A typical pebble bearing slight marks of use is illustrated in plate XLV. It is of fine-grained pinkish sandstone, probably tuffaceous, and is fairly hard and quite tough; it weighs 1 pound 9 ounces (0.71 kilogram). It is wholly natural in form and surface save for slight battering or pecking on the face illustrated, and for a few stains of grease and abundant marks of fire. It was found in a fire still burning (and abandoned within a half-hour, as indicated by other signs) two or three miles inland from Punta Granita on the Seri trail toward Aguaje Parilla, whither it had evidently been carried from the coast.
A fairly common material for both hupfs and ahsts is highly vesicular basalt grading into pumice stone, the material corresponding fairly with a favorite metate material among the Mexicans. The rock was not certainly traced to its source, but seems to come from the northern part of Sierra Kunkaak. A typical hupf of this material is shown in plate XLVI; it weighs 1 pound 13 ounces (0.82 kilogram). It is wholly natural in every respect save for slight grinding and subpolishing, with some filling of interstices, on both faces. From the slight wear of this specimen, together with the absence of battering, and from similar features presented by others of the class, it maybe inferred that implements of this material are habitually used only for grinding—for which purpose they are admirably adapted. The specimen emphasizes the importance of the hupf in Seri thought, for it was one of a small series of mortuary sacrifices from a tomb at Pozo Escalante (ante, p. 290).
Throughout the surveys of Seriland, constant search was made for cutting implements of stone; and the nearest approach to success was exemplified by the specimen illustrated in plate XLVII. It is of bluish-gray volcanic rock (not specifically identified) of close texture and decided toughness and hardness; it weighs 10 ounces (0.28 kilogram). In greater part its form and surface are natural, but a projecting portion brought out by weathering on one side is split off, presumably by intention, and the fractured surface thus produced is partly smoothed by rubbing, probably in use, though possibly by design. The edges are more or less battered, especially at the ends, and several rude flakes have been knocked off, evidently at random and presumably in ordinary use as an ahst. The smoother face is wholly natural. The specimen was picked up in a jacal at Rada Ballena, but bore no marks of recent use.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLI
NATURAL PEBBLE BEARING SLIGHT MARKS OF USE
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLII
THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
NATURAL PEBBLE USED AS BONE-CRUSHER