But they have been also used as hammers, and after all, what is a club but an appropriate hammer? Certainly the evolution of the one into the other would prove a simple affair. The large number of these bored stones found in halves, with a clean fracture, is a clear proof that they have not been used as war clubs only, but also that, perhaps, in more domestic pursuits they had been utilised as hammers. Moreover, I found on three occasions broken pieces of kwès near smithies, and together with large pounders with abraded ends, pieces of iron ore, &c. (See Chapter XX.) There doubt is impossible; both the hafted! kwè and the hand-held stone were used together and for the same purpose. The two examples from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, figured by Mr. C. G. Seligman (Journ. R. Anthr. Inst. xl. 1910, pl. xxv.) are also broken in two. They show, nevertheless, the same mode of perforation.

Another supposition that these more or less hemispherical stones were used as querns, the stick being held in each hand and the stone made to rotate on its axis, would seem a very plausible one, but, there again, I cannot say that, in spite of my primary leaning to this conclusion, I can reconcile it with facts. I have probably seen and examined more than 800 of these perforated stones, but none has shown in the periphery traces of the wear that such a use would entail. Moreover, only the regularly spherical ! kwès could have proved effectual for this purpose, and a look at Pls. XX. and XXI. shows that only a few of the implements effect a regular shape. But if the centre of the periphery bears no trace of the depression which grinding or milling would of necessity produce, some spherical! kwès are distinctly flattened at the holes; others, like Nos. 7 and 10 of Fig. 161 in Pl. XXI., or No. 3 of Fig. 156 in Pl. XX., have been used as braders or mullers or both, as either one or both sides, but not the poles, clearly show; and to that purpose many flat or depressed examples such as those in Fig. 152 (Pl. XX.) bear testimony.

It is difficult to conceive that apart from their use as club-heads, or make-weights for digging-sticks the perforation could have been of any other advantage to the owner or maker. Certainly a short handle inserted at one of the poles and kept in position by the conical hole would facilitate the handling of the ! kwè as a milling. stone, but this assumption is disproved by the total absence in querns or mortars of depressions corresponding to those which in the process of milling or grinding would be produced by these perforated stones, either spherical or flat. We have, it is true, makeweights in which the two poles show most unmistakably that they

have been used for grinding purposes, but the worn appearance of these extremities is comparatively recent, and in several instances the aperture is so large, and so rough, that the supposition that a wooden handle could have been inserted must be abandoned altogether.

In Pl. XX., Fig. 155, and also in Pl. XXI., Fig. 157, are illustrations of the ! kwè, some moderately thick, like No. 1 (3 cm.), or very thick. Fig. 157 illustrates the initial stage of the perforating process. The reverse of Fig. 1 is almost like the obverse, showing that the maker began sometimes at each end, or, pole, or as in Cut 3 of Fig. 155, he had already bored to a certain depth before beginning work at the opposite pole.

No two! kwès are alike, but the difference in size and weight is so great, that, although some have undoubtedly been used for the purpose mentioned above-namely, club or make-weight-it is quite clear that the size and weight of others precludes the possibility of their having been utilised in that manner or manufactured for that purpose. Among the spheroids, Cut 4 of Fig. 154, is 116 mm. thick and weighs 7 lbs.* Cut 1 of the same Fig. is 96 mm.; Cut 2 of Fig. 155 is 53 mm.; Cuts 1 and 5 of Fig. 153 are respectively 30 and 24 mm.; Cut 1 of Fig. 155 is 30 mm.; Cuts 1 and 2 of Fig. 156 are 10 mm., and Cut 3, 20 mm. thick.

In comparison with these gigantic, large, or moderate size specimens, we have others which, like Cuts 2 to 8 of Fig. 161, are extremely small. They may have been children's toys, perhaps they were worn as ornaments. The flat disks, Fig. 156, were, in all likelihood, pendants, but No. 3 of the same Fig. served eventually

* It needed a powerful man or woman to handle such a club or such a makeweight, but in some of the Bush drawings, the stones are of very large size, especially those carried by women.

It is said that these small examples were used for string tighteners in wet weather by slipping them as rings at each end of the bow. But none of our specimens fit the bows we possess.

But whereas in all the ! kwès figured, and also known to me, the aperture is small in proportion to the diameter, and never quite concentric, my colleague, Dr. Schönland, has figured three in which this aperture is considerably larger, being even wider than the sides of the periphery and concentric in the outer circumference. They are flat, coit-like, with the outer edge rather thin, recalling, as Dr. Schönland mentions, the brass neck-rings worn by women of quality in the Basuto nations.

These rings, I submit, have no connection whatever with the ! kwès. They are, however, of great interest because they seem, like the brass neck-rings mentioned, to be similar to, if not identical with, that Asiatic arm made of steel, and in use even at the present time, I believe, in India, and denominated there "tchakra.' The warrior holding his hand above his head makes this disc rotate with great

a more utilitarian purpose, as shown by one of its worn sides, which points clearly to it having been used as a muller, or may be, a whetstone for spears.

