582 WYMAN ON THE SHELL-HEAPS 
as it might at first sight seem to be, and with care have 
succeeded in splitting - in two, lengthwise, in the course 
of an hour, a piece of human ulna seven inches long, by 
means of a flint “chip” held in the hand. This, of course, 
involves a large expenditure of time, but it must be re- 
membered that an Indian’s time was not valued. The 
work is rendered very much easier by keeping both the 
instrument and bone wet. It has been objected to the 
opinion, that certain implements from the European 
heaps were used as saws, that having wedge-shaped edges 
they would soon become “choked” or “jammed.” Prac- 
tically this does not happen, for we have uniformly found 
that the roughness of the sides of the flint is sufficient to 
widen the groove as fast as the edge deepens it. 
Implements of bone made by the Indians dwelling in 
New England have rarely been mentioned, and are sel- 
dom seen in collections, but if one may judge from the 
number of specimens we have obtained, must have been 
in quite common use. The inhabitants of the North-west 
Coast, and the Esquimaux, are largely dependent upon 
this material, and Messrs. Squier and Davis found a few 
bone instruments in the mounds of Ohio. The accom- 
panying figures, drawn by Mr. Morse, represent the forms 
of the more important ones discovered in the different 
heaps, which form the subject of this paper. Except the 
first, which is reduced one-half, linear measurement, all 
are represented of the natural size. We are unable to 
assign any uses for the larger part of them, and of the 
others can only offer a conjecture. 
EXPLANATIONS OF PLATES 14 aND 15. 
Fig. 1. This instrument is ten inches long, two inches and a half 
broad at the top, and one at the point. It is made of one of the 
branches of the antler of the moose or elk. The breadth of the upper 
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