WHETS<TO\ES. 



183 



water. One native very neatly mended a nmsket barrel wliicli liad been 

 cracked by firing- too heavy a eliarnc. lie cut a section Iron) anotlicrold 

 barrel of somewhat larger caliber, which he heated until it had exi)ande(l 

 enongh to slip down over the crack, ami then allowed it to shrink (ui. 



Whetstones (ipiksaun).— Knives are generally sharpened with a (lie, 

 cutting a bevel, as before mentioned, on one face of the l)ladc only. 

 To "set" or "turn" the edge they use ])ieces of steel of various shajies, 

 generally with a hole drilled in them so that they can be hung to tlie 

 breeches belt by a hiuyard. One man, for iustauce, used about half of 



a razor blade for this jHuiiose. and anotlier a small horseshoe magTiet. 

 In former times tliey eiri|i]oyed a very elegant implement, consisting of 

 a slender rod of Jade from ;; to 7 inches long, with a lanyard attacheil to 

 an eye in the hnger end. These were somctinu's made by cutting a 

 liicee from one of the ol<I Jade adzes in the manner alrea<ly .lescribed. 

 There ar.' a few of these u hetstones st ill in use at the presi'Ut day, and 

 they are very highly i)rize(l. We succeeded in obtaining nine s|,e<-i 

 mens, of which No. S'.KJIS [SOI |, Fig. Iti2«, has Ix'cn selected as the type. 

 It is of hard black stiuie, probably Jade. ()-.3 inches long. Through the 

 wider end is drilled a large eye. into which is neatly spliced one end 

 of a stout Hat braid of sinew ii| inches long. 



