948 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



The first series consists of eijiiit specimens. The material is obsi<lian 

 or clialcedony viirying- from dark-brown to a dull blue, with veins of 

 blue throughout the brown. The blades vary from 4 to 5| inches 

 in length, from 1| to 2'| inches in width, and are from t to ^ inch 

 thick. Handles of pine, from 4i to 6J inches, were attached to all of 

 them. Five of these were glued or gummed, three were lashed. 

 Another of these blades, similar in all respects to the former, was 

 obtained by Colonel Ray, but the wooden handle was replaced by a 

 wrapping of otter skin. The blade is 7^ by 1§ by ^ inches. Speci- 

 mens of the foregoing are set forth in Plate 41, a reference to which will 

 make the description clear. The smaller specimen in this i)late repre- 

 sents a series of knives obtained by MaJ. J. W. Powell from the Pai 

 Utes. The latter is described and figured by Dr. Charles Ran,' who says : 



Collectors are ready to class chippe<l-stone. articles of certain forms occurring 

 throughout the United States as arrow and lance heads, without thinking that 

 many of these specimens may have been quite diffei-ently euiployed by the aborigi- 

 nes. Thus the Pai Utes of Southern Utah use to this day chipped-tlint blades, 

 identical in shajjc with those that are usually called arrow and spear points, as 

 knives, fasten iug them in short wooden handles by means of a black substance. 

 Quite a nnmber of these hafted Hint knives (fig. 1 ) have been deposited in the col- 

 lection of the National Museum by Maj. .1. W. Powell, Avho obtained them during 

 his sojourn among the Pai Utes. The writer was informed by Major Powell that 

 these people use their stone knives Avitli great effect, especially in cutting leather. 

 On the other hand, the stone-tipped arrows still made by various Indian tribes are 

 mostly provided with small, slender points, generally less than an inch in length, 

 and seldom exceeding an inch and a half, as exemplified by many specimens of modern 

 arrows in the Smithsonian collection. If these facts be deemed conclusive, it would 

 follow that the real Indian arrowhead was comparatively small, and that the 

 larger specimens classed as arrowheads, aud not a few of the so-called spear points, 

 were originally set in handles ajjd were used as knives and daggers. In many cases 

 it is impossible to determine the real character of small leaf shajied or triangular 

 objects of chipi)ed Hint, which may have served as arrowheads or either as scrapers 

 or cutting tools, in which the convex or straight base formed the working edge. 

 Certain chipped spearhead-shaped specimens with a sharp, straight, or slightly 

 convex base may have been cutting implements or chisels. Arrowheads of a slender 

 elongated form pass over almost iraj)erceptibly into perforators, insomuch that it is 

 often impossible to make a distinction between them. 



Another series of similar implements (Plate 42) with handle attached 

 are in the U. S. National Museum. They are from southern California, 

 and are reported in Wheeler's Geographical Survey.-^ These specimens 

 were collected by Mr. Slmmacher from Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz 

 islands. The material, while difli'ering much, was uniformly of liard 

 stone, such as flint, chalcedony, or jasper. The blades are inserted in 

 redwood handles, fastened with gum or bitumen, and bear the evidence 

 of long exi)osure. The dryness of the country whence they came was 

 l)robably the cause of their i)reservation. 



These wooden-handled knives were not confined to the coast nor, 



' Archicological Collection of the U. S. National Museum, p. 2, fig. 1. 

 - (ieorge M. Wheehn-, United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Merid- 

 ian, VII, 1879, Archa-ology, p. 59. 



