86 THE WINKKBAGO TRIBE [ETH. ANN. 37 



of the distribution of copper among the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo, 

 and if we were in a position to tell whether or not these tribes had 

 copper before their arrival in Wisconsin. We might then be in a 

 better position to decide whether the Winnebago obtained their cop- 

 per from these tribes or from some northern tribe, presumably the 

 Potawatomi or Menominee. It is generally supposed that they 

 actually did obtain their copper implements through the intermedi- 

 ation of these two last-mentioned tri])es, although there is no really 

 conclusive evidence for it. That opportunities for their trans- 

 mission through the Menominee or Potawatomi were plentiful is 

 unquestioned, and the oidy problem is whether the systematic ex- 

 change was not conditioned by the appearance of the white traders. 

 Tlie last problem connected with Winnebago archeology is the 

 authorship of the numerous flint arrowlieads. They are found all 

 over Wisconsin, in every nook and corner of Winnebago territory, 

 in every stage of manufacture, and jet the Winnebago of to-day 

 regard them as having been made by some other tribe. The most 

 common explanation of their origin is the legendary one that they 

 were made by worms. In the few cases where the old men were of 

 a different opinion, the writer was assured that they were the " bones" 

 of the water-spirits, and consequently holy. Numerous myths 

 speak of them in connection with the water-spirit. The Indians ad- 

 mit that they had at times used them as arrow points, but insist that 

 in every case they were found in the earth ; that in fact people were 

 generally blessed with them. Mr. Skinner informs me that the 

 Menominee, on the other hand, remember very well how they were 

 made. Among the Winnebago, until recently, three kinds of arrow 

 points were in use: one, properly not an arrow point at all but simply 

 a sharpened arrow, the second consisting of sharpened portions of 

 pieces of antlers, and the third consisting of a turtle claw that had 

 been softened and straightened. It has generally been maintained 

 that the presence of regular "quarries" absolutely clinched the 

 hypothesis of a Wiimebago origin for the flint arrow points, but it 

 seems to us that we would first have to prove that in every case 

 where such quarries are found no tribe but the Winnebago had ever 

 occupied that territory, because had any Algonquian tribe been there 

 they might be held as much responsible for these quarries as the 

 Winnebago. That they were not used within the recollection of the 

 oldest men among the Wmnebago there can be no doubt, because 

 this question was repeatedly put to them, with negative results. 



It seems best, therefore, to attach some significance to current 

 belief as to the origin of the flint arrow points and to assume for the 

 present that they were either the work of the prehistoric ancestors 

 of the Winnebago or that of some tribe that had occupied the terri- 



