324 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 60 



are made and pot out of the stone (if one can explain it) in tliis manner: 

 One of tlie.se Indian workmen sits down upon tlie s^ound and takes a piece of 

 this black stone, which is like jet, and hard as tlint, and is a stone which 

 might be called precious, more beautiful and brilliant than alabaster or 

 jasper, so much so that of it are made tablets and mirrcn-s. The piece they 

 take is about 8 inches long, or rather more, and as thick as one's leg or ratlier 

 less, and cylindrical. They have a stick as large as the shaft of a lance, 

 and ?> culiils, or rather more, in length, and at the end of it they fasten 

 lirmly anotlier piece of wood 8 inches long, to give more weight to this part, 

 llifu pressing tlieir nalced feet together, tliey hold the stones as with a pair 

 of piiu'crs or tlie vise of a carpenter's licncli. They take the stick (which 

 is cut off sniootli at the end) with both hands, and set well home against the 

 edge of the fi-ont of the stone, which also is cut smooth in that part; and 

 then they press it against their breast, and with the force of the pressure 

 there flies off a knife, with its point and edge on each side, as neatly as if 

 one were to make them of a turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the 

 fire. Then they sharpen it on a stone, using a hone to give it a very fine 

 edge; and in a very short time these workmen will malce more than 120 

 knives in the aforesaid manner. They come out of the same shape as our 

 barl)ers' lancets, except that they have a ril) up the middle, and have a slight 

 graceful curve toward the point. They will cut and shave the hair the flrst 

 time they are used, at the first cut nearly as well as a steel razor, but they 

 lose their edge at the second cut; and so to tiiiisli shaving one's beard or hair, 

 one after another has to be used ; though indeed they are cheap, and spoiling 

 th(>m is of no consequence. Many Spaniards, both regular and secular clergy, 

 have been shaved with them, especially at the beginning of the colonization 

 of lliese realms, when there was no such abundance as now of the necessary 

 instruments and people who gain their livelihood by practicing this occupa- 

 tion, r.ut I conclude 1)y saying that it is an admirable thing to see them 

 made, and no small argument for the capacity of the men who found out 

 such an invention.' 



The Mexicans are said to have hehl a piece of (bsidian in the left 

 hand and pressed it against the point of a small goat's horn held in 

 the right; moving it gently in diU'erent directions, they chipped otf 

 small flakes until the arroAV was complete. This is a mere variant of 

 the simple free-hand method of pressing the bone implement against 

 the edge of the stone. This work corresponds closely to the process 

 employed by the Australians as described by Balfour, which, how- 

 ever, is a rest process and is thus classed with the rest pressure 

 ])rocesses. 



The Australians, according to Balfour, used — 



(a) a water-worn pebltle of some hard, close-grained rock, of irregular shape, 

 rounded on one face, flattened on the other ; the upper end is rounded and fits the 

 hollow of the hand comfortably, the lower end is blunt edged. Tlie shape is 

 imrely natural. The weight of the pebble is 3i ounces, (b) A piece about 4 

 inches long, of the leg bone of a sheep, which has been roughly broken across. 

 The stone is abraded at the lower end, the abrasions extending some way 

 up the convex face of the pebble. It was used for striking off and pressing oif 



1 Torqupin.-ida. quotod by Wilson, Arrowpoints, Spearheads, and Knives of Prehistoric 

 Times, p. 1188. 



