HOL5IE3.J CELTS — SCRAPERS. 205 



ridge ou the inside, is tliouglit to have been cut from the base of a Strom- 

 bus gigas. "The broad end is ground to a blunt edge like that seen in 

 most of the stone chisels from the other States, and the other is ground 

 to a blunt point." 



These implements are frequently mentioned by early explorers. In 

 Plate 12 of the "Admiranda Narratio," an Indian is represented' with 

 a shell implement, scraping away the charred portions from the interior 

 of a canoe which is being hollowed out by fire. The same imi)Iement 

 was employed for removing the bark from the tree trunks used. 



Catlin, in speaking of the Klahoquat Indians of Vancouver's Island, 

 says that "a species of mussel-shell of a large size, found in the various 

 inlets where fresh and salt water meet, are sharpened at the edge and 

 set in withes of tough wood, forming a sort of adze, which is used with 

 one hand or both, according to its size; and the flying chips show the 

 facility with which the excavation is made in the soft and yielding 

 cedar, uo doubt designed and made for infant man to work and ride 

 in."' 



Wood, speaking of the Indians of New England, says that " their 

 Cannowsbe made either of Pine-trees, which before they were acquainted 

 with lJ«(7?is/i tooles, they burned hollow, scraping them smooth with Clam- 

 shels and Oyster-shels, cutting their out- sides with stone-hatchets."^ 



The method of hafting these implements, when used for axes and 

 adzes, was doubtless the same as that employed for stone implements 

 of similar shapes. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXVII, the 

 handle being securely fastened by cords or sinews. It will be seen that 

 but one of the specimens mentioned comes from the interior, and that 

 from Madison County, Ky. 



SCRAPERS. 



The great majority of the scraping implements obtained from the 

 mounds, graves, and shell heaps are simi)ly valves of Unio or clam- 

 shells, unaltered except by use; yet there is a widely distributed class 

 of worked specimens, which have been altered by making a rough per- 

 foration near the center of the valve, and by the grinding down and 

 notching of the edges. A very fine specimen is illustrated in Fig. 3, 

 Plate XXVI. It is formed of the left valve of a Unio tuherculosus. It 

 was taken from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio, and is now in the 

 national collection. A similar specimen from the same locality is illus- 

 trated in an account of the exploration conducted by the Scientific and 

 Literary Society of Madisonville.* I have seen four other fine sped- 



'De Bry: CoUectio Pars 1. "Admiranda Narratio," Plate 12. 

 •Catlin: Indiana of the Rocky Mountains and Andes, page 101. 

 'Wood: New England Prospect, p. 102. 



<Archa;ological Explorations by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, 

 Ohio, Part I, p. 17. 



