progress in the art of working material during the Stone Period, I have said that Palæolithic implements were fashioned by the proccss of flaking or chipping, and only by those processes, and that during the Neolithic Period other modes of working stone, namely, by pecking and grinding, were discovered and practised. But the process of flaking or chipping was not discontinued during the Neolithic Period; on the contrary, it was still further developed; it was not only effected by the rough-and- ready method of percussion, but it was supplemented and perfected by the discovery of the art of flaking by pressure—an art still practised by the Esquimaux, but apparently unknown to the people of the Palæolithic Period. This art of flaking by pressure was even practised by some bronze-using races, as by the ancient Mexicans; but we have no reason for supposing that they received this art by transmission from the Esquimaux, or vice versâ: it is probable that, in each instance, the process was independently discovered; and that this was so is supported by the fact that the Esquimaux and the Mexican methods of flaking by pressure differ wholly from each other.
"As our collections of stone implements increase, and as our acquaintance with these objects extends, we shall not be struck by their general resemblance in type so much, as by their infinite variety in form. It could scarcely be expected that much difference would exist between the forms of simple wedge-shaped stone hatchets, and yet they differ essentially from each other. Some have an oval section, some are nearly round in section, whilst others have straight sides. Some are long and tapering in form, and others are short and broad. Neither will it be found that this difference in general type is without significance in regard to locality, and therefore probably in regard to the independent discovery and use of the special form. The wedge-shaped stone hatchets exhibited in your temporary museum from two of the Salomon Islands (Florida and San Cristoval) differ as a group in general form from each other; and that no mistake is made in locality would seem to be established from the fact that they were all sent me direct from the islands by Mr. Codrington in 1871. Again, the groups of wedge-shaped stone hatchets exhibited from England, France, Switzerland, Denmark, and the West Indies will be found, as groups, to possess special typical peculiarities. We may reasonably expect that still further light will be thrown upon this branch of my subject. At one time, and that not long since, it was the practice to sneer at ethnographical collections; but now we begin to find that the clubs, the paddles, the shields, from any particular island or country differ considerably, as a group, from those obtained from any other country. There is an individuality about each; each group, both in form and in ornamentation, has been thought out, has been invented separately and distinctly. Indeed, so much is this the case that a skilled ethnographer will tell you that a particular club originally made in the Fiji islands was subsequently ornamented with carving by a New Zealander; or that another club originally made in the New Hebrides is now found to be ornamented with Fiji patterns.[1] The implements and weapons of modern savages are usually peculiar in form and ornamentation to the people by whom they are made and used, and as the few pre-historic stone relics which have survived to our
- ↑ The specimens to which I refer are to be seen in the Christy collection.
