882 



PAPEKS EELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



result; the seat of the flake is more conchoidal, shorter and deeper de- 

 pressed, whereas the direct percussive pressure throws off the shape of 

 flake that we find has been done in making these spades. If this mode 

 has been resorted to, it necessarily required considerable ingenuity in 

 devices for holding the stone slab firmly, while the pressure was being- 

 applied in the right direction. The wooden clamp described by Catlin 

 may have been used. The simplest device that occurs to me that will 

 answer the purpose is a block of wood planted in the ground, with its 

 end grain up, cut on top into stej)S, as represented in sketch, Fig. 6, the 



Fig. 6. 



lower step having grooves parallel with the rise of the upper step ; in 

 one of these grooves the edge of the implement is placed, its back rest- 

 ing against the edge of the higher step, as represented by the dotted 

 lines showing the form of a spade. When in this position, presenting 

 the proper angle to the operator, a man holds it firmly while another 

 applies the pressure. A lower step, e, with the back edge of top are 

 hollowed out to receive the work, while its lower end rests in an inden- 

 tation in the lower step. In this manner a spade can be firmly held 

 while its cutting end is being flaked. I do not present this as a mode 

 that was practiced, but as a device that answers the purpose, and I 

 judge to be within the capacity of the ancient flint-workers, of whom 

 there is nothing left but their chips and finished work. 



Let any one experiment with a bone point in chipping flint; he will 

 soon discover the value of a dry bone, a bone free from grease that will 

 hold to its work without slipping, a bone with sufficient hardness to 

 resist abrasion, a bone of strength to bear the pressure, and he will 

 value such a j^ointed bone, and will understand why, with such a bone, 

 John Smith's ancient arrow-point maker '•^valued Ms above price, and 

 would not part with ity I have been informed that the modern Indians 

 free their flaking bones from grease by burning them in moistened clay 

 and wood ashes, not unlike the common practice of our housewives to 

 remove grease spots from their kitchen floors. 



The hunter or trapper described to me a mode still in practice among 

 the remote Indians of making flakes by lever pressure combined with- 

 percussion, that is more philosophical and a better mechanical arrange- 



