290 ETHNOLOGr. 



lar edge, continuous with tlie sides and of equal sharpness, instead of 

 being pointed, as are the vast majority of arrow-points. The manner 

 of flaking- adopted in the manufacture of this specimen fully indicates 

 of itself that the rounded end was intentional and so fashioned from 

 the first, and that the specimen was not originally pointed, and after- 

 ward, instead of being repointed, chipped to an edge. Arrow-heads of 

 this form, and of nearly every pattern, stemmed and without tangs, are 

 occasionally met with, having the peculiarity of being rounded instead 

 of pointed. Perhaps the majority of such rounded forms are those 

 without stems, and certainly the rudest of them, and such as appear 

 the oldest, are the triangular arrow-heads of slato and even softer min- 

 erals, that are simply rounded ofl", or are like the present specimen, the 

 stem being cut squarely ofi". 



Figure 78 represents a well-chipped jasperarrow-i)omt, having a well- 

 notched stem, and bearing considerable general resemblance to the pre- 

 ceding specimens of stemmed arrow-points. There is one peculiarity, 

 however, about figure 78, which is worthy of attention. The end of the 

 specimen is chipped off at almost right angles with the sides, and is 

 sloped to a narrow, acute point at the middle, scarcely the sixteenth of 

 an inch in length. This is not a mere accident or chance chipping, but 

 a peculiarity frequently met with, and shown again in figure 85, which 

 is an arrow-head of the triangular pattern. There was no doubt an 

 object in view iu so chipping arrow-points, but our limited knowledge 

 of the bow and arrow does not enable us to discern it. It might be 

 thought, from a cursory glance, that this specimen was originally much 

 longer, and, the point having been broken off, that it was chipped 

 to its present shape; but the general a]ipearance of the specimen does not 

 favor this view, and we cannot imagine an accidental fracture of such a 

 character as to determine the present peculiarly-outlined pointing. Wo 

 have found fully one hundred arrow-points of various patterns, which 

 have had an extreme point, like this of figure 78 and figure 85. 



Figure 79 represents an example of what we have considered an 

 arrow-head, notwithstanding its size. It has been frequently remarked 

 that arrow-heads, wherever found and of whatever age, all have very 

 much in common ; and if the labels of a collection from all quarters of 

 the globe were lost, it would be a difficult matter to decide the locality 

 from which au}' specimen was obtained, unless from the materials out of 

 which they were fashioned. Another interesting feature is the similar- 

 ity between arrow, spear, and harpoon poiuts of an age long i)ast and 

 those now being used and made by the savages who are still more or less 

 completely in the stone age. Bearing this iu mind, we call attention par- 

 ticularly to the "harpoon-point" which w^e give in figure 79, which, iu all 

 its important features, is identical with one figured by Professor jSTilsson,* 

 and conceruing which he says: "The stone points (for harpoons) vary 

 in shape; sometimes they are as in PI. iii. Figs. 45, 47. Such are like- 



* Stone Age iu Scandinavia, Eng. ed., iilate x, fig. 203, and page 28. 



