974 



WOOLYNEAG WOOTEKA 



[B. A. E. 



for all purposes. The richest region is 

 the N. W. coast, where woodworking 

 reached its highest development in his- 

 toric times. Some densely forested areas, 

 as the Appalachian region, did not seem 

 to foster the art, while in some environ- 

 ments where wood is scarce the Indians 

 have made more extended use of such 

 that is available than tribes better pro- 

 vided with the raw material. Specimens 

 of woodworking survive in ancient de- 

 posits of artifacts only where conditions 

 ai-e most favorable, as in the keys of 

 Florida, whose inhabitants worked wood 

 in elaborate designs with shell imple- 

 ments and shark's teeth, or in the dry 

 sands of Arizona, where hard-wood imple- 

 ments, prayersticks of Cottonwood, and 

 other objects, have been found. 



Fire, the stone ax, and the wedge were 

 the principal tools of the Indian for get- 

 ting out timber. With these the largest 

 tree could be felled and cut into lengths. 

 Some tribes in the California-Oregon 

 region felled trees by bruising off succes- 

 sive rounds of the wood. Large timber 

 was not demanded, however, except for 

 canoes, house-posts, beams, and totem 

 poles. Boards, when required, were 

 split out with antler wedges, while 

 smaller material was cut with stone or cop- 

 per tools. The saw, drill, ax, adze, knife, 

 chisel, scraper, rasp, and the smoother, 

 made of suitable stone, shell, copper, or 

 teeth, were used for woodworking, the 

 knife being drawn toward the body. 

 Wood was bent by means of hot water 

 and fire, small rods were straightened with 

 the teeth or with wrenches of bone, horn, 

 or wood, and larger rods or poles in 

 smoke and heat of the fire. In the 

 Pueblo region figurines and other objects 

 of soft wood are modeled entirely by rub- 

 bing with coarse sandstone or by attri- 

 tion upon rock. Canoes were hollowed 

 out with the aid of fire, the charred por- 

 tions being removed with cutting tools. 

 In every locality each art had its par- 

 ticular tools, varying as to material, haft- 

 ing, etc., and some arts, as the making 

 of bows and arrows, developed a large 

 number of tools for shaping, finishing, 

 and decorating. Dishes, small boxes, 

 and the like were excavated with great 

 labor by means of scrapers and other cut- 

 ting tools, as the incisors of the beaver, 

 suitably hafted. The use of curly knots 

 from trees for dishes was widespread, 

 since much of the work in forming the 

 vessel, spoon, or cup had been done by 

 nature. In many cases the interior of the 

 knot had decayed, leaving a shell which 

 became a vessel, with little working. 

 Perforations for lashing, suspending, and 

 fastening were made with the drill. In 

 hard- wood saplings there is often a core of 

 pith which could be pushed out with a 



cane or grass stem and the hole somewhat 

 enlarged to form a tube. In the Pueblo 

 region roof timbers and the stakes that 

 were used to cover bodies in ancient bur- 

 ials show marks of the stone tools with 

 which they were cut. Firewood was 

 broken from trees by means of large 

 grooved hammers or mauls. Most of the 

 elementary processes known to modern 

 woodworkers were practised by these 

 Indians. Examples of joining, splicing, 

 binding, lashing, pegging, and grooving 

 are found, and in joining birch-bark a 

 process somewhat resembling dovetailing 

 was often employed. The tenon and 

 mortise appear to be absent, their place 

 being taken in Alaskan houses by worked 

 sockets for frame timbers, and in other 

 structures, as the Navaho hogan, by 

 crotched sticks. The N. W. coast tribes 

 had a primitive vise for holding bent- 

 wood boxes and dishes. Pegs of bone, 

 ivory, or wood were used instead of 

 nails. 



Among the numerous products of wood- 

 working may be mentioned bows, arrows, 

 spears, armor, gaming blocks, trinket 

 boxes, and chests, especially developed by 

 theN. W. coast tribes, boat frames, boats, 

 sleds, bowls, mortars, pestles, fire-drills, 

 pipestems, masks, and figurines. Among 

 these objects are specimens carved with 

 such skill as to entitle them to a place in 

 the class of art productions. 



Consult Beverley, Hist. Va., 1722; Boas 

 in Southern Workman, xxxix, no. 6, 

 337-343, 1910; Bogoras in Mem. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist, Jesup Exped., vii, 1905; 

 Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, 

 XVII, pt iii, 1905; Kroeber in Pub. Univ. 

 Cal., VIII, no. 2, 1908; Mason (1) in Rep. 

 Nat. Mus. 1894, 1896, (2) in Smithsonian 

 Rep. 1886, 205-239, 1889; Morgan in 

 Cont N. A. Ethnol., iv, 1881; Nelson in 

 18th Rep. B. A. E., pt 1, 1899; Norden- 

 skiold. Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, 

 1893; Powers in Cont N. A. Ethnol., iii, 

 1877; Swan in Smithson. Cont. Knowl., 

 XXI, 1-18, 1876, (2) ibid., xvr, 1-108, 1870; 

 Swanton in Mem. Am. Mus. Nat Hist., 

 Jesup Exped., v, pt. 1, 1905; Willoughby 

 in Am. Anthr., n. s., ix, no. 2, 296-306, 

 1907. (w. H.) 



Woolyneag. A name in the northern 

 parts of New England for the fisher or 

 pekan, Mustela pennanti. The name is 

 from Abnaki ivulanikw, 'handsome squir- 

 rel' (from und, 'good,' 'pretty,' etc. + 

 anikiv, a general name for 'squirrel' in 

 all Algonquian dialects). The name, 

 with variants ivoolaneag and uooleneag, is 

 evidently a misapplication, (w. K. g.) 



Woosemequin. See Massasoit. 



Wootassite. See Outacity. 



Wooteka. A former village, probably 

 Seminole, e. of Apalachee bay, w. Fla. — 

 Bartram, Voy., i, map, 1799. 



