BULL. 30] 



AXACAN AXES 



121 



Axacan. A place in Virginia, some- 

 where w. from Chesapeake bay, at 37° 

 or 37° 30', in which the Spaniards at- 

 tempted to estalilish a Jesuit mission in 

 1570. Tlirongh the treachery of their 

 Indian guide, brother of the chief of the 

 tribe, the entire party of missionaries, 7 

 in number, was massacred and the tem- 

 porary mission building destroyed. Two 

 years later Menendez revenged their 

 death by hanging 8 of the principal mur- 

 derers. (.1. M.) 



Aixacan,— Shipp, De Soto and Fla., 660, 1881. 

 Axacan. — Barcia, Ensayo, 142, 1723. 



Axauti. A pueblo of New Mexico in 

 159.S; doubtless situated in the Salinas, in 

 the vicinity of Abo, and evidently occu- 

 pied bv the Tigua or the Piros. — Oiiate 

 (1598) 'in Doc. Ined., xvi, 114, 1871. 

 Azanti. — Columbus Memorial Vol., 155, 1893 (mis- 

 print). 



Axes. The grooved ax takes a promi- 

 nent place among the stone implements 

 used by the northern tribes. The normal 

 form is that of a thick wedge, with rounded 

 angles and an encircling 

 groove near the top for 

 securing the handle; but 

 there is great variation 

 from the average. Usu- 

 ally tiie implement is 

 ma<leof some hard, tough f 

 stone, as trap, granite, 

 syenite, greenstone, or 

 hematite, where such can 

 be procured; but when 

 these are not available 

 softer material is utilized, 

 as sandstone or slate. 

 Copper axes are of rare 

 occurrence. Among the 

 stone specimens there is 

 a very wide range in 

 size, the largest weigh- 

 ing upward of 30 pounds 

 and the smallest scarcely an ounce. As 

 these extreme sizes could serve no eco- 

 nomic purpose, they were probably for 

 ceremonial use; thesmaller may have been 

 amulets or talismans. The majority range 

 from 1 pound to 6 pounds, which mark 

 close to the limits of utility. As a rule the 

 groove is at a right angle to the longer 

 axis, though sometimes it is oblique, and 

 it may extend entirely or only partially 

 around the ax. In the latter case it is 

 always one of the narrow sides that is left 

 without a groove, and this is frecpiently 

 flattened or hollowed to accommodate the 

 handle better. Ordinarily the complete 

 or entire groove is pecked in a ridge encir- 

 cling the ax, leaving a protuberance 

 above and below, while the partial groove 

 is sunken in the body of the implement. 

 Axes with two or more grooves are rare 

 excepting in the Pueblo country, where 

 multiple grooves are common. The haft 

 was placed parallel with the blade and 



X WITH Simple Groove 

 District of Columbia 



(length, 7 IN.) 



WITH Diagonal Groove 

 And Lateral Ridges; 

 Tennessee 



was usually a withe doubled around the 

 groove and fastened securely with cords 

 or rawhide, but heavier T-shape sticks 

 were sometimes used, the top of the T 

 being set against the 

 ■flattened or hollow side 

 of the implement and 

 firmly lashed. Axes 

 with holes drilled for 

 the insertion of a handle 

 are common in Europe, 

 but this method of haft- 

 ing was of very rare 

 occurrence among the 

 American aborigines. 

 When not made from 

 bowlders closely ap- 

 proximating in shape 

 the desired implement, 

 the ax was roughed out by chipi)ing and 

 was reduced to the desired shape by peck- 

 ing with a hard stone and Vjy grinding. 

 Axes of rude shape, made by flaking a 

 flattish bowlder along one end and break- 

 ing notches in the sides for hafting, are 

 found in some sections. Axes are well 

 distributed over the country wherever 

 good material is readily available, ex- 

 cepting in the Pacific states, British Co- 

 lumbia, and Alaska, where specimens are 

 exceedingly rare. Few are found in 

 Florida, and although plentiful in the 

 mound region are seldom found in 

 mounds. The shapes vary with the 

 different regions, examples from the 

 Atlantic slope, for example, being quite 

 unlike those of the Pueblo country. 



It is probable that the ax served vari- 

 ous purposes in the arts, and especially in 

 war and in the chase. Numerous badly 

 fractured specimens are found in the soap- 

 stone quarries of e. United States, where 

 they were used for cutting out masses of 

 this rock. The grooved ax is said to have 

 been used in felling trees and in cutting 

 them up, but it is manifestly not well 

 suited for such work; it would serve, 

 however, to assist in cutting wood in 

 conjunction with charring. The hafted 

 stone ax passed immediately out of use 

 on the introduction by Europeans of 

 the iron ax, which was the first and 

 most obviously useful tool that the 

 Indians saw in the hands of the white 

 man. 



See Abbott, Prim. Indust., 1881; Fowke 

 (1) in 13th Rep. B. A. E., 1896, (2) Arch. 

 Hist. Ohio, 1902; Holmes in 15th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 1897; Jones, Antiq. So. Inds., 1873; 

 Jones in Smithson. Cont., xxii, 1876; 

 Moorehead, Prehist. Impls., 1900; Put- 

 nam in Surv. W. 100th Merid., vii, 1879; 

 Squier and Davis in Smithson. Cont., i, 

 1848; Stevenson in 2d Rep. B. A. E., 1883; 

 Thruston, Antiq. Tenn., 1897; Wilson in 

 Smithson. Reps. 1887 and 1888. 



(g. f. w. h. h. ) 



