308 ETHNOLOGY. 



an incision is fairly made. While many specimens may have had 

 A'arions uses, certainly the extremes in forms cannot be confounded ; 

 and our ungrooved axes or true " celts " on the one hand and polished 

 skinning-knives on the other are well-marked types of stone implements 

 that are properly distinguished by names suggested by their probable 

 uses, notwithstanding the varying forms which little by little effect 

 a blending of the two types. 



Chapter XII. 



SCRAPERS. 



Among the very numerous "flint" specimens of Europe are certain 

 rudely-chii^ped objects, of various sizes, which have received the name 

 of "scrapers." Of these, Sir John Lubbock* says: "The so-called 

 'scrapers' are oblong stones, one end of which is rounded and brought 

 to a beveled edge by a series of small blows. One side is flat, the other 

 or enter one is more or less convex; sometimes they have a short handle, 

 which gives them very much the appearance of a spoon. They have 

 been found in England, France, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, and 

 other countries. They vary from one to four inches in length, and from 

 half an inch to two inches in breadth. * * * Modern specimens 

 (Esquimaux) are in form identical with the old ones." We have said 

 that they are " rudely chipped," and, judging from the general appear- 

 ance, as represented in the illustrations, they unquestionably are ; but 

 this is very far from being the case with the New Jersey specimens. As 

 a class, they are as well chipped and as uniform in shape as the majority 

 of arrow-points. They usually have the " short handle" mentioned 

 by Sir John Lubbock, but are not commonly as spoon-like in appear- 

 ance, being similar in outline to the " sheaf of wheat," especiall}^ if 

 viewed with the "handle" down. They vary somewhat from this typi- 

 cal form of the " sheaf of wheat," however, especially in the character 

 of the handle, which is sometimes pointed; and, again, there are other 

 examples, having no distinct handle, but the edge of the scraper is 

 receded from at a gentle slope, making the complete specimen a tri- 

 angular flint, with the ijcculiar beveled edge which characterizes all 

 such implements as " scrapers." One feature of the European scrapers 

 is having one side flat or uniform, the result of the breaking away of a 

 large flake, thus giving on one side the smooth surface of a single 

 plane of cleavage. W^e have all our specimens chipped upon both sides, 

 unless it be those of about the minimum size, which appear absolutely 

 identical with the European specimens. 



During the summer of 1871, 1 forwarded a number of "sheaf-of- wheat" 

 scrapers to Sir John Lubbock, who kindly wrote me, concerning them : 

 " None of your specimens are ' true' ' scrapers,' according to our ideas, 

 nor have I ever seen one from a red-skin area." Since then we have 



* Prehistoric Times, 2d ed., -p. 92. 



