inch in diameter on either side, and but 1∕2 an inch in the centre. The axe from Felixstowe, already mentioned, presents the same peculiarity. It has been suggested that one of the methods of hafting these implements with the double bell-mouthed perforations, was by placing them over a branch of a tree, and leaving them there until secured in their position by the natural growth of the wood, the branch being then cut off at the proper places, and serving as a handle. I have, however, found by experience that even with a fast-growing tree, such a process requires two or three years at the least, and that when removed, the shrinkage of the branch in drying, leaves the hammer-head loose on its haft. Such a system of hafting would, moreover, imply a fixity of residence on the part of the savage owners of the tools, which appears hardly compatible with the stage of civilization to which such instruments are probably to be referred. At the same time, it must be remembered that the Caribs of Guadaloupe and the Hurons are, as has been mentioned at page 155, credited with an analogous system of hafting imperforate hatchets. It has also been suggested that some of these pierced stones were offensive weapons, having been attached by a thong of leather to a handle,[775] and used as “flail-stones,” after the manner of the “morning-stars” of the middle ages. Such a method of mounting, though possible, appears to me by no means probable in the |219| majority of cases, though among the Eskimos[776] a weapon has been in use, consisting of a stone ball with a drilled hole, through which a strip of raw hide is passed to serve as a handle. * * * * * The first specimen that I have selected for illustration, Fig. 144, might, with almost equal propriety, have been placed among the perforated axes, though it has three blunt edges instead of one or two. It was found at Balmaclellan, in New Galloway, and is now in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is of very peculiar triangular form, 1 1∕2 inches in thickness, and with a perforation expanding from an inch in diameter in the centre, to 1 3∕4 inches on each side. An engraving of it is given in the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_.[777] This I have here reproduced on a larger scale, so as to correspond in its proportions with the other woodcuts. [Illustration: Fig. 144.—Balmaclellan.] A curious hammer, of brown hæmatite, not quite so equilateral as the Scotch specimen, and much thicker in proportion, found in Alabama, has been engraved by Schoolcraft.[778] The holes, from each side, do not meet in the middle. [Illustration: Fig. 145.—Thames, London. 1∕2]