Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/147

Rh it was often difficult to distinguish the ancient from the modern, and the intercourse, direct or indirect, with the inhabitants of neighbouring islands, afforded a constant opportunity for the importation of stone weapons and similar objects of domestic use, whilst the friendly visits, on occasion of which the less civilised neighbours had left vestiges of their presence in secluded parts of Java, gave an apparent explanation of the occurrence of objects, which were still in general use among contiguous tribes, though at present unknown in Java.

In July, 1849, Dr. C. Swaving, of Batavia, deposited five stone wedges in the Museum of Antiquites at Leyden. In the present year (1851) the Museum has acquired thirty-five similar objects; and in a previous year Mr. A. de Wilde presented sixty stone wedges. We have now one hundred of these articles to compare with antiquities of the same kind from Europe and America, extant in the same collection, and these materials are augmented by the very ancient weapons and implements of stone in the Japanese Museum, formed by Mr. von Siebold.

It is scarce necessary to observe, that the stone, of which these objects consist, differs according to the country in which they have been found, and that this difference affects considerably their form and workmanship. At first sight there often appears a greater dissimilarity among those found in remote countries than is confirmed by closer investigation; and, if these nations were similarly circumstanced in regard to the material and the application of their tools, the same leading features may have been preserved under all modifications in different localities and at different periods of time, without leading to the conclusion, that they had mutual intercourse or a common origin. This should be remarked before we concur in the opinion of the author of an essay in "The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia," for January 1851, p. 85, viz.—"That, judging from the stone wedges found in Java, that island was once inhabited by an African, or Indo-African population." The wedges in the possession of the Museum have been received from various quarters, and consist either of basalt, or of quartz, hornstone, flint, touchstone, chalcedony, jasper, and agate of various colours. All these species abound in Java; and, even if partly an importation, it does not follow that the people from