90 



HISTORY OF C OH ASSET. 



even, soft, and smooth, that it looks more like silk than 

 hemp." 



The spinning is done in their winter homes, to which 

 they migrate in the fall, and there too is carried on their 

 tanning and curing of skins. Large animals are caught 

 by nooses made from their strong hemp ropes. The noose 

 is attached to a tree held down by a trigger on the ground 



where the animals 

 browse. When the 

 hoof steps in, the 

 trigger is sprung, 

 and up flies the tree- 

 top with a tight 

 noose about the leg 

 of the struggling 

 animal* 



The death blow 

 must be dealt by the 

 clumsy stone axe 

 or the spear with its 

 jagged stone head. 

 But with these rude 

 implements great 

 skill is acquired. In 

 throwing a toma- 

 hawk the Indian aim 

 is most unerring. 

 " Their boyes," says 

 Captain Edward 

 Johnson,! will ordi- 

 narily shoot fish with their arrows as they swim in shallow 

 rivers. They draw the arrow halfway, putting the point of 

 it in the water; they let fly and strike the fish through. 



* Mourt's Relation, p. 8, tells how Gov. William Bradford was caught in one of 

 these traps and " horsed up by the leg." 



See also, for similar incidents, Thomas Morton's New jinglish Canaan, p. 200. 

 t History of New England, 1628-1652, p. 227. 



Side and Edge of Spear or Knife Blade. 

 Government Island. 



