IMPLEMENTS. 



373 



FTO. 151. 



In. a very short time, however, the earlier weapons were 

 entirely replaced by those of iron ; and in his last voyage 

 Captain Cook tells us * that " a stone hatchet is, at present, 

 as rare a thing amongst them, as an iron one was eight years 

 ago ; and a chisel of bone or stone is not to be seen." 

 The stone axes, or rather 

 adzes, were of various 

 sizes ; those intended for 

 cutting down trees weigh 

 six or seven pounds, the 

 little ones which were used 

 for carving, only a few 

 ounces. All of them re- 

 quired continual sharp- 

 ening, and a stone was 

 always kept in readiness 

 for this purpose. The na- 

 tives were very skilful in 

 the use of their adzes, 

 nevertheless to fell a tree 

 was a work of several 

 days. The chisels, or 

 gouges, were of bone, 

 generally that of a man's 

 arm between the wrist 

 and elbow. Pieces of co- 

 ral were used as rasps, 

 and splinters of bamboo 

 for knives. For cultiva- 

 ting the ground they had 



47 Stone Axe in wooden handle. 



instruments of hard wood, 



about five feet long, narrow, with sharp edges and pointed. 



' Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii , p. 137. 



