l')6 



obtained the rough foim, we can perceive, from the direction of 

 the conchoidal fracture, that it was their practice to strike from 

 the edge towards the centre ; and when the central ridge 

 became too high, to remove it by blows parallel with the length 

 of the arrow. This process was continued, the chippings, of 

 course, becoming smaller and smaller in size as the arrow head 

 approached perTection, until all was finished, except the very 

 edge, which, as a late eye witness informs me, was 

 gradually brought to the desired degree of perfection by a 

 grinding pressure, which worked off particles almost as fine as 

 flour. In proof that the art is still carried on in the highest de- 

 gree of perfection, a gentleman lately from California presented 

 me with an arrow head, manufactured by an Indian squaw, 

 from a fragment of a glass bottle, which, in respect to exquisite 

 finish, I have very rarely seen surpassed by any relic of this 

 class. He informs me that in the process of manufacture, of 

 which he was, for a short time, an eye witness, the arrow head 

 was held between the thumb and two first fingers of the left 

 hand. 



7th. In three instances, deposits were found in the 

 Connecticut valley, containing from forty to mo'e than a half 

 peck of these stone heads, in the first stages of manufacture, 

 liaving had but little more than the merest outline given to 

 them. Again, in the localities of the Connecticut valley, 

 where relics are found, it is comparatively rare to find these 

 points in a very rough state, and partly broken, and the chip- 

 pings scattered around are qiiite small-sized: while along the 

 sea-shore, where the porphyry ledges and boulders abound, 

 stone points, broken in the process of manufacture, and. usu- 

 ally, in quite a rough state, are very frequent, and the chip- 

 pings are very numerous, and in average of a much larger 

 size. From these fiicts, I conclude that it was, more or less, 

 the practice of these Indians to roughly hew the stone for their 

 arrow points, into the proper form, at the localities where the 

 material abounded, and then transport these rough forms to 

 their villages, and there securely deposit them, awaiting their 

 leisure to finish, 



8th. Some arrow points have a projection added to the 

 blade or body of the head; others are slightly notched, 

 on each side of their bases, while a third class have 

 neither notch nor shaft, and have, for their bases, a straight, 

 sharp edge, or a curved, sharp edge, and are generally of a 

 znucli smaller size. These peculiarities, without doubt, are 

 indicative of the different methods by which the various heads 

 were secured to the shaft of the arrow. It is generally 



