670 How our Ancestors in the Stone Age [November, 
harder and did not require sharpening so frequently. When asked 
where he obtained the obsidian, he answered from a place on the 
north side of Mount Shasta, about sixty miles distant; that in 
former days the land where it is found was claimed by the Yreka 
Indians, and as this stone was wanted by the Trinity Indians, the 
Yrekas and the Modocs, as well as the Wintoons, it was rarely 
obtained without a battle. The piece he had was a light-blue in 
color, and he valued it at twenty dollars; he stated that if it were 
white it would be worth forty or fifty dollars. I could not learn 
that white obsidian is harder or is worked with greater ease; its 
increased value is probably based on its greater rarity. After 
stating that in battle he had been twice wounded with arrows, 
once in the shoulder and once through the calf of the right leg, 
and showing the scars above the ankle where the arrow had 
passed through, missing the bone, and been drawn out at the 
other side, and further stating, with evident gratification at the 
recollection, that while the arrow was still in his leg he sent one 
of his own into the throat of his opponent, from the wound of 
which he had bled to death in a few minutes, he commenced the 
operation of making a stone arrowhead. Holding the piece of 
obsidian in the hollow of the left hand, he placed between the 
first and second fingers of the same hand the split piece of deer 
horn first described, the straight edge of the split deer horn rest- 
ing against about one-fourth of an inch of the edge of the obsid- 
ian—this being about the thickness of the flake he desired to 
split off; then with a small round water-worn stone which he had 
selected, weighing perhaps a pound, he with his right hand struck 
the other end of the split deer horn a sharp blow. The first 
- attempt resulted in failure. A flake was split off but the blow 
also shattered the flake at the same time into small fragments. 
He then repeated the operation, apparently holding the split deer 
horn more carefully and firmly against the edge of the large piece 
of obsidian. The next blow was successful. A perfect flake was 
obtained showing the conchoidal fracture peculiar to obsidian. 
This I purchased, and instructed him to split off another from 
which to make the arrowhead. He repeated the operation and 
was again successful, and I have no doubt he could, with only an 
occasional failure, have split up the whole piece in a few minutes 
-into shapes for spearheads, knives and scrapers. The shape nat- 
~- urally taken by the obsidian when split off in this manner is that a 
