The aborigines were in the habit of burying articles of flint in the ground, and such deposits, sometimes quite large, have been discovered in various parts of the United States. These deposits consist of articles representing various types, among which I will mention the leaf-shaped implements in the possession of Mr. Cowing; the agricultural tools found at East Saint Louis, Illinois, of which I have given an account in the Smithsonian report for 1868; and the rude flint articles of an elongated oval shape, which were found about 1860 on the bank of the Mississippi, between Carondelet and Saint Louis, Missouri, and doubtless belonged to a deposit. I have described them in the above-named Smithsonian report, (p. 405,) and have also given there a drawing of one of the specimens in my possession. This drawing has been reproduced by Mr. E. T. Stevens, on page 441 of his valuable work entitled "Flint Chips," (London, 1870,) with remarks tending to show that the specimen does not represent an unfinished implement, as I am inclined to believe, but a complete one. I must admit that my drawing is not a very good one. It gives the object a more definite character than it really possesses, the chipping appearing in the representation far less superficial than it is in the original, which, indeed, has such a shape that it could easily be reduced to a smaller size by blows aimed at its circumference. I have myself scaled off large flat flakes from similarly-shaped pieces of flint, using a small iron hammer and directing my blows against the edge, and have thus become convinced that the further working of objects like that in question could offer no serious difficulties to a practised flint-chipper. My collection, moreover, contains several smaller flint objects of similar shape, which are undoubtedly the rudiments of arrow and spear-heads, and I may add that I obtained a few from places where the manufacture of such weapons was carried on.