120 FOSSIL MEN. 



the arrow and the javelin, and his object was to have 

 these as sharp and slender as possible, that, urged 

 with the bow or from the arm, they might pierce the 

 vital parts of the animal. We read in the narratives 

 of the early adventurers in America of the rapidity 

 and accuracy with which the Indian could launch his 

 arrows or javelins. Slender arrows of cane, with 

 points hardened in the fire or tipped with small 

 flints or pointed bones, were thrown with such force 

 that they have been known to pierce through the 

 body of a horse or a buffalo from side to side. I 

 have seen the war-arrows of a Western Indian which 

 had actually been used in fight with Europeans armed 

 with firearms, and which were tipped with thin flints 

 less than an inch long and half an inch wide. If the 

 aborginal European really derived any considerable 

 part of his subsistence from very large animals, we 

 may be assured that he did not kill them with stone 

 celts or huge hatchets and so-called spears of chipped 

 flint, but with points as small as those of the smallest 

 flint flakes or bone javelins ; and he probably pursued 

 these animals, like the American Indian, during win- 

 ter, when their action was impeded by the deep snow. 

 We also learn from American examples that a very 

 rude chipped flint may be fitted into an elaborately 

 ornamented handle or shaft, and when the latter has 

 perished by decay, the flint may afford a very imper- 

 fect idea of the skill of the artificer. 



The most primitive of all cutting instruments of 

 stones are flakes chipped or pressed from quartzite, 



