92 Siouao City Academy of Science and Letters. 



wonderful civilization being re-enacted before our eyes. 

 The story of the American red men of yesterday is the 

 story of the white race centuries ago. 



Flint implements and weapons have been described. 

 The chief reason for the selection of flint in the manu- 

 facture of articles was the hardness, the lightness and 

 the edge that could be had, making it the most desirable 

 for cutting purposes and for arrow and spear heads. The 

 Aborigine used flint for cutting purposes where we now 

 use iron and steel. The flint drills were used in the same 

 manner as the bone ones, though vastly different in 

 shape. 



Among the finds in flint were some minute arrow 

 heads, most of which are perfect. Some of the author- 

 ities call them bird points, but observation and reason 

 would lead to another conclusion. For example, some 

 of them are too small to admit of their being fastened 

 to any shaft. Again, a practice among the tribe was to 

 shoot the birds with blunt arrows, in order that the blood 

 might not discolor the plumage, which they desired to 

 to wear. For the larger birds, used for food, the ordinary 

 arrow was used. Small arrows were used for war pur- 

 poses, and when so used were poisoned, but they were 

 larger than these small points. Among some of the 

 tribes it has been recorded that these small arrows, being 

 strung together, w^ere used to designate the different 

 chiefs and honors; the gTeater the chief, or warrior, the 

 more points. We pass the theory that they were used 

 as playthings for the children with no further comment 

 than to refer to the indisposition of the red man to per 

 form unnecessary labor of any kind. 



Different sized arrows were no doubt made for dif- 

 ferent kinds of shooting, the shape, weight and size of 

 the head having much to do with the penetration, speed 

 and trajectory of the arrow. This would necessitate the 

 owner of a quiver full of flint-pointed arrows, all of dif- 

 ferent sizes and weight, to be familiar with each and 

 every one of them, to know which ones would shoot high 

 and which low, the same as a sportsman knows his rifle. 



One of the most interesting phases of this wild life 

 is found in the ornaments, the most popular being the 



