The discovery of this stone in the clayey soil, beneath the black stratum above mentioned, and where it had lain for an indefinite period beyond the reach of the ploughshare, would account for its polished appearance and the absence of weathering upon its surface--the conditions of its discovery generally corresponding with those in the case of highly polished implements found in the mounds.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--(Natural size) Carved "Gorget" Found on the Hansell Farm, January 8, 1885.]
The design consists of: (_a_) three waving lines representative of water; (_b_) three points between the perforations, referring probably to wigwams--possibly an allusion to the triple clanship of the Lenapes and their settlement by the _Lenape whittuck_ or Delaware River; (_c_) a bow; (_d_) an arrow; and (_e_) a quiver.
The design on the reverse side, of which we here give a rough outline (fig. 24) consists mainly of a series of circular waving lines, representative probably of water; numerical dots and "tallies"; and three triangular outlines, common Indian symbols for the human figure, and again suggestive perhaps of the Wolf, Turtle, and Turkey brotherhood of the Lenapes.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Reverse of fig. 23.]
[A] See Hansell's sworn statement in the appendix.
[B] Nothing seems to contribute so much to the problem of their use as the absence, in most cases, of any sign of friction around the holes. Similar stones have been recently seen in use by the Pah-Utes of Southern Nevada, "for giving uniform size to their bow-strings," yet the clean edges of the perforations make it impossible to believe that these stones could have been used for such a purpose, while the difficulty of supposing they could have been used as buttons, or that they could have been suspended at all is almost as great, unless we adopt the very ingenious theory of Dr. F. W. Putnam, _i. e._, that the raw deer thong used for suspending them, and forced tightly through the holes, becoming hard when dry, remained motionless in its place, and rendered friction impossible.
[C] See an interesting little book, from which we here quote, entitled "Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man." By J. P. McLean. Cincinnati, 1880.
[D] A term, says Filson (Imlays' Topographical Description of the Western Territory, 2d Ed., p. 276) formerly applied by the Indians "to the fertile region now called Kentucky."