1896.] did [Cashing. 



reversing the hold, for hurling as well, I inferred that possibly the 

 instrument had been used in part as an atlatl, in part as a kind of single- 

 edged maquahuitl or blade-set sabre. It was, at any rate, a most formid- 

 able weapon and a superb example of primitive workmanship and inge- 

 nuity. There were other weapons somewhat like these. But they were 

 only eight or nine inches in length, and were neither knobbed nor 

 creased. They were, however, perforated at the backs for hand cords, 

 and socketed below for six, instead of twelve teeth — set somewhat more 

 closely together — and must have formed vicious slashers or rippers. 

 Then there were certain split bear- and wolf-jaws — neatly cut off so as 

 to leave the canines and two cuspids standing — which, from traces 

 of cement on their bases and sides, appeared to have been similarly 

 attached to curved clubs. 



War clubs proper, that is, of wood only, were found in considerable 

 variety. The most common form was that of the short, knobbed blud- 

 geon. Another was nearly three feet long, the handle rounded, tapered, 

 and furnished at the end with an eyelet for the wrist cord. The blade was 

 llattish, widening to about three inches at the head, and it was laterally 

 beveled from both sides to form blunt edges and was notched or roundly 

 serrated, precisely as are some forms of Fijian and Caroline Island clubs. 

 The type was obviously derived from some preexisting kind of blade- 

 set weapon. This was also true, in another way, of the most remarkable 

 form of club we discovered. It was not quite two feet in length, and made 

 of some dark-colored tine-grained kind of hard, heavy wood, exquisitely 

 fashioned and finished. The handle was also round and tapering, the head 

 tiattened, symmetrically flaring and sharp-edged, the end square or but 

 slightly curved, and terminating in a grooved knob or boss, to which tas- 

 sel-cords had been attached. Just below the flaring head was a double 

 blade, that is, a semilunar, sharp-edged projection on either side, giving 

 the weapon the appearance of a double-edged battle-axe set in a broad- 

 ended club, as indicated in outline a of Fig. 3, PI. XXXV. This 

 specimen was of especial interest, as it was the only weapon of 

 its kind found, up to that time, in the United States; but was 

 absolutely identical in outline with the so-called batons represented in 

 the hands of warrior-figures delineated on the shell gorgets and copper 

 plates found in the southern and central Mississippi mounds — as may 

 be seen in the figure just referred to. It not only recalled these, but 

 also typical double-bladed battle-axes or clubs of South and Central 

 American peoples, from which type I regarded its form, although wholly 

 of wood, as a derivative. 



I must not fail to mention dirks or stilettos, made from the foreleg 

 bones of deer, the grip ends flat, the blades conforming in curvature to 

 the original lines of the bones from which they were made. One of 

 them was exquisitely and conventionally carved at the hilt-end to repre- 

 sent the head of a buzzard or vulture, the which was no doubt held to 

 be one of the gods of death by these primitive key-dwellers. There 



