346 THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY 



a variety of purposes. A small point set in a short handle could 

 be used as a knife; set in a long handle it became a spear; tied 

 to the end of an arrow- shaft it was an arrow point, which if need 

 be, would drill a hole through a bear's tooth, or skin a bear. 



All that can be said with certainty is that there are certain 

 types of points, each of which was probably made and commonly 

 used for one certain purpose. For instance the small, keen tri- 

 angular points were undoubtedly made for use as arrow-points, 

 and were commonly used as such, though some few of them 

 may have been used as drills. 



Points and Blades. 



Because the points for arrows, spears, javelins and harpoons 

 are distinguished with difficulty from the blades of knives and 

 war-clubs they will be considered here together. Without doubt 

 most of the small and medium sized points were designed to be 

 used as arrow-points The larger ones were either knives or 

 spear-points. 



Along the entire Niagara Frontier this type of artifact is 

 abundant. They are most numerous on or near village sites 

 and camp sites, but they are found frequently far from such 

 centers Almost any sandy knoll in western New York or east- 

 ern Ontario will yield some artifact of this type. 



Though many are rude, rough and dull, these artifacts are 

 characterized by careful and excellent workmanship. The keen 

 point is the rule. The points and blades are of many shapes. 

 Practically every shape found in the United States has been 

 found in this region. Excepting in two villages, no village or 

 camp is limited to any one shape ; nor on the other hand, is any 

 one shape confined solely to any one site or locality. Yet almost 

 every large village is characterized by the predominance of some 

 one type. 



In general all points and blades may be divided according to 

 their shapes into two classes, namely, notched and unnotched. 

 The former type has notches, or a tang, at its base, to afford 

 greater security in binding the point to its shaft. The latter 

 has no such notches but is a simple triangle, with straight or 

 curvilinear sides. The type is a straight-sided, isosceles triangle, 

 narrow in proportion to its length, keen-pointed, thin, sharp- 



