grading an extension of Sixth street in East St. Louis, came upon a deposit of Indian relics, consisting of flint tools, all of the hoe and shovel type, and of small fossil marine shells, partly pierced, and in quantity about equal to the contents of a bushel. Close by were found several boulders of flint and greenstone, weighing

*Some years ago I discovered near East St. Louis the traces of an Indian pottery, described in the Smithsonian report for 1866.

agricultural implements. The latter were soon taken away by persons from the place, attracted by the novelty of the occurrence, and it is to be regretted that many, if not most of them, have fallen into the hands of individuals who are unable to appreciate their value. But this is usually the case when discoveries of similar character are made. Dr. Patrick examined upwards of 20 of the flint implements, and found that none of them had been used, as they had not received the slightest polish on the cutting edge.