1879. | Made their Implements. 673 
these chips had been broken out the sharp edge was rubbed 
down, the flake turned end for end and the chipping renewed on 
the other side. By this process the cutting edges of the arrow- 
head were kept in the same line. The base was formed in the 
same manner. No lines were drawn but he would occasionally 
look at his work as it progressed and chip on one side or the 
other to keep their proportions equal. The base of the arrow- 
head—opposite the point—when finished, is inserted in a slot 
made in the end of the wooden shaft, and is firmly tied to it by 
the tendons of a deer. To hold the arrowhead firmly to the 
shaft and to prevent the thread of deer tendon from interfering 
with the penetrating power of the arrow, a slot about one-fourth 
of an inch deep is chipped into both cutting edges of the arrow- 
head about one-fourth of an inch above the base. This causes 
the arrowhead to look as if it were barbed, but the object seems 
only to be to provide means by which the arrowhead may be 
firmly fastened to the shaft, at the same time avoiding the making 
of any obstruction to the penetrating or cutting power of the 
arrowhead. The chipping out of these slots was the last opera- 
tion to be performed. It seemed to me more difficult than any 
other part of the work, and I thought that in this would be the 
danger of the loss of all the patient labor that had been expended. 
In practical operation it was the simplest, safest and most rapid of 
all his work. He now held the point of the well-shaped arrow- 
head between the thumb and first finger of his left hand with the 
edge of the arrowhead upwards, the base resting edgewise on the 
deer-skin cushion in the palm. He then used the smaller deer 
prong, which had been sharpened in the same form as the larger 
one, but all its proportions, in every respect, were very much ~ 
smaller ; its point could not have been larger than one-sixteenth 
of an inch square. He rested this point on the edge of the arrow- 
head where he desired to make the slot, and commenced sawing 
back and forth with a rocking motion, the fine chips flew from 
each side, the point of the deer horn descended, and in less than — 
a minute the slot was cut. The arrowhead was turned over and 
the same operation repeated on the other edge. It seemed that 
by this process, if he desired, the arrowhead could have been cut 
in two in a very few minutes. He now examined his work in the 
strong sunlight and, being satisfied, handed me the completed 
arrowhead. It had taken him forty minutes to split the two 
