FIG. 259. (S. 1–3.) Grooved axe, long slender type. C. D. Romig’s collection—Audenried, Pennsylvania. In this specimen the groove is slightly diagonal, a peculiarity noted in a number of instances in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin axes. ] “Though he used quartz abundantly for other purposes we do not find him selecting the massive forms of that mineral for axes except occasionally. Then again the axe-maker selects rocks that are relatively free from mica. Rocks rich in that mineral are used for pendants and ceremonials, but not for axes or other tools that have to undergo hard usage. Micaceous rocks flake readily, and they also show a marked tendency to disintegration through hydration. Here again the aborigine recognized a mineral which contributed undesirable qualities to a rock and he rejected it. Again he refrained from using coarse-grained types of rocks, as a rule. He chose rather those of fine and even texture. The only common exception in Wisconsin is the employment of feldspar porphyry where the porphyritic crystals are sometimes of fair size. The crystals in coarse-grained rocks have coarse structural planes. They tend to fracture along such planes readily, and fragments will break out from the parent mass and mar if not ruin the tool. Experience taught early man the inefficiency of such materials and his judgment, of which we are speaking, kept him from wasting his time in experimenting with them. [Illustration: FIG. 260. (S. 1–4.) An illustration which presents two axes from the collection of A. E. Marks, Yarmouth, Maine. The one to the left has the same sloping groove noted in Fig. 259. This form of groove is intentional. ]