FOUNTAIN PEN 600 B.C.

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 November 1935, Page 10

FOUNTAIN PEN 600 B.C.

FINDS IN TEXAS. Relics of a lost American race which had devedoped a crur’o form of fou - tain pen and other evidences of considerable cultural growth more than 2000 years before this continent was discovered by the white man, are being uncovered by the Witte Memoria Museum expedition now working m the caves of south-west Texas. Just what that race may have been, where it originated or what finally became of it is a complete mystery. It is believed not to have been Indian, for hair found clinging, to two skulls is dark brown in colour and of very fine texture, entirely unlike the coarse, jet-black hair of the true Indian. It is evident, also, that the race was very small in stature, as its sandals, Yvhich have been left in great numbers, would barely fit a 12-year-old boy of to-day. The race vanished utterly more than 2000 years ago. The fountain pen, which is perhaps one of the greatest of the many mysteries being uncovered by investigators sent out by the Witte Memorial Museum, of San Antonio, is made of a five-inch piece of bone from a deer s leg. The bone has been carefully hollowed out, and in the small lower end is set a piece of manganese ore, like a clumsy pen-point. Into the large upper end was poured oil or grease, which flowed down around the piece of ore, forming a workable kind of ink.

Just what may have been written with the pen is a mystery equal to all the others which surround the discoveries, for, so far as can be found, the race had no written language and no trace of writing has been uncovered. It is thought, however, that the writing, whatever it may have been, was done on some crude form of paper or perhaps on hides, which have entirely disintegrated with the passage of niany centuries. That the race was of a highly affectionate nature is evidenced by the loving care which it seems to have bestowed on its children. Tiny necklaces and pendants of very * beautiful workmanship hhvo also been discovered, as well as diminutive sandals, far . too small to be used' by a child able to walk, and evidently part cf the layette which some prehistoric mother prepared for her baby. While the race apparently wore few. if any, clothes, it was highly skilled in spinning yarn from fur, w’hich it wove into blankets of excellent quality, and also in the making of cordage from which it manufactured bags of various kinds. Some of the latter were closely woven a.nd waterproofed, for use in carrying water from streams and springs to the caves. Many of the bags were of a nature almost identical with moshbags sold in modern stores and if laid side by side with the modern bags, could hardly be distinguished from them, except, perhaps, because of their superior workmanship.