1 _ INDl INS 01 l m. PLAIN8 



chipped -tone blade seems to indicate thai it was placed 

 on the outside. Hence, the former use of -tone blades 

 for these scrapers musl be considered doubtful. The 



iron blade- are bound to the wedge-shaped haft, which 

 each downward blow, when the tool i- in use, forces 

 tightly into the binding. When the pressure is re- 

 moved the blade and binding may slip off. To prevent 

 this, some tools are provided with a cord running from 

 the end of the handle once or twice around its middle 

 ami thence to the binding of the blade. Again a 

 curved iron blade is used, one end of which is bound 

 near the middle of the handle. These types (Fig. 21 1 

 are widely distributed throughout the Plains, but the 

 curved iron blade seems to be most frequent among 

 the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and wooden handles 

 among the Comanche. 



On the other hand, fleshing tools, chisel-shaped with 

 notched edges, were used throughout Canada east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and in many parts of the United 

 States. Hence, they cannot be taken as peculiar to 

 the Plains. The older type of flesher is apparently the 

 one made entirely of bone, while the later ones were 

 made entirely of iron. Sometimes an intermediate 

 form is found in which a small metal blade is fastened 

 to the end of a bone shaft (Fig. 22). The shaft of the 

 flesher is usually covered with rawhide and to it> end 

 i- attached a Loop for the wrist. The iron flesher seems 

 to be the only type peculiar to the Indians of the Plain-. 

 The distribution of the bone flesher is such that it< 

 most probable origin may be assigned to the Algonkin 

 tribes of the Great Lakes and northward. 



