SWORDS. 



23 1 



The early writers who have left us brief accounts of the weapons of 

 the Californians have mentioned that they had swords made of bone and of 

 wood, and of these materials are several found in the graves, both by Dr. 

 Yarrow's party on the mainland, and by Mr. Schumacher and others on 

 the islands. 



Fig. 112 represents a sword made from the ribs of a large cetacean. 

 In shaping this weapon the natural curvature of the bone was retained; 

 the convex FlG - 112 - 



portion was ^^5*^^^ 

 ground down 



to form the Sword made of bone, J. 



cutting edge, and the back was left of a uniform thickness of about half 

 an inch. Toward the point the bone has been ground away on each side. 

 This sword is 17 inches in total length, and the portion cut out for a handle 

 is 2i inches long, with a terminal knob or hilt of about 1 inch in length. 

 The handle certainly suggests that either the owner of the sword had a very 

 slender hand, or else, what is perhaps more likely, that the indented portion 

 of the bone was for the purpose of attaching a wrapping of hide or some 

 other substance in a manner similar to that on the sword-like clubs of bone 

 of which there are two examples from Alaska in the Peabody Museum. 

 This sword was obtained by Mr. Schumacher, and is now in the Smith- 

 sonian collection (No. 20477). In massiveness it has some resemblance 

 to the Alaskan weapons referred to above, but it is in some respects a 

 transition form between them and the thinner-bladed swords of which the 

 next figure is a representation. 



Several specimens of these swords with thin blades were found in the 

 graves explored by Dr. Yarrow's party, and others wei*e collected on the 

 islands by Mr. Schumacher. They vary in length and width, and each is 

 made from a bone of FlG - 113 - 



the lower jaw of a por- 

 poise. Fig. 113 repre- 

 sents the slightly COn- Bone sword, i. 



vex side of one of these swords, the opposite surface of which is concave — a 

 character due, entirely, to the natural shape of the bone, which has been 



