164 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
The angular grooves on the two faces were evidently begun with the 
intention of cutting the knife in two. We were told that this large 
knife was specially for cutting blubber. It is a genuine antique. 
While ground slate is a quite common material for round knives, flint 
appears to have been rarely used. We obtained only three of this mate- 
rial. No, 89690 [1311] is a flint knife hafted with a rough, irregular lump 
of coarse whale’s bone. The blade is arather thin “spall” of light gray 
flint, flaked round the edges into the shape of a modern uliry blade, 
with a very strongly curved cutting edge. Though the handle is new, 
the flaking of the blade does not seem fresh, so that it is possibly a 
genuine old blade fitted with a new haft for the market. A similar 
flint blade, more neatly flaked, was brought from Kotzebue Sound by 
Lieut. Stoney, U.S. Navy, in 1884. The other two flint knives are in- 
teresting from being made for use without handles. 
No. 89691 [1360], Fig. 127, from Sidaru, is an oblong, wedge-shaped 
spall of gray flint, of which the back still preserves the natural surface 
of the pebble. It is slightly shaped by coarse flaking along the back 
and one end, and the edge is finely flaked into a curved outline round- 
ing up at the ends. The specimen is old and dirty, and was probably 
preserved as a sort of heirloom or amulet. No. 89692 [1178] is a similar 
spall from a round pebble. Such knives as 
these are evidently the first steps in the de- 
velopment of the round knife. The shape 
of the spalls, produced by breaking a round 
or oval pebble of flint, would naturally sug- 
gest using them as knives, and the next step 
would be to improve the edge by flaking. 
The greater adaptability of slate, from its 
EEE SIS EY SS AE softness and easy cleavage, for making such 
knives would soon be recognized, and we 
should expect to find, as we do, knives like No. 56672 [191]. The next 
step would naturally be to provide such a knife with a haft at the point 
where the stone was grasped by the hand, while reducing this haft so as 
to leave only just enough for the grasp and cutting away the superfluous 
corners of the blade would give us the modern form of the blade. Round 
knives of slate are not peculiar to Point Barrow, but have been collected 
in many other places in northwestern America.! 
The relationship between these knives and the semilunar slate blades 
found in the North Atlantic States has already been ably discussed by 
Dr. Charles Rau It must, however, be borne in mind that while these 
are sufficiently “fish-cutters” to warrant their admission into a book 
on fishing, the cutting of fish is but a small part of the work they do. 
The name “fish-cutter,” as applied to these knives, would be no more 
'See, especially, Dall, Contrib., vol. 1, pp. 59 and 79, for figures of such knives from the caves of Una- 
lashka. 
2Prehistoric Fishing, pp. 183-188, 
