Page:The American Indian.djvu/165

Rh tube of cane which prevails in Mexico and Central America (Fig. 8). The center of development for highly carved stone pipes is the eastern half of the Mississippi drainage.

Of special and frequently problematical stone objects we have a long list. In North America, the bannerstone (Fig. 81) and the discoidal (Fig. 82) are common on the Atlantic side. The Columbia River Valley also presents a large number of curiosities, such as stone weights, tool handles, monkey heads,



etc., perhaps a greater variety than any other region. In the Antilles we have large, curious rings or collars, and in Mexico, yokes. Central America yields carved jadeite celts and animal-shaped metates. From Ecuador come large stone seats and from Peru curious carvings in stone, suggesting appliances for a game of chance. The small area about Catamarca, Argentina, produces a curious mace-like object and in eastern South America we find a large, finely formed ax. The distribution of these forms presents many interesting problems for which the reader must turn to the special literature.

Among questions of wider interest is that of steatite work. The making of steatite vessels was a prominent industry on the Atlantic side of North America. In New England and