Fig. 29. Pestle made of Stone. From Satus on the Yakima Reservation near Old Yakima. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. York.)
Fig. 30. Pestle made of Sandstone. From Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44537, 9-3. Original in the collection of Mrs. Hinman.)
Fig. 31. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
A long pestle with a knob at the top which is divided into four pyramidal or dome-shaped nipples was found at Five Mile Rapids on Snake River and was seen in Mr. Owen's collection. The next figure represents a stone pestle of somewhat similar shape but more specialized. It was found in the Yakima Valley and is in the collection of Mr. Janeck. It is 590 mm. long. The top is roughly the form of the fustrum of a cone, being circular in cross section and gradually expanding downward, but it is somewhat celt-shaped, the sides for some distance being ground off nearly flat. They approach each other more closely towards the front than they do towards the back. In each of these surfaces there is an incision which represents one side of an animal's mouth and a pecked dot indicating an eye. The tip of the nose is broken off. Across the curved part behind the flat surfaces or on the back of this animal head are four incisions. Below this portion the object is circular in section until near its middle, or 178 mm. from the top, where there is a band roughly sub-pentagonal in section with rounded corners 88 mm. long. Following this band it is nearly cylindrical, being 57 mm. in diameter for 178 mm. until it expands suddenly into the striking head which is unusually bulging, 108 mm. long by 64 mm. in diameter.[108]
The object 498 mm. long shown in [Fig. 35] is made of steatite, material seemingly unsuited by its softness for a pestle, and may possibly be a war club. Mr. McCandless, in whose collection it is, calls the material a soft sandstone which he says is found at the head of the Wenatchie River. He says the specimen is from Lake Chelan and that he obtained it from a man above Wenatchie on the Columbia River. This man told him that he secured it from Chief Moses' tribe on Lake Chelan, and that the Indians there call it a war club and a family heirloom. The upper end is of the form of a truncated pyramid with two flat sides, two bulging edge's and rounded corners. It shows peck marks and is engraved as described under art, on [p. 124], and is said by the Indians to represent the head of a snake. The shaft is circular in cross section and gradually enlarges towards the base where it suddenly constricts. The specimen has been polished by the natural sand blast.[109]
The noise of the women at one of the Nez Perce villages, pounding roots, reminded Lewis of a nail factory.[110] Beyond the Nez Perce country which bounds this area on the east, according to Spinden,[111] the use of stone pestles disappears until the region of the Great Lakes is reached, but I have seen pestles in collections in Wyoming which are said to have been found in that state.
Rollers. Another class of specimens considered as pestles or rollers is shown in Figs. [36] and [37]. These do not seem to have been used as pestles.
Fig. 32. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44534, 8-12. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)
Fig. 33. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 41502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
Fig. 34. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)