78 MANUFACTURE OF FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 



description of the manner in which the Aztecs obtained 

 their obsidian flakes. Torquemada,* who is confirmed by 

 Hernandez, tells us I quote from Mr. Tylor's Anahuac 

 " They had, and still have, workmen who make knives of 

 a certain black stone or flint (obsidian), which it is a most 

 wonderful and admirable thing to see them make out of 

 the stone ; and the ingenuity which invented this art is 

 much to be praised. They are made and got out of the 

 stone (if one can explain it) in this manner. One of these 

 Indian workmen sits down upon the ground, and takes a 

 piece of this black stone, which is like jet, and as hard as 

 flint ; and is a stone which might be called precious, more 

 beautiful and brilliant than alabaster or jasper, so much so 

 that of it are made tablets and mirrors. The piece they take 

 is about eight inches long or rather more, and as thick as 

 one's leg or rather less, and cylindrical ; they have a stick as 

 large as the shaft of a lance, and three cubits or rather more 

 in length, and at the end of it they fasten firmly another 

 piece of wood, eight inches long, to give more weight to this 

 part ; then, pressing their naked feet together, they hold the 

 stone as with a pair of pincers, or the vice of a carpenter's 

 bench. They take the stick (which is cut off smooth at the 

 end) with both hands, and set it well home against the edge 

 of the front of the stone (y ponenlo avesar con el canto de la 

 /rente de la piedra), which also is cut smooth in that part ; 

 and then they press it against their breast, and with the 

 force of the pressure there flies off a knife, with its point and 

 edge on each side, as neatly as if one were to make them of 

 a turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the fire. Then 

 they sharpen it on a stone, using a hone to give it a very fine 

 edge; and in a very short time these workmen will make 

 more than twenty knives in the aforesaid manner. They 



* Torquemada. Monarquia Indiana. Seville, 1615. 



