FROM CALIFORNIA. 21 



is iii the National Museum. It lias a slender handle about three feet 

 long, whieh is surmounted by a small eggshaped stone set in a band of 

 rawhide, which also envelops and strengthens the handle. It was a 

 point of honor with the Sioux warrior to touch the body of a slain en- 

 emy with, the "coup stick," an act whicli brought him more renown than 

 the actual killing. Jt is probable that this particular form of the " coup 

 stick" is simply a modification of the war club. Many of the Apache 

 Avar clubs which are stated to be veritable weapons of war resemble 

 this last implement, except that the stones are larger and are mounted 

 on short handles, which latter usually have a wrist thong attached. 



Lewis and Clarke 1 describe a similar club, which they call by its Chip- 

 pewa name, " poggamoggon," as in use in war among the Shoshoni. 



A club, or hammer, for dispatching seals or halibut after they have 

 been speared or hooked, is common, though not universal, among the 

 Eskimo. It is usually very similar to the clubs described above and 

 consists of a solid stone affixed to a short handle by an encircling band 

 of rawhide. iSome specimens are of large size and heavyweight. An- 

 other style of the implement is described by Mr. Stevens, who, however, 

 calls it a "weapon," as consisting "of a stone ball, with a drilled hole, 

 through which a strip of rawhide is passed to serve as a handle." 2 This 

 is probabty a rare form of the implement, as none of them appear in 

 the extensive Eskimo collections of the National Museum, nor do they 

 seem to be known to the several explorers of Alaska with whom I have 

 conversed. 



Lubbock describes as follows a still ruder kind of hammer used for 

 a similar purpose by the Australians: 3 



The hammer is used for killing seals or other animals, and for breaking open shell- 

 fish. The handle is from twelve to Gfteen inches long, pointed at one end, and Lav- 

 ing on each side at the other a hard stone attached to the handle by a mass of gum. 



The above references to clubs with imperforated stone heads might 

 be materially increased in number, but they are sufficient to show that, 

 among our own Indians at least, the stone clubs or hammers which are 

 definitely known to be such are made of solid stones attached to their 

 handles by leather, and that while these are used by some tribes as 

 weapons they are more frequently employed as domestic implements; 

 furthermore, that clubs with perforated stone heads are either not 

 found at all or are very exceptional. 



titone axes. — In Great Britain and on the European continent a class 

 of perforated stones occurs in great abundance which appears to have 

 no exact analogue in this country. I allude to the perforated stones 

 having a sharp or cutting edge on one or on each end and of various 



•History of the Expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clarke. 

 Allen ed. Vol. I, p. 3C3 Harper & Brothers, L842. 



2 Flint Chips, p. 499; also quoted by Evans in Aucienl Stone Implements, &c., of 

 Great Britain, page 195. 



: '■ l're-Historio Times, p. 154, 1878. 



