DIGGING TOOLS. 223 



sometimes be seen to take a stone for the purpose of cracking 

 nuts which are too strong for its teeth, and to perform that 

 task with great deftness ; but such animals have always been 

 taught by man, and had they remained in their own country, 

 not one of them would have used a stone, were the nuts ever 

 so hard. 



THE SPADE. 



WE will begin our notice of tools by taking that which must 

 have been the first tool invented by man. One of the principal 

 duties assigned to man is the culture of the earth, and this he 

 cannot do without tools, increasing their number and improving 

 their structure in proportion to his own development in agri- 

 culture. 



Before seed can be sown, it is necessary that the earth should 

 be broken up, and, owing to the structure of the human frame, 



DIGGHfO-STICK. 



this task cannot be fulfilled by man without a tool which will 

 enable him to rival many of the lower animals, i.e. make use 

 of those digging appliances which have been furnished by 

 Nature. 



It is evident that the first earth-breaking tool must have 

 been a pointed stick, and we find that in Southern Africa, in 

 parts of Asia, and in Australia the Digging-stick is still in 

 use for the purpose of breaking up the ground. The Austra- 

 lians are wonderful adepts in the use of the Digging- stick, 

 which is one of the simplest of instruments, being merely a 

 stick some two feet in length, pointed at one end, and the point 

 hardened in the fire. 



The mode of using it is by holding it perpendicularly, 

 pecking it into the ground, and throwing out the loosened soil 

 with the hands. In this way they can excavate with such 



