SPECK— SITE ON THE ST LAWRENCE 



the "semilunar" knife or scraper type. The semilunar scraper for 

 cleaning skins is well known among the present Montagnais, who 

 term it cak' w hr'g9n, "scraper". They now employ iron semioval- 

 shaped blades set in a horizontal handle of bone or wood. 



The quartzite scrapers of this type are recognized by the Mon- 

 tagnais as the prototype of their iron tools. Needless to say, both 

 the stone and the iron ones are used by Eskimo as well as by 

 Montagnais. 



Very few arrowheads occur, only two or three that could have been 

 nothing else. One of the smallest of the collection is of crystal, not 

 more than three-fourths of an inch in length. 



As to the larger blades, the Montagnais call them either knives or 

 lance-heads. 1 Some of them appear as though they might have served 

 as knives with a piece of skin wrapped at one end as a handle. 



Another type of blade, not very common however, is squarish, 

 about an inch in diameter. This resembles the "planing-tool" 

 blades of the Eskimo. 



As usual, some of these variously shaped quartzite tools are of 

 problematical use. 



In heavier tools we have first pestle-like stones weighing several 

 pounds, tapering and cylindrical, and frequently with a projection or 

 knob on the side to facilitate gripping. These stones are still used by 

 the Montagnais in the bush, on rare occasions, as crackers to break 

 caribou bones in order to secure marrow. 



Next are the chisels or gouges of various sizes, shapes, and degrees 

 of finish, already mentioned. 



Another class of articles may be called chisels. They are finer, 

 with well-worn and smoothed blade edges and tapering backs. The 

 material is generally softer stone; most are of slate. 



Again, the long slate and argillite lance-heads, either round or 

 four-sided in section and eight or ten inches long when perfect, are 

 important, because the same type of implement is found in the lower 

 strata of finds in Maine. 2 Only one perfect specimen of this implement 

 was found at Tadousac, although broken pieces of several others 

 were recovered and are in the collection. One, a broader blade, has a 

 longitudinal groove on its side. The Montagnais recognize these 

 traditionally as harpoon-heads. 



Hammers of several types occur — the roundish hand maul of 



1 Names in Montagnais (coast dialect) of some of the types of implements are: cak' w hi'' gsn, 

 semilunar scraper; lamhi''g3n, ax or pounder; pdtski'gsn, maul or hammer for cracking bones; 

 nto'ysn, harpoon- or lance- head; ni'ga'k' w , fish-spear head, smaller than the last. 



2 Cf. Willoughby, Prehistoric Burial Places in Maine, op. cit., pp. 15, 17-18. 



[431] 



