1892-93.] NOTES ON THK WESIKRN' DENES. 53 



what renders this reHc particularly remarkable is the presence of the 

 very fine grooves noticeable on each of its three unthinned edges, two 

 only of which appear in the cut above, the third being on the reverse 

 of the implement. This peculiarity, while rendering the identification of 

 the find more difficult, suggests a similarity of form though certainly not 

 of use, with an implement formerly common among the Carriers under 

 the name of dzih, " it grinds through." It consisted of two stone tablets 

 carefully polished at least on one side so as to permit of their being 

 closely joined together. In the middle of their polished surfaces was a 

 groove obtained probably by pecking, not friction, which when both 

 tablets were superposed formed a cylindrical hole through which gam- 

 bling sticks, arrow shafts, etc., were repeatedly passed and thereby given 

 an exquisite finish. None of these implements is now extant. They 

 were the equivalent of the wooden wrenches used by the Hupas under 

 similar circumstances. 



Weapons of War and of the Chase. 



Prominent among these were, of course the arrow,* and its correlative 

 the bow.f 



The arrow heads \ of the Western Denes were either of stone, of bone 

 or horn, or of wood. The form, no less than the material, of the stone 

 arrow points greatly differed. In fig. 23 will be found specimens repres- 

 entative of the most common patterns. Many of them are quite 

 diminutive in proportions, and would seem to partake more of the nature 

 of play-t'hings than of that of the deadly weapons they undoubtedly were. 

 As regards shape, those marked a and b may be described as the typical 

 arrow-points of the Western Denes. In common with specimen c, whose 

 main peculiarity is the absence of one of the usual side notches, they are 

 of a blackish resonant rock which I long mistook for a variety of flint, 

 but which Dr. G. M. Dawson declares to be a very fine grained augite- 

 porphyrite. The Carriers call this stone pis, and it is one of the 16 

 varieties of rocks known to their vocabulary. They used it in the making 

 of the largest number of their missile weapons, arrows, spears^ etc. It is 

 but right to remark here that the point a is so much larger than moSt 

 genuine Dene arrow heads, that some Indians claim it was a bow, not an 

 arrow point. Of the bow points further mention will soon be made. 



« ' , 



' Kta, prim. root. 



■\'^lthi. Singularly enough the Carriers have a collective name for bow and arrow taken to- 

 gether. This is 'Kra-zza. 

 X A'l^ntai, second, root. 



