656 . NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AND QUIVERS. 



somewhat bluntly pointed. The writer has often seen arrow-makers 

 hold a spall of stone in the left hand between the thumb and closed 

 fore tingjer, and by means of a dainty hammer stone knock off flakes 

 with the greatest rapidity, barely touching the edge of the spall at 

 each blow. Arrow-heads for common use may be finished by this 

 means. (Plate i.) 



The flaking of blades was done with a flaker. The simplest form of 

 the flaker is a piece of bone from the leg of a deer, pointed at one end. 

 The essential characteristics of the working end of this tool are that it 

 be stout enough to stand any amount of pressure that a man can give, 

 and that it be of such a texture that it will " take hold" of the stone. 

 The outer side of antler, hard bones from the legs of ruminants, and 

 even soft iron are excellent, but ivory or steel are not good materials for 

 flakers. (Plate i.) 



The Eskimo* make the best flakers, working the point from antler of 

 the caribou and the handle from ivory, carving the latter to fit the hand 

 and to give to the workman the best " purchase." The point is set in 

 the end of the handle and firmly lashed in place by means of rawhide. 



All tribes do not use the flaker similarly. If the reader will take a 

 tooth-brush handle in his right hand and a chip of siliceous stone in the 

 other, he may try the following methods: 



(1) Lay the spall or chip on a table or bit of wood, holding it firmly 

 in place with the left thumb and forefinger. Grasp the tooth-brush 

 firmly in the right hand, with the thumb on the top. The handle will 

 work better if it be sharpened like a husking peg. Press down the point 

 near the edge of the spall firmly, and remove chips along the under side. 



(2) Lay the chip on the palm of the left hand gloved, or upon a bit 

 of rawhide, holding it in place with the fingers, but not the thumb. 

 Press off flakes along the edge of the chip. 



(3) Grasp the chip between the thumb and forefinger, so that its 

 outer edge will lie along the ball of the thumb. Hold firmly with 

 fingers and press off flakes toward the thumb. 



In all cases the operator needs confidence and knack. Wonderful 

 results are achieved by good workmen in such brittle material as bottle 

 glass, obsidian, and the jaspers. 



There are in Washington several men connected with the Bureau of 

 Eth lology who are capable of j^roducing the most beautiful arrow- 

 heads from bits of obsidian or glass. 



Within the past year or two a new lig' i. has been thrown upon the 

 whole operation of arrow-head-making. Extensive ancient quarries 

 have been opened in Washington City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minne- 

 sota, Arkansas, and the processes revealed. There were several steps 

 followed certainly by the eastern fletcher. t 



(1) The digging of moist stone from the quarry. 



• Murdoch, ix, An. Rep. Bur. EthnoL, pp. 288,289. 

 tSee Holmes, Am. Anthropologist, vols, v and vi. 



