roTH] DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS AND REQUISITES 279 
of a mountain just beyond the extreme border of the colony. Blocks 
of from 10 to 50 pounds are removed, one piece of stone being broken 
upon another. The stone may be sometimes roasted to render it more 
brittle. 
339. Flaking is now commenced in the usual manner along any 
convenient ridge, with the edge corner (back or front) of a broken 
piece of cutlass, about 6 inches long, which acts as a “ hammer stone.” 
Flakes come off, as a rule, about 1 to 14 inches in width and one- 
sixteenth inch in thickness; and in various shapes—circular, semi- 
lunar, lanceolate, and foliate, the latter frequently with a “ shoulder.” 
Great care is taken to get uniformity in thickness, but width and 
length do not matter. Experience gives great skill in this manipu- 
lation, and a good worker (invariably a woman) will only discard 
about 5 per cent of her flakes. Sitting on the ground, she rests the 
board lengthwise on her legs extended in front, and places a flake on 
the free end margin of the board, using the same cutlass corner 
edgewise. She will, with a sharp blow at the center, smash the flake 
into a varying number of pieces. Of these latter only a few will be 
suitable for her purpose, and of these few one or perhaps two may be 
of the necessary shape ready to be driven into the board straight 
away, while others may require narrowing or pointing. To do this 
she securely presses the chip under her left forefinger nail, covering 
with it all that portion which she wishes to retain, and leaving ex- 
posed that which is not required. The latter she then pulverizes 
with a blow of her cutlass. By this means the chip can be limited to 
any size or shape desired. Her aim is to get each chip pyramidal 
with two opposite sides broader (more flattened) than the interven- 
ing ones (pl. 67 A). When finally inserted in the board, the broader 
sides are fixed parallel with the long axis of the grater. The tapping 
continues from morning until night, and when a large number of 
women are engaged at the work, the din becomes almost. unbearable 
to an outsider. On account of the cutlass edge catching the upper 
end of the finger nail each time a blow is struck the latter undergoes 
a curious horny development. 
340. When the chip is worked into proper shape a hole is prepared 
for it in the board with a pointed bone tip—that from the femur 
of the black couata monkey—and chip after chip is inserted in 
regular sequence, the whole being guided according to the lines of 
the diagram. A commencement is made at the bottom right-hand 
corner, fixing a chip at every crossing of the diagonal, and following 
it up to the top left-hand corner. The bottom row is next started 
from left to right, with a chip as before at each intersection of the 
cross lines; then the next row from left to right, and so on until the 
diagonal is reached (fig.84 C). It will be noticed that by this arrange- 
