SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTBLEASTERN UNITED STATES 569 



sharp edge drove in to leave a projection of about 2 inches" (Swan- 

 ton, 1928, p. 406). This could either be retained in the hand or 

 thrown, and was easily supplanted by the European all-metal toma- 

 hawk after white contact. The aboriginal type of club, often with 

 the addition of an iron or steel point such as has been described, was 

 in wide use among the Indians of the upper Mississippi after it had 

 been abandoned in the Gulf region. The various modifications 

 introduced into these by canny European manufacturers for the 

 American trade are described by Timberlake as already in circulation 

 among the Cherokee in the eighteenth century. He says that 



the hammer-part of [these] being made hollow, and a small hole running from 

 thence along the shank, terminated by a small brass-tube for the mouth, makes 

 a compleat pipe. There are various ways of making these, according to the 

 country or fancy of the purchaser, being all made by the Europeans ; some have 

 a long spear at top, and some different conveniences on each side. This is 

 one of their most useful pieces of field-furniture, serving all the offices of hatchet, 

 pipe, and sword; neither are the Indians less expert at throwing it than 

 using it near, but will kill at a considerable distance. (Timberlake, Williams 

 ed., 1927, pp. 77-78.) 



Although the flint-edged swords find their counterpart in swords in 

 use by the Mexicans, there seems to be a total absence of them in the 

 intervening territory, except for Cofitachequi and the weapons dis- 

 covered at Key Marco by Gushing, who describes his finds as follows ; 



War clubs proper, that is, of wood only, were found in considerable variety. 

 The most common form was that of the short, knobbed bludgeon. Another was 

 nearly three feet long, the handle rounded, tapered, and furnished at the end 

 with an eyelet for the wrist cord. The blade was flattish, widening to about 

 three inches at the head, and it was laterally beveled fr()m both sides to form 

 blunt edges and was notched or roundly serrated, precisely as are some forms 

 of Fijian and Caroline Island clubs. The type was obviously derived from 

 some preexisting kind of blade-set weapon. This was also true, in another 

 way, of the most remarkable form of club we discovered. It was not quite 

 two feet in length, and made of some dark-colored fine .trained kind of hard, 

 heavy wood, exquisitely fashioned and finished. The handle was also round 

 and tapering, the head flattened, symmetrically flaring and sharp-edged, the end 

 square or but slightly curved, and terminating in a groove knob or boss, to 

 which tassel-cords had been attached. Just below the flaring head was a 

 double blade, that is, a semilunar, sharp-edged projc-tion on either side, giving 

 the weapon the appearance of a double-edged battle-axe set in a broad-ended 

 club. . . . This specimen was of especial interest, as it was the only weapon of 

 its kind found, up to that time, in the United States; but was absolutely 

 identical in outline with the so-called batons represented in the hands of 

 warrior-figures delineated on the shell gorgets and copper plates found in the 

 southern and central Mississippi mounds — as may be seen in the figure just 

 referred to. It not only recalled these, but also typical double-bladed battle- 

 axes or clubs of South and Central American peoples, from which type I 

 regarded its form, although wholly of wood, as a derivative. . . . 



Arrows about four feet in length, perfectly uniform, pointed with hard wood, 

 the shafts made either of a softer and lighter kind of wood or of cane, were 



