468 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



tbroads, wliich are brought forward over the two basal apices, above 

 which there are usually two slight notches for their reception. Frag- 

 ments of so-called porter-bottles are frequently utilized in the manufac- 

 ture, of arrow-heads, making an effectual but brittle weapon. There is 

 no question but that these Indians sometimes poison some of their arrows* 

 I have been shown arrows, and have had them offered me, which the 

 owners informed me were poisoned, so that I should be careful in hand- 

 ling them. Dr. Soule, elsewhere referred to, informs me of the same 

 fact ; and Dr. Elliott Coues, of the Army, who has had ample experience 

 in treating arrow-wounds, informs me of a case which he had every rea- 

 son to believe to have been caused by a poisoned one.* Stevens says:t 

 " The arrow-heads of the Shoshonees of North America, said to be poisoned, 

 are tied on purposely with gut in such a manner as to remain when the 

 shaft is withdrawn." This may have been the custom, but I have not 

 heard of it as being in practice now. 



The Pah-Utes of Owen's Valley, Cal., and of Southwestern Nevada 

 sometimes employ chert and ^'bottle-glass" arrow-heads. That they do 

 not utilize the obsidian found in large quantities east of Siver Peak and 

 Red Mountain, Nevada, is rather singular, although this locality is well- 

 known to them. A variety of red obsidian occurs in the upper extrem- 

 ity of Owen's Valley, which Mr. Partz subjected to partial analysis 

 several years ago, and was inclined to attribute the color due to sub- 

 oxide of copper. The same gentleman says he has found bowlders of 

 black obsidian several miles south of Mono Lake, which would weigh 

 from 100 to 150 pounds. 



The Mojaves are to some extent possessors of firearms, though bows 

 and arrows are frequently seen. A principal weapon in hand-to-hand 

 encounters is a club, with which nearly every warrior is armed. These 

 are known to the settlers under the unpoetical appellation of potato- 

 mashers. The sharp ends of broken bayonets, or some which they ob- 

 tain at the military stations, are fitted to long poles, and used as lances 

 or spears. The Apaches use similar weapons when the necessarj^ 

 points can be obtained. 



The Seviches in the northwestern portion of theColorado Plateau still 

 manufacture stone arrow-heads. Among this tribe 1 saw one made of 

 gold-bearing quartz, in which were several fine viens of the native 

 metal. All eftbrts to discover the origin of the specimen or the locality 

 where it had been obtained proved fruitless. 



The Shoshouees use stone arrow-heads very rarely. The typical form 

 was triangular, and not knife-shaped, as is stated in Jones's report.:]: 

 The question is with what tribe did this peculiar form originate as a typ- 



ally in the form of a rolling-pin, an elongated cylindrical stone, tapering toward both 

 ends, but as the pestle was a rare form for the southwestern tribes to use, I have figured 

 it instead of the common metalpile. This form of pestles was very common among the 

 Delawares in Pennsylvania. The Aztecs used the metlatl of nearly the same form as is 

 found to-day among the Pah-Ufces and other tribes in Nevada and Arizona. Tylor says, 

 "The metate is a sort of little table, hewn oat of basalt, with four little feet, and its 

 surface is curved from the ends to the middle." Tylou's Anahnac, London, 1861, p. 

 S8. In Appendix, p. 336, he gives the word as from the Aztec. The manner of using 

 is illustrated on plate facing p. 201 (q. v). 



* Med. and Surg. Reporter, vol. xiv, No. 17, jjp. 321-3r24. A paper, by the author of 

 the present article, entitled "Notes on Poisoned Arrows," was read by Dr. Coues, 

 U. S. A., before the Phil. Soc, Wash., D. C, Jan. 5, 1877, which was afterward jjwb- 

 lished in the "Daily Rocky Mb. News," Denver, Col., Jan. 17, 1878. 



t Flint Chips. Ed. T. Steveus, Loudon, 1870, p. 260. 



tRep. upon the Recoun. of Western Wvomiug, including Yellowstone Nat. Park^ 

 Wm. A. Jones, U. S. Engrs., Wash., 1875, p.'2o4 (lig.). 



