530 Account of some Antiques, Se. 
handle, yet 1 do not find that any writer upon 
the subject has had any idea of the handles 
being other than straight ones; which leads one 
to conclude the common name of battle ax to be 
very improperly applied, and that of pike, pilum 
or javelin to be more consistent. One of these, 
No. 6, I make no doubt was of this kind, 
although now without a considesable portion of 
its length. No. 2 is in the form of an ax, and 
with Nos. 1, 3, 4, 9, whose edges have the ap- 
pearance of chizels, may all. have been used as 
axes with very great propriety, by being fitted 
with handles bent at the end, and thereby would 
become formidable weapons either against man 
or beast ; or being mounted upon a straight shaft, 
might be used for pushing forward or piercing 
the earth, as an hoeing tool, and so capable of 
serving the two-fold purpose of peace or war; 
and with the loops at the sides might be suspended 
by a thong over the shoulder or round the waist 
when not wanted; and, upon occasion, it was an 
easy matter for inhabitants of the woods, as the 
ancient Britons were, to break from a tree a 
bough with an acute angle, and immediately to 
accommodate himself with a utensil for his pre- 
sent purpose. 
It seems a little strange and what I have often 
wondered at, that these celts are so often called 
battle axes, and none of our antiquaries have 
