deposit. They are either roundish, oval, or heart-shaped, and of various sizes, but on an average six inches long, four inches wide, and from three-quarters to an inch in thickness. These flint discs are believed to have been buried as a religious offering, and the peculiar structure of the mound which inclosed them rather favors this opinion, while their enormous number, on the other hand, affords some probability to the view that they constituted a depot or magazine. Many of them are clumsy, and roughly chipped around their edges; and hence it has been suggested that they are no finished implements, but merely rudimentary forms, destined to receive more symmetry of outline by subsequent labor. Many of the discs under notice bear a striking resemblance to the flint "hatchets" discovered by Boucher de Perthes and Dr. Rigollot in the diluvial gravels of the valley of the Somme, in Northern France. The similarity in form, however, is the only analogy that can be claimed for the rude flint articles of both continents, considering that they occurred under totally different circumstances. The drift implements of Europe represent the most primitive attempts of man in the art of working stone, while the Ohio discs, if finished at all, are certainly very rough samples of the handicraft of a race that constructed earthworks of astonishing regularity and magnitude, and was already highly skilled in the art of chipping flint into various shapes.

On page 214 of the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," a group of the flint articles from Clark's Work is represented. The drawing exhibits pretty correctly the irregular outline and general rudeness of these specimens; yet Mr. Stevens states (Flint Chips, p. 440) that "the representations are not at all satisfactory." The only fault, I think, that can be found with these drawings is their small scale, a fault which is very excusable, considering that at the period when Messrs. Squier and Davis published their work, (1848,) flint articles of such shape were no objects of particular attention; for just then the results of the researches of Boucher de Perthes were first laid before the scientific world, which, it is well known, ignored for a long time the significance of the rude flint tools discovered by the indefatigable and enthusiastic French savant in the diluvial gravel-beds of the Somme. It is true, however, that some of the flint discs of Clark's Work are wrought with more care than those represented in the "Ancient Monuments." This fact may be ascribed to a whim of the worker or workers, who gave some of the articles a greater degree of regularity by some additional blows. Mr. Stevens has only seen specimens of this better class, for such were those which Dr. Davis sold to the Blackmore Museum among his collection of Indian relics, and hence the author of "Flint Chips" seems to attribute to them a better general character than they really possess. I learn, however, that Mr. Blackmore, during a recent visit to Ohio, has succeeded in recovering a considerable number of the implements of Clark's Work, and thus an opportunity will be afforded again to investigate the true nature of these relics of a bygone people.

The objects in question consist of the compact silicious stone of "Flint Ridge," in Ohio, a locality described on page 214 of the "Ancient Monuments."[6] A careful comparison has established this fact beyond any doubt. The flint or hornstone which occurs in that region, is a beautiful material of a dark color, resembling somewhat the real flint found in nodules in the cretaceous formations of Europe. It is occasionally marked with darker or lighter concentric stripes or bands, the centre of which is formed by a small nucleus of blue chalcedony; and this internal structure appears particularly distinct in specimens which, by exposure, have undergone a superficial change of color. The stone, in general, possesses peculiarities by which it can be recognized at once, even when met in a wrought state far from its original site. According to Mr. Squier, arrow-heads made of this hornstone have been found in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. That they occur in Illinois, I can attest from personal experience.

Fig. 3.

A few years ago, when treating of the flint implements of Clark's Work, I was not prepared to express a definite opinion concerning the manner in which they were used. In the mean time, however, I have obtained additional information in relation to the class of implements under notice, which enables me, as I think, to point out the purposes for which those of Clark's Work, as well as similar ones from other localities, were designed. In the summer of 1869, some children, who were amusing themselves near the barn on the farm of Oliver H. Mullen, in the neighborhood of Fayetteville, Saint Clair County, Illinois, dug into the ground and discovered a deposit of fifty-two disc-shaped flint implements, which lay closely heaped together. Several of them came into my possession through the assistance of Dr. Patrick, of Belleville, in the same county. They consist, like those of Clark's Work, of the peculiar stone of Flint Ridge. This I noticed at first sight, and so did Messrs. Squier and Davis, to whom I showed them. They resemble, in general shape, the objects of Clark's Work, but are somewhat smaller and of perfectly symmetrical outline, having a well-chipped, though strong edge; in one word, they are highly finished implements, far superior to those of Clark's Work. In Fig. 3 I give a full-size drawing of one of my specimens from Fayetteville, which is twenty millimeters thick in the middle. The slight irregularities observable in the circumference are owing to later accidental fractures. In this specimen, as in the others from the same find, the edge is produced by small, carefully-measured blows. The edges of my specimens from Fayetteville, moreover, exhibit traces of wear, being rubbed off to a small degree, and this circumstance, in connection with their shape, induces me to believe that they were used as scraping or smoothing implements. The aborigines, it is well known, hollowed their canoes and wooden mortars with the assistance of fire, and the implements just described, were, as I presume, employed for removing the charred portions of the wood. They are well adapted to the grasp of the hand, and, indeed, of the most convenient form and size to serve in that operation. Probably they were likewise used in cleaning hides, and for other purposes. The tools of Fayetteville, however, are much more handy than those of Clark's Work.

The fact that implements made of the hornstone of Flint Ridge are found in Illinois—a distance of about four hundred miles intervening—is of particular interest, as it shows that the material was quarried for exportation to remote parts of the country. It doubtless formed an article of traffic among the natives, like copper, sea-shells, and other natural productions which they applied to the exigencies of common life or used for personal adornment.

Concerning North American flint implements of the European drift type in general, Mr. Stevens expresses himself thus: "The legitimate conclusion at which we may at present arrive, is that implements, in form resembling some of the European palaeolithic types, were made by the aborigines of America at a comparatively late period, and that the people usually termed the 'mound-builders,' were, probably, the makers of these implements." (p. 443.)

There is no sufficient ground, I think, for attributing these implements exclusively to the mound-builders, considering that they occur on the surface, and in deposits below it, in regions where the people designated as