ETHNOLOGY. 335 



remarkable instruments has been, and still is, a subject of discussion. 

 They have been considered weapons, and it must be confessed they re- 

 semble in form the jwgamagan employed by the Esquimaux of Macken- 

 zie's Eiver as a tomahawk, one end of which, formed into a blunt chisel, 

 serves to break the ice. The pogamagau, however, are longer, larger, and 

 heavier," aud instead of being flattened their cylindrical form has been 

 preserved, so that, resistance beiug equal in every direction, they admit 

 of violent blows. They also are not pierced by the large holes which 

 rendered the batons of the troglodytes too fragile for any mechanical 

 use. These batons may then be considered as the insignia of ofiice. 

 They recall the scepter of the ancients, which was carried not only by 

 kings, but by chiefs of lower rank. At the present day the dignity of 

 a marshal is represented by a baton, a similar symbol of office. 



The batons of the troglodytes are too numerous to be marks of royalty. 

 They were simply signs of hierarchal distinction, the holes, like the 

 gold aud silver lace of our officers, indicating the rank of the wearer; 

 those with four holes represented the highest office; those without any, 

 the lowest. 



The unity of design in the ornamentation, which generally includes 

 the holes, shows that the baton was made after the individual for whom 

 it was intended was invested with his office. But in some cases the 

 holes were evidently added afterward, as they cut into and mutilate 

 the drawings. For instance, on one baton a horse is represented ; and, 

 later, a hole was pierced, which divided the horse into two portions, 

 '^see Fig. 19,) the possessor having been so fortunate as to receive a 

 micromotion. 



This division into ranks, or grades, a sure sign that the community 

 was large, may have arisen out of the necessities of war ; but it is much 

 more probable that they originated in the organization of hunting expedi- 

 tions, for the chase was the principal element of public prosperity, and it 

 was of the utmost importance that it should be properly regulated, since 

 upon it depended the sustenance of the whole people. The tempera- 

 ture, was then much lower than it is now, and the flech of the game could 

 be preserved for a long time, especially during the winter months, so that 

 there was constantly a greater or less amount of food stored in the cave, 

 and the intervention of a domestic economy was necessary to avoid either 

 waste or unjust division of these provisions. Certain rods of horn, with 

 a great number of notches upon them, arranged in regular series, seem 

 to have served as account books. These objects, known as hunting regis- 

 ters, (see Fig. 17,) resemble the recording sticks used at the present day 

 by the bakers of small villages, and in the country, to keep the accounts 

 of those, alas too numerous, who can no more read than our troglodytes. 

 A wide, thin plate of bone, or ivory, with two rows of notches on the 

 sides, and its two faces covered with series of points arranged trans- 

 versely, seems also to have been a register of accounts. (See Fig. 18.) 

 Thanks to the organization and administration whose indications we 



