FLINT KNIVES. 51 



from Dos Pueblos. The middle portion of the double-pointed knife was 

 probably wrapped to allow of its being held by the hand. The other im- 

 plement is mounted dagger-like, on a handle of not quite the length of 

 the stone blade. In describing the weapons of war of the Yurok, Mr. 

 Powers, p. 52, states: 



"Another weapon made by them is a sword or knife about three feet 

 long, of iron or steel procured from the whites. Of course this is not 

 aboriginal, but is rather a substitute for the lai'ge jasper or obsidian* knives 

 which they used to make and use, but which nowadays are kept only as 

 ornaments or objects of wealth to be produced on occasion of a great 

 dance. * * * Mr. Chase mentions some very large jasper spear-heads 

 four inches long and two inches wide ; but these also are now brought forth 

 only at a dance, to give the owner distinction." 



Again, when writing of the Hupa, a tribe located on the Lower Trinity, 

 Mr. Powers says, p. 79: "There are other articles paraded and worn in this 

 and other ceremonial dances which they will on no account part with, at 

 least to an American, though they sometimes manufacture them to order 

 for one another. One of these is the flake or knife of obsidian or jasper. 

 I have seen several which were fifteen inches or more in length and about 

 two and a half inches wide in the widest part. Pieces as large as these 

 are earned aloft in the hands in the dance, wrapped with skin or cloth to 

 prevent the rough edges from lacerating the hand, but the smaller ones are 

 mounted on wooden handles and glued fast. The large ones cannot be 

 purchased at any price, but I procured some about six inches long at $2.50 

 apiece. These are not properly 'knives,' but jewellery for sacred purposes, 

 passing current also as money." 



The last collection made by Mr. Schumacher on the Islands of San 

 Clemente and Santa Catalina, and recently received at the Peabody Museum, 

 contains several of these long and beautifully chipped implements. Some 

 of these still show traces of the wooden handles to which they had been 

 fastened by asphaltum. 



* So far as the collections I have examined from California can prove the matter, obsidian was 

 seldom used by the Californians, as there are but one or two arrowheads or small knives of that min- 

 eral among the many chipped implements. A beautiful blue-black variety of flint was very commonly 

 used for the larger and finer chipped implements, and as this mineral has a resemblance to obsidian 

 it is very likely that it is often called by that name. — F. W. P. 



