HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



work. A glance at the Handbook of American Indians under "Stone- 

 work" shows what interest the subject has aroused during the 

 last four or five decades. Technology would seem to have been a 

 favorite study, and no one has contributed more to the subject 

 than Professor Holmes. Tne various processes of pecking, grinding, 

 drilling, flaking, and chipping have all been more or less successfully 

 duplicated. Perhaps none have become expert at flint chipping, for 

 that we know, from the experience of the professional flint workers, 

 requires time; but the arrowpoints, etc., scattered over the face of 

 the earth are no longer mysterious darts from heaven. The art of 

 producing them is well understood. 



This being so, it may seem superfluous to record yet another 

 observation on flint chipping. Nevertheless, without citing possible 

 arguments in defense, I venture to describe once more the essential 

 processes and also at the same time to call attention to the fact that 

 a native Indian flint worker is living at present under conditions 

 where he can be observed at work by anyone who will pay him a 

 visit. 1 



ISHI AND HIS WORK 



During the early part of 1912, while connected with the Univer- 

 sity of California Museum at the Affiliated Colleges in San Francisco, 

 I had opportunity to observe and in a measure to direct the activities 

 of Ishi, the lately rescued survivor of the Yahi or Southern Yana 

 Indians. Among other things suggested to him, partly to satisfy the 

 interest of the visiting public, was that of chipping arrowpoints, and 

 probably nothing else that he undertook proved of equal interest 

 and satisfaction to visitors as well as to himself. He still keeps up 

 the work and is not at all averse to having it inspected. Whether or 

 not Ishi is an artist might be a matter for debate, but no one will 

 deny that he is an experienced workman. This conclusion is based 

 partly on a comparison of his productions with the best to be found 

 in California and also on what the English flint workers at Brandon 

 tell us as to the time normally required to master the art. 



Unfortunately, what might perhaps be considered strictly scien- 

 tific procedure was sacrificed at the beginning. In the first place, no 

 considerable amount of raw obsidian being at hand, bits of heavy 

 plate-glass were furnished, and Ishi, finding this substance somewhat 

 less refractory than obsidian and much more easily worked than 

 chalcedony, agate, and the like, soon offered mild objections to 



1 This was the case at the time these lines were written, but Ishi died in March, 1916. 



[398 