I received lately a pyriform specimen (Pl. XXIII., Fig. 169), which differs greatly in shape any ! kwè either mentioned or figured; it is, like many other stone implements, made of dolerite, but is thickly covered with a deposit of lime. One end has been ground and the bore begun there; the other end, or opposite pole, is conical, and in order to start the orifice on the opposite side this end would of necessity have to be truncated, or reduced by grinding. The perforation has reached the centre; it is smooth, and therefore presupposes the use of stick and sand. Had it been completed the example would absolutely resemble the pyriform clubheads occurring along the Mediterranean littoral, and especially those from Sicily.

Symbolism is attributed by some antiquarians to these perforated stones, the latter being part of the linga-yoni, namely, the rosette. Inacceptable as this theory may appear to many, it is not a mere accident that led to the production of the singular implement figured in Pl. XXI. No. 6 of Fig. 162. Partisans of the symbolic doctrine may find there a reproduction, although not an orthodox one, of Sivaïsm. It should also be remembered in connection with it that the club figured in Pl. XIX. is shaped as a phallus. Nor are the numbers 1-5 of Fig. 162, in Pl. XXI., to be considered, although at first sight they may appear to be so, as rimmers or borers, because their composition is seldom sufficiently hard to prove effective, and, moreover, none fits the conical hole. When these holes are smoothed, the smoothness has been produced by the use of stick, sand, and water, the first being made to rotate between the hands in the manner that fire was produced. There is no reason to suppose that the makers were acquainted with the bow-drill. But the rapidity round the fore-finger, and projects it to a distance of some 60 yards, seldom missing his aim. Stone tchakras" have been found in India and Cochin-China. But whether or not these ring-discs (Anneaux-disques) are symbolic or not (Vichnou or Indra throwing the bolt under the form of a disc rotating round the index of the right hand), the exact counterparts of Dr. Schönland's specimens are found in France and Italy, and, as far as I know, have been discovered nowhere else. Their similarity can be only appreciated by a comparison with the Figs. given by Cartailhac (" L'anthropologie," 1904, p. 264). As armlets these ring-discs would prove undoubtedly very cumbersome, but the aperture of the South African ones, varying from 4 to 5 cm., is hardly wide enough for the insertion of a woman's hand, to say nothing of that of a man.

64

* An old Koranna, said to be a Bushwoman, asserts that implements like Cuts 4 and 7 of Fig. 162, were held in the hand to dig bulbs with.

stick could be used only after a start had been made by picking the hole with a sharp implement, of which Cut 7 of Fig. 162 is probably one. And although most of the holes are smooth, many bear very distinct marks of having been produced entirely by rimmers of that type; some of which, in our possession, are very short.

The presence or the utility of these implements does not admit of ready explanation unless they are connected with symbolism. Could it be that the late aboriginals continued to produce unconsciously symbols of whose meaning they had become completely ignorant? It is true that the evidence of that worship is very meagre; these phalli, if they are phalli, are rare; perhaps to them may be added the ornamented stone, Fig. 173 of Pl. XXIII.

But, numerous as the ! kwès are, no one has seen them made, neither the early or present Colonists, nor the few existing natives to whom their use is, or was, familiar.

The better-shaped spheroids are made of rounded river stones, or others. Along the littoral, round beach stones are selected; and up-country naturally rounded stones are chosen in preference; but even lava is made use of (No. 3 of Fig. 154) where other material is not easily procurable; flat pieces of rock are also turned into account (Fig. 152, Pl. XX.), and the variety of rock is indeed great. Sandstone, quartzite, porphyry, dolerite, even steatite. There has occasionally, but rarely, been an attempt at smoothing the outer part of the stone, possibly by grinding. But, in the very great majority, the natural contour of the selected spheroid is not improved upon; many examples are absolutely uneven.

Neither in the manufacture of his stone implements, be they weapon, tool, or ! kwè, or even mortar or grinding-stone, has the maker possessed the technique of artificial polishing or grinding that obtained elsewhere during the Neolithic Period.

CHAPTER XIII.

BRAYERS, MULLERS, AND MORTARS.

I have already explained that the "kwè," or perforated stone, has, in many instances, been used as a grinding implement and possibly as a braying tool. I have also tried to explain that only the perfectly spherical ones could have proved useful if used as rolling. grinders propelled by a stick inserted in the centre and held in both hands, adding, however, that, with the exception of a few doubtful cases, no evidence of the wear such a process would produce was discernible.

But supposing that even the flat ones were put to this grinding purpose, their very use, like that of the spheroids, would, of course, necessitate that of mortars, or querns, the hollowed part of which would have to correspond in depth and breadth with the impression left or produced by the convex part of the spheroidal, or the broad surface of the flat ! kwè.

Common, indeed, are the mortars, especially in or near the middens, or "fonteins." Even on detached rocks they have been met with in Bushmanland, but I cannot say that I have as yet met with, seen, or heard of such depressions that would, undoubtedly, connect them with the constant use of the "kwè." In Pl. XXII. I figure three such mortars. This name, however, is a misnomer, because the depth of the longitudinal depression is really very shallow, nor is it much deeper in the centre than at each end. Nor has the depression which is always more or less navicular, or boat-shaped, been formed otherwise than by continued use. So little depth did the workers require, that when the depression was thought to be too great for their purpose, the mortar was often turned over, and the grinding, rubbing or pounding was begun anew on the opposite side. The tools used for that grinding process are especially fitted for the purpose. As in the case of "kwès," water-worn quartzite pebbles of the style figured in Pl. XXIII., Figs. 168 and 170, are