THE KINSHIP OF COMMON TOOLS 123 



comparative anatomy of implements, the most impor- 

 tant of them being distinct evolutions from primary 

 types. I suppose that the earliest tool is the hammer, 

 and that next would come the axe. The axe grows 

 naturally out of the hammer; it is a hammer with 

 a cutting blade, and the two of them are evidently 

 the ancestors of the whole range of implements of 

 the pick and mattock class. Nearly related Is the 

 hoe, and from the hoe comes the spade. Intermediate 

 between these is the powerful cultivating tool that 

 takes the place of the spade in many foreign countries, 

 and I believe round the whole of the Mediterranean 

 region. It is the short-handled hoe with the large, 

 slightly curved, spade-like blade, used like a mattock. 

 The only tool that in England is at all its equivalent 

 is the "beck," or Canterbury hoe, but this, instead of 

 having the undivided blade, has three flat prongs. 

 The foreign tool is easier to use in the hard, dry earth 

 of southern Europe, as it comes down and cleaves the 

 ground with a heavy mattock stroke, whereas the 

 spade goes in with a less powerful thrust, by the 

 worker throwing his weight on it by his foot on its 

 shoulder. It is interesting to note that the French 

 shape of tool in our country should take its name 

 from Canterbury, a place that has always had a large 

 French population. 



Another tool-link with France is the Cornish 

 shovel, the pelle of France and Italy, a long-handled 

 shovel with ace-of-spades-shaped blade, only used in 



