7M 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



The Micmacs are especially wbittlers in bow staves, siiowshoes, aud 

 canoe frames. The women also make splint baskets in wickerwork. 

 Their household utensils were in wickerwork aud birch 

 bark, so they did little adzing. 



Example Oat. No. 54338, in the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum, is a curved knife from the Passamaquoddy 

 Indians, Eastport, Maine (fig. 4), collected by Mr. K. 

 Edward Ear 11. The blade is in form of a farrier's knife, 

 let into a stub groove on the back of the handle, and 

 held in place by a seizing of wood splint. The handle 

 is straight in the grip, and turned up aud beveled at 

 the outer end to receive and fit the thumb, as in other 

 curved knives. The connective of 

 wood splint is specially noteworthy 

 in its neat administration and thor- 

 oughly aboriginal fastening off, as 

 in the two previous specimens from 

 the Micmac Indians. ' Length, lOJ 

 inches. 



Mr. Lucien Turner says of the 

 Nenenot Indians of the Algonquan 

 stock, living on the borders of 

 the Ungava, in northern Labra- 

 dor, "that they make their crooked 

 knives of steel files and knife 

 blades (fig. 5). The Indian reduces 

 the metal to the shape desired, 

 flat on one side and beveled on the 

 other, by grinding. He then heats 

 the blade and gives it the proper 

 curve." He also draws attention to 

 the fact that left-handed persons 

 suit the tool to their hand by bend- 

 ing the blade in the proper direc- 

 tion. "No Labrador Indian ever goes on a journey 

 without a curved knife. The handle is held at right 

 angles to the body and drawn toward the user. It is 

 employed in all cases for whittling or shaving wood 

 and the preparation of the strips and slats of 

 canoes, paddles, snowshoes, and everything cut from 

 wood. It requires great skill to use the knife prop- 

 erly." 



Turner says that "this tool is in universal use both 

 among the Eskimo and the Indians of this region." 



Example Cat. No. 153498, in the TJ. S. National Museum, is a curved 

 knife from Labrador (fig. G), collected by Dr. H. G. Bryant. The blade 



Fig. 3. 

 MICMAC CURVED KNIFE 



Cat. No. 15M04, U.S.N. M. 



Fig. 4. 



PASSAMAQUODDY KNIFE. 

 Cat. No. 64338, U.S.N. M. 



