HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



animal. That the animal legs are intended to represent ax-blades as 

 well, is indicated by the fact that each is sharpened to a well-defined 

 edge. In both a longitudinal groove, apparently intended to heighten 

 the zoomorphic effect by suggesting the parting of the hair along the 

 dorsal ridge, reaches from the nose to half-way the length of the tail, 

 which here serves likewise as the hand-grip for the ax. On each side 

 of the longitudinal groove are short, parallel, incised lines at right 

 angles to it; these lines being more pronounced on the nose than 

 elsewhere. The ears are represented by slight protuberances. 



In the first specimen with its single ax-blade, the zoomorphic 

 character would be entirely lost sight of but for the dorsal longi- 

 tudinal groove, a tiny artificial conical eye pit (hardly visible in the 

 photograph), and a mouth groove. 



Similar ceremonial, effigy, monolithic axes are reported from other 

 parts of Oregon, and at least two counties in northern California. 

 A fine example with two blades is (or at least was) in possession of 

 Mr C. D. Voy of Oakland, California. It measures about 14 inches in 

 length and is provided with the dorsal groove. Ears and eye are 

 indicated, while the head and neck are ornamented by incised lines. 

 It is said to have been found in 1877, "with numerous other stone 

 relics and Indian remains, 6 feet below the surface in alluvial soil, near 

 Saint Helen, Columbia river, Oregon." There is a cast of the Voy 

 specimen in the United States National Museum (cat. no. 97612). 

 The latter Museum also possesses the forward half, including one 

 ax-blade, of an effigy monolithic ax (cat. no. 21464), said to be from 

 the Wintoon Indians at Weaverville, Trinity county, California. In 

 view of the distinct differentiation of the head, it is probable that 

 the lost half carried with it an ax-blade representing the hind legs 

 of the effigy. 



In the shell-heaps of Humboldt bay, Humboldt county, which 

 adjoins Trinity county on the west, Mr L. L. Loud of the Affiliated 

 Colleges, San Francisco, has recently found three fine examples of 

 the effigy monolithic ax exactly like those described above, even to 

 the dorsal groove. 



Curiously enough the United States National Museum possesses 

 a carved antler from Ohio that resembles fairly closely in form this 

 Oregon-California type of effigy monolithic ax. The nearest approach 

 to the latter in stone is a monolithic ax (fig. 8) of the Tlingit Indians, 

 Alaska. 1 The single ax-blade is an exact counterpart of the blades 

 from Oregon and California. The handle however does not complete 



A. P. Niblack in Report U. S. National Museum for 1888, p. 283. 



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