Mt UUUOII.) 



PICKAXES. 



303 



axes (sikla) of their own manufacture, which arc still in use. These are 

 always single-pointed and have a bone or ivory head, mounted, like an 

 ad/- head on a rather short haft. The haft, like those of the mauls and 

 adzes already described, is never fitted into the head, but always applied 

 to the under surface of the latter and held on by a lashing of thong. 



The only complete 

 implement of the 

 kind which we ob 

 tained is No. 73574 

 [297], Fig. 303. The 

 head is of whale s 

 rib, 17^ inches long. 

 The butt is shoul 

 dered on the under 

 surface to receive 

 the haft and rough 

 ened with crosscuts 

 to prevent slipping, 

 with two shallow 

 rough transverse notches on the upper surface for the lashings. The 

 haft is of pine, 24i inches long. The lashing is of stout thong of bearded 

 seal hide, in two pieces, one of four turns passing through the hole, round 

 the front edge of the haft, over the lower notch in the head, and back 

 across the haft to the hole again. The ends are knotted together on top 



Fid. 303. Mattock of whale s rib. 



FIG. 304. Pickax heads of bone, ivory, ami whale s ribs. 



of the head by becket-hitching one end into an eye in the other, made by 

 slitting it close to the tip and passing a bight of the standing part through 

 this slit. The other part is of seven turns, put on in the same way, but 

 crossing back of the haft, and started by looping one end round the 

 head and through the eye by means of an eye at the end made as before. 



