Excerpt from Polished Stone Articles, Vol. 4: Used by the New York Aborigines Before and During European Occupation In considering polished stone articles as a class, it is necessary to divide some departments, as pipes, ornaments, and vessels of various kinds, much alike in form and use, but not in material. The modes of manufacturing these, however, are sometimes so different that no farther excuse need be made. Clay and stone specially mark eras in human progress. Under this head will also be included picked implements, for picking was commonly part of the process of forming polished articles, which are found in all stages of development. The picked implement was rarely finished. Sometimes grinding was the first act of all, but not in general. A few stones, naturally formed for use, might receive an edge at once. More commonly they were chipped, picked and polished as time or needs permitted. This is most frequently seen in the case of celts and gouges, where the same site may yield every gradation, from the rudest to the finest. And sometimes unite every process in one implement. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.