96 



the "crooked knife" or man's knife of North America is an 

 Eskimo or Indian invention, or whether it was not introduced 

 at an early date by the whites. It is found in use among the 

 Eskimo and the contiguous Indian tribes of Alaska and Canada, 

 also on the northwest coast. It finds its prototype perhaps in 

 the beaver-tooth knife of the Indians and survives in civilized 

 culture in the farrier's knife. It is employed in the same way in 

 all sections, i.e., held at right angles to the body and drawn 

 toward the user. The Northwest Coast Indians have a knife 

 with a shorter blade and heavier handle, which is held in both 

 hands. An able and detailed description is given in Mason's 

 paper on the man's knife.^ 



Among the Eskimo the man's knife is known as sa'tjyik, 

 which Murdoch says in Alaska is synonymous with "iron." In 

 Bering strait tca-'wik means a "foreign knife", likewise, "iron." 

 Thus the introduction of the man's knife coincides in the west 

 with the introduction of iron among the Eskimo, and is directly 

 connected with contact with the whites. 



The man's knife is found among the Eskimo in two, possibly 

 three, forms: (1), a crooked iron blade; (2), a slightly curved iron 

 blade; and (3), a short curved or straight blade set at a slight 

 angle. The knife in its first two forms (and the second may be 

 only a variation of the first) is the instrument for whittling 

 driftwood, or smoothing down sections already rough hewn with 

 the adze; the third form is the graver's tool, and the slight angle 

 at which it is set facilitates following with the eye the line as it is 

 incised, and admits of greater pressure. The face of the handle, 

 which may be of wood, deerhorn, or ivory, is cut away to admit 

 the ball of the thumb against it, and in some western specimens 

 grooves appear at the side of the handle for the encircling fingers. 

 Examples of the graver's tool appear in Plate XXIII B c,d, and e 

 and the form of the 5a"'<^ife is illustrated in Plate XXIII A d and e. 

 The latter specimens illustrate the curved rather than the crooked 

 blade type. Some old specimens in the Museum from the 

 Alaskan Eskimo have blades of slate (Plate XXIII A c). There is 

 also a beaver-tooth knife in the same collection (Plate XXIII Ab). 



' O. T. Mason, The man's knije among the North American Indians, Rep. U.S. National 

 Museum, 1897. 



