CASTOROI,OGIA. »7 



imparted a peculiarly soothing effect to the mixture ; be that as it 

 may, it is easily conceivable that the palate could become much at- 

 tached to the pungent flavor which castoreum affords. 



Of all the uses of the beaver to the Indian, none was more indis- 

 pensable before the advent of the white man, yet none was more 

 immediately or more completely supplanted, than the beaver-tooth 

 chisel. The tooth was well adapted for the uses to which the Indian 

 applied it, and he could easily keep up the supply. The North 

 American Indian never used iron, nor did he even possess the pol- 



BEAVER-TOOTH CHISEL. 



FROM A SPECIMEN' IX THIS BRITISH MUSEUM. 



ished flint implements which distinguish the Neolithic races. Copper, 

 obtained superficially from the rich deposits on the shores of Lake 

 Superior, was used in a very limited way, mostly as decorations, 

 and the Indian seems to have contented himself with wood, horn, 

 bone and chipped flint ; all of which, with the exception of the flint, 

 yielded freely to his very hard and sharp beaver-tooth chisel. The 

 early accounts of the trade, preserve to us the list of articles which 

 were offered to the Indian in exchange for his peltries, and the 

 merest glance at them suffices to show how rich the Indian must have 

 become in his possession of knives, hatchets, awls, and in fact every- 

 thing that his primitive life required. Though his native ingenuity 

 was such as to produce the birch-bark canoe, the snowshoe, mocca- 

 sin and other adaptations, with the help of bone implements alone, 

 yet we can imagine he was not slow to replace his crude tools for 

 the highly finished outfit so readily obtainable, and the beaver 

 chisel may be held as the most interesting example of the past econ- 

 omy of the beaver. 



