IMPLEMENTS BEARING SIGNIFICANT MARKS. 197 



These Esquimaux specimens have been especially pointed out by Mr. T. K. Gay, 

 who has also favoured me with extracts from various writers bearing on this and 

 other subjects. Eor instance, with regard to the marked Harpoons (although it 

 is not the long form seen in fig. 78 that is referred to, but much shorter and leaf- 

 shaped or lanceolate points) the following extract is very illustrative : 



Urey Lisiansky's Voyage round the "World in 1803-6 (Lond. 4to, 1 814), p. 206 (island of Cadiack) : 

 " The whale-harpoon is about ten feet long, the spear or point is of slate-stone, and of the form of a knife, 

 sharp on both sides, and is set loose into the handle." Page 202 : " A Cadiack whaler in a single bidarka 

 attacks only small whales ; and for this purpose he is provided with an harpoon, the spear of which is made 

 of slate-stone, and so fixed into the handle as to detach itself when the whale is struck. When wounded 

 by it, the whale runs to sea and dies, and is perhaps never seen again, unless the currents and winds should 

 throw it on the coast. Thus no whaler is sure of his prey. The spears of the whale-harpoons are marked 

 by the whaler, so that every one knows his own " *. 



With regard to Owner-marks, Mr. Buckley observes (Journ. Anthrop. Instit. 

 vol. ii. p. 364) that " the handles of spades and sticks in Cork and Waterford are 

 often marked with notches as in the Australian club exhibited by Colonel Lane 

 Eox (see page 194, fig. 74). The expression ' I put my criss-cross on it,' used by 

 the peasantry, is from this custom, so that the owner, being unable to readf, 

 could always claim his own stick or spade by its marks. The way of mounting 

 the spade which is in use in the stony districts of the south-west of Ireland is 

 precisely similar to the way in which the so-called bronze ' celts ' or hatchets of 

 the ancient Irish were fastened to their handles " (fig. 79 a and b). 



The Trade-marks and Brands, now so common on manufactured articles and in 

 advertisements, though sometimes elaborate in design, are, of course, essentially 

 Owner-marks J ; and so were the old Merchant-marks , such as are indicated in 

 the ' Proceed. Soc. Antiq.' ser. 2, vol. i. p. 202. The old Masons' Marks, of the 

 XII.-XV. Centuries, were somewhat similar ; also their modern " Banker-marks." 



Owners' Marks, Heraldic Devices, and Monograms slide into each other, and, 



* The American and British whalers also mark their harpoons with the conventional sign adopted for 

 their ship, so that, if the whale escapes and is afterwards captured with an old harpoon in it, it is known 

 from the crew of what vessel it had escaped. 



f Branding their tools with letters is now the nearly universal custom with labourers, artisans, and others. 



J So also we may refer to the farmer's ruddle- marks on his Sheep, the brand on the flanks of hill 

 Ponies and on the hoofs of cavalry Horses, the ear-cuts and other marks on Sheep turned out on commons, 

 and on colonial Horses and Cattle, the butcher's varied knife-scorings on carcasses, and the nicks on tame 

 Swans' bills. For the last see 'Archeeologia,' vol. xvi. (1812), pis. xi.-xiii. 



8. K. Pattison, Esq., F.G.S., who has favoured me with notes on Tallies and Owner-marks, refers me 

 to ' The Statutes at Large ' (edit. " Record Commission ") for information as to the recognition of special 

 marks in some of the earliest statutes respecting manufactures, cattle, &c. 



2 E 



