ANCIENT HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA. 431 



The objects found in tlio N^ortli are chiefly arrow-heads, as might be 

 expected iu the case of a people of hunters and warriors. In the col- 

 lection before jou, there are specimens of the various shapes, some 

 scarcely an inch long and having a rounded point, while others are more 

 than three inches in length. Precisely similar in shape and material, 

 (the latter being pure quartz, flint, chalcedony, jasper, rock-crystal,) 

 only larger, are the lance-heads. The royal mineralogical cabinet is in 

 possession of a magnificent arrow-head of pure rock-crystal, evidently 

 of American origin. It is remtirkable that many lance and arrow heads 

 slant unequally on the two edges, so that the arrow or lance would 

 assume a rotary motion on being discharged. 



The knives were also made of flint and obsidian by breaking them ofl:' 

 from suitable blocks by means of a single blow. They difler iu no way 

 from the European. The Indian wedges are also like those found in 

 Europe, a circumstance that need not surprise us in an instrument of 

 so primitive a nature. The specimen before you, with its rounded sides, 

 was taken dii^ectly in the hand, and used to skin larger animals. 



The hatchets, of which three specimens are before you, are of a shape 

 peculiar to x\.merica. They are provided with a deep groove under the 

 neck running around the sides, into which was fitted a foi'ked branch 

 forming the handle. From their frequent occurrence we conclude that 

 they were the most usual weapon, which was later and only gradually 

 supplanted by the iron tomahawk. Hammers with holes to receive the 

 handle are rare. 



Among the other stone instruments, the grindstones differ also from 

 the European, being of the shape of stones used for rubbing up colors. 

 Larger disks, concave on both sides, were probably used in games, and 

 smaller ones of various shapes, and j)ierced with holes, may have served 

 as ornaments. The oval stone before you, with a groove running all 

 around it, may either have been a piece of ornament, or a sinker for , 

 a net. 



Which shapes and which material belong to the earlier, and which to 

 the later times, will jjrobably be determined only after long researches. 

 Dr. Dickerson, of Philadelphia, claims an age of three thousand five 

 hundred years for these arrow-heads, which were found in one of th« 

 Mississippi States. Among them you i)erceive half-finished and spoiled 

 l)ieces. Those made of quartz corresi:)oud in shape with the iron 

 arrows (►f the present day, of which you also have a specimen before 

 you ; they are, therefore, very likely the more recent. Among the 

 metallic utensils, we must first mention the copper hatchet, an imi- 

 tation of the stone wedge attached to a club like the Celtic ax, 

 a chisel, and lance-heads. Among the ornaments are perforated copper 

 idates, concave disks, objects resembling buttons, small round disks of 

 thin coi)per plate, or wire for stringing on a thread, like pearls. The 

 copper was doubtless taken to Central America from the Lake Sujierior 

 copper region. 



The inhabitants ©f Mexico and Central America had made gieat prog- 



