872 PAPEES RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



flakes. On calling my grandfather's attention to this, he said that 

 although there was much truth in what at the time was written from 

 the colonies, some things were highly colored and had to be sifted 

 out or taken with caution, and he supposed the cutting of hard stone 

 with bone or horn was one of these, and might be set down as one of 

 Smith's yarns. I asked myself the question, What object could he 

 have in inventing and telling it? There must be some foundation. At 

 all events, it made an indelible impression on my mind. 



Most of the arrow-points found within my reach in Philadelphia, Dela- 

 ware, and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, were chipped from massive 

 quartz, from the opaque white to semJ-transparent and occasionally 

 transparent. Once, in company with my early preceptors, Jacob Pearce 

 and Isaiah Lukens, both well-known scientists, on a mineralogical ex- 

 cursion, we came to a place where (judging from the quantities of flakes 

 and chips) arrow-points had been made. After mo^it diligent search 

 only one perfect point was found, which is still in my possession, marked 

 with ink ''1818." There were many broken ones, showing the difficulty 

 in working the material. Mr. Lukens collected a quantity of the best 

 flakes to experiment with, and by the strokes of a light hammer roughed 

 out one or two very rude imitations. No effort was made by pressure, 

 which I cannot now understand, for at that time I was in the habit of 

 breaking off points and trimming mineral specimens (likely to be injured 

 by the jarring of a hammer stroke) by pressure with the hickory handle 

 of my mineral hammer. 



Maj, S. H. Long, afterwards colonel, who in the latter part of his 

 life succeeded Col. John J. Abert as head of the Topographical Depart- 

 ment of the United States Army, whenever in Philadelphia, was a fre- 

 quent visitor at my father's house; and, when preparing for his expedi- 

 tion to the Eocky Mountains, in which my mother's youngest brother, 

 Titian K. Peale, went as assistant naturalist, I saw him almost daily. 

 The subject of flaking and forming arrow and spear-heads was one 

 of frequent discussion. My grandfather, C. W. Peale, was at that time 

 owner of the Philadelphia Museum, which had for that period a large 

 collection of Indian curiosities, among them, many collected by Lewis 

 and Clark on their northwestern expedition, — and to me the most inter- 

 esting, was a box of stone implements in various stages of manufacture, 

 evidently collected with the view of illustrating the process. They were 

 never put on exhibition other than in the original package, the lid of the 

 box only having been removed. Major Long's attention was called to 

 these, and he expressed his belief that on his expedition he would learn 

 the entire process, and on his return be able to explain everything in 

 the Lewis and Clark collection. 



The expedition returned, and, as far as I know, without any positive 

 information as to the process of making the flakes. Mr. Peale said he 

 had seen squaws chipping flakes into small arrow-points, holding the 

 flake in their left hand, grasped between a piece of bent leather, and 



