< 1 l\Di INS 01 THE PLAINS. 



where. On the other hand, the Indian did not so 

 readily change his art, religion, and social customs. 



Perhaps the best early observer of primitive tool- 

 was Captain Lewis who writes of the Northern Sho- 

 shone in the Original Journal of the Lewis and Clark 

 Expedition, Vol. 3, p. 19, as follows: — 



"The metal which we found in possession of these people consisted 

 of a few indifferent knives, a few brass kettles some arm bands of iron 

 and brass, a few buttons, woarn as ornaments in their hair, a spear or 

 two of a foot in length and some iron and brass arrow points which 

 they informed me they obtained in exchange for horses from the Crow 

 or Rocky Mountain Indians on the yellowstone River, the bridlebits 

 and stirreps they obtained from the Spaniards, tho these were but few. 

 many of them made use of flint for knives, and with this instrument, 

 skincd the animals they killed, dressed their fish and made their arrows; 

 in short they used it for every purpose to which the knife is applyed. 

 this flint is of no regular form, and if they can only obtain a part of it, 

 an inch or two in length that will cut they are satisfyed. they renew 

 the edge by flecking off the flint by means of the point of an Elk's or 

 deer's horn, with the point of a deer or Elk's horn they also form their 

 arrow points of the flint, with a quickness and neatness that is really 

 astonishing, we found no axes nor hatchets among them; what wood 

 they cut was done either with stone or Elk's horn, the latter they use 

 always to rive or split their wood." 



Among the collections from the Blackfoot and Gros 

 Ventre, we find models of bone knives made by old 

 people who claimed to have used such (Fig. 28). There 

 are also a few flakes of stone said to have been so used 

 when metal knives were not at hand. 



No aboriginal axes have been preserved but they are 

 said to have been made of stone and bone. The hafted 

 stone maul (Fig. 4) is everywhere present and we are 

 told that the ax was hafted in a similar manner. Drill- 

 ing was performed with arrow points and wood was 

 dressed by stone scrapers. 



