310 ETHNOLOGY. 



more easily worked than jasper or quartz aiuT equally as good for a 

 scraper, we cannot imagine why the harder minerals should have been 

 used so much, unless that once made they were less liable to be broken — 

 a probability which would seem of little moment when we reflect upon 

 the little wear and tear on a stone solely used in scraping the soft fat 

 from a scarcely harder skin. Nine-tenths of all the scrapers we have 

 gathered, however, were of the various kinds of jasper and quartz. 

 While our slate and other scrapers vary considerably in length, there is 

 not this variation in width, and several in our collection are fully two- 

 thirds as wide as figure 121, but less than half its length, and iu some 

 cases only about one-third as long. 



Scrapers are seldom found singly, but are abundant on the former 

 sites of ludiaa villages, and where arrow-makers had their workshops. 



Without making any distinction between true scrapers and stretch- 

 ing implements, as suggested by Professor Nilsson,* we proceed to the 

 consideration of the average jasper scrapers as we have found them 

 about Trenton, IST. J. 



Figures 122, 123, and 121 are excellent specimens of the pattern we 

 have called the " sheaf of wheat." To recognize the similarity iu out- 

 line, the specimen must be viewed with the handle doicn and not as here 

 given, which is, however, the true position of the scraper, considering 

 its use. Two of these specimens have the beveled edge ; but in figure 

 12.'> the edge is equally chipped from either side, which fact inclined us 

 formerly to consider this a blunt arrow-head,t but more careful study 

 with an enlarged collection makes us confident that we were for the time 

 in error. We have seen that figure 121 was so chipped at the edge, and 

 certainly no one will class that as an arrow-head. Occasionally the butt- 

 ends of the scrapers will be curved and give the specimen much the 

 appearance of a barbed arrow-point, the tip of which has been squarely 

 broken away. In many specimens, too, the blade is much shorter than 

 these we have here figured, being but a third or a quarter of the length 

 of the handle, instead of equal iu length or longer. 



Figure 125 is a well-cut jasper scraper, Avith a narrower front, or scrap- 

 ing edge, than usual. The specimen bears a general resemblance to 

 Esquimaux examples that we have met with and have also seen figured. 

 The handle does not join the body of the implement as abruptly as in 

 the four preceding figures. 



Figure 12G is a beautifully wrought example of a jasper scraper, hav- 

 ing much in common with figure 125, but is more symmetrical. The 

 scraping edge is broader and flatter, and is beautifully beveled along 

 the Mhole front, but the object ha^ an ordinary straight or cutting edge 

 along the sides. The handle is about one-third of the total length of 

 the specimen, and is neatly chipped and brought to a sharp edge on both 

 sides and at the end. 



Itisseldom that we see a chipped-jasper implement with its use stamped 



" Stone Ago iu Scuud., p. 77. t Amor. Nat., vol. vi. 



