HOLMES] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES- — PART I 315 



eouclioidul fratauent would be broken out almost always of the size desired. 

 The point of the deer prong would then be advanced a short distance and the 

 same operation repeated, until in a few minutes the flake was reduced to a 

 straight line on one edge. As this operation broke all the chips from the under 

 side of the flake, if left in this condition the arrowhead would be unequally 

 proportioned, that is, the two cutting edges would not be in the center. lie 

 therefore with the side of the deerhorn firmly rubbed back and forth the 

 straight edge he had made on the flake until the sharp edge had been broken 

 and worn down. The flake was now turned end for end in the palm of his 

 hand and the chipping renewed. When completed an equal amount was taken 

 from each side of the edge of the flake and the cutting edge was left in the 

 center. It was now plain that the straight edge thus made was to be one side 

 of the long isosceles triangle, the form of the arrowheads which is used by his 

 tribe. 

 With the flake of obsidian firmly held in the cushion of the left palm and the 



point of deerhorn strongly pressed on the edge of the flake, the 

 [Notchhig] effect was the same as the blow which split the flake from the 



larger piece. While, however, he was not always sure of the 

 effect of the blow in splitting off the large flakes out of which to make the arrow- 

 heads, he in no instance appeared to fail in breaking out with the point of deer 

 l)rong the exact piece desired. The soft, thick, pliable piece of tanned deerskin 

 on which the flake in his left palm was held, may have added to the cushion, but 

 seemed to serve no other purpose than to save his hand from being cut by the 

 countless sharp chips as they were broken off. One of the long sides of the 

 arrowhead having been thus formed, the flake was turned over and the other 

 side formed in the same manner. As, however, very nuich more of the obsidian 

 had to be chipped away, he brought more pressure upon the point and broke out 

 larger chips until the flake began to assume the shape desired, when the same 

 care was exercised as when tlie first straight eilge was made. In breaking out 

 large or small chips the process was always the same. The pressure of the 

 point of deerhorn on the upper edge of the flake never appeared to break out a 

 piece, which, on the upper side, reached beyond where the point rested, while 

 on the under side the chip broken out might leave a space of twice the distance. 

 Invariably when a line of these chips had been broken out the sharp edge was 

 rubbed down, the flake turned end for end, and the chipping renewed on the 

 other side. By this process the cutting edges of the arrowhead were kept in 

 the same line. The base was formed in the same manner. No lines were 

 drawn but he would occasionally look at his work as it progressed and clup 

 on one side or the olhei- to keep their proportions equal. The base of the arrow- 

 head — opposite the pdiiit — when finished, is inserted in a slot made in the end 

 of the wooden shaft, and is firmly tied to it by the tendons of a deer. To hold 

 the arrowhead firmly to the shaft and to prevent the thread of deer tendon 

 from interfering with the penetrating power of the arrow, a slot about one- 

 fourth of an inch deep is chipped into both cutting edges of the arrowhead 

 about one-fourth of an inch above the base. This causes the arrowhead to look 

 as if it were barbed, but the ol).iect seems only to be to provide means by which 

 the arrowhead may be firmly fastened to the shaft, at the same time avoiding 

 the making of any obstruction to the penetrating or cutting power of the arrow- 

 head. The chipping out of these slots was the last operation to be performed. 

 It seems to me more difficult than any other part of the work, and I thought 

 that in this would be the danger of the loss of all the patient labor that had 

 been expended. In practical operation it was the simplest, safest, and most 

 rapid of all his work. He now held the point of the well-shaped arrowhead 



