Oct. 21, 1893. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



387 



THE ARROW-HEAD. 



A Post and Pre-Columbian Autobiography. 



EDITED BY CLARENCE B. MOORE. 



A FAMILY in Norway can to-day trace its descent, in 

 unbroken line, to Eric the Red, the great Scandinavian 

 navigator, who flourished about the year 1000, while some 

 Roman nobles claim an origin still more remote, though 

 upon less reliable authority. 



It is related of the great Napoleon that upon meeting 

 Prince Massimo, of Rome, he sneeringly remarked to the 

 Italian, ''They say that you have as ancestor the great 

 Fabius Maximus." 



"I could not prove it," replied the Prince, "but the re- 

 port has been current in our family for the last thousand 

 years." 



An old family indeed 1 



But I come of one compared to which the Roman or 

 the Norwegian is but of yesterday. I am almost coeval 

 with the world. I belong to a branch of the Quartz 

 family — tlie Flints. I am an arrow-head. 



I shall not speak of the long ages before the com- 

 ing of man, of the upheavals of the earth, or of the 

 strange animals that roamed 

 around, animals long since 

 gone, whose remains are now 

 fossils and phosphates. 



A long, long time after that I 

 lay upon the surface of the 

 ground, and saw the red In- 

 dians pass me single file, on 

 their war expeditions, or heard 

 the twanging of the bow, as 

 some dusky hunter sent his 

 arrow after the fleeing deer. I 

 thought my life would go on 

 forever thus, upon the ground, 

 in the northern part of what is 

 now the State of Florida. But 

 it was not to be. One day a 

 party of squaws in search of 

 flint passed along, and one stop- 

 ping picked me up (for I was 

 not much larger than her closed 

 hand) and carried me, with one 

 of my relatives who had Iain 

 near me for ages, to the home 

 of her lord. The other squaws 

 also had a number of my family 

 connections, and I gathered 

 from the conversation that a 

 party of braves was soon to start 

 for a country further south, 

 where stone was seldom seen, a 

 land bordering on a mighty 

 river. There it was their inten- 

 tion to trade me and my rela- 

 tives for fish, which, when 

 dried, they could r<>adily bring 

 back to their inland home. 



The journey to the great river 

 was neither long nor arduous. 

 The trade was satisfactorily con- 

 cluded, and after a grand feast 

 the braves returned to their 

 home, as did also the various 

 river and coast Indians, who 

 had gathered there with their 

 sun-dried fish. 



My new owner, who, it turned 

 out, was a chief in his tribe, 

 tossed me and a number of my 

 relatives into tlie bottom of his 

 canoe. This craft was made 

 from a great log of cypress, 

 sharpened at either end, and 

 hollowed out by repeated blows 

 from chisels and gouges of shell, 

 after previous treatment by- 

 fire.* With four braves, his 

 companions, the chief started 

 up the river for his island, dis- 

 tant a five days' journey. We 

 usually traveled at night, for it 

 seemed that unfriendly tribes 

 peopled the banks, tribes only 

 too eager to vary their diet of 

 periwinkles and mussels by a 

 meal from some luckless prison- 

 er. Whenever my owner could 

 distinguish the great heaps of 

 shells which marked a village, 

 he with his companions usually 



hugged the fm-ther shore, but whenever they felt sure of 

 a friendly reception they halted for a bi-ief visit. 



My new owner was of powerful build, though no taller 

 than some among the white men whom years later it was 

 my fortune to see. His head, however, was small and 

 round, with juassive jaws, from which no tooth was miss- 

 ing. During the long years I passed among his people I 

 seldom saw a missing tooth, and never one showing signs 

 of decay. His powerful legs, upon which the muscles 

 stood out in knots, were well fitted to bear him for long 

 days' journeys in the chase or iu war. His dress was of 

 skin and his weapons consisted of a bow and lance, and 

 arrows tipped with flintf. Tlie arrow-heads were about 

 one-third the size of the ordinary lance-head, and some- 

 times had a shank projecting from the base. The head 

 was fastened to the body of the arrow by inserting the 

 shank in a cleft and binding it around with sinews of the 

 deer, while the lance-head often had no shank, its base 

 being put within the split end of the body of the lance. 



Our journey was uneventful. As we progressed, the 

 river grew narrower and narrower. At length we crossed 

 a great lake, and soon after leaving the river and travers- 

 ing another lake much smaller in size, we followed a nar- 

 row creek for a short distance, to my master's island 

 home. The party was joyfully received, and many of 

 my relatives were distributed to various warriors whose 

 fish had been intrusted to the travelers. 



My new home on the island was built of palmetto 

 thatch, and many similar houses were to be seen in every 

 direc tion, for the tribe was a large one. Lofty palmettoes 



* The Huguenot Le Moyne saw these implements in use. 



tThe Florid^ Jndjana used chert, bornstone or chftlcedonv, varieties 



OlIUDt, ' 



were abrmdant, impressing me as peculiarly graceful, 

 since I had seen none in my former home, and but few 

 on my journey up the river. Near and under the village 

 lay great heaps of periwinkle and mussel shells, formed 

 by the continual emptying of refuse from the daily 

 repasts, together with fragments of broken pots and 

 earthenware vessels of all sorts; in fact, everything no 

 longer of use, and therefore of no value to the owner. 

 Beyond these great ridges of shell which covered acres 

 of ground lay a swamp where the people had raised a 

 huge conical burial mound of sand. To this mound and 

 to the great shell heap then in use ran causeways of shell 

 through the swamp, insuring easy access in wet seasons 

 as well as dry. Upon the side where the causeway joined 

 it the burial mound sloped down more gradually, thus 

 making easier the approach to the summit.* 



My doubts as to why I had been brought this long dis- 

 tance were speedily solved. I soon learned that I was to 

 become an arrow-head, for my owner took me to one of 

 those who made weapons of stone for a living. The arrow- 

 head maker sat before his hut industriously plying his 

 trade. Business was apparently good, as was to be 

 expected, considering the quantity of stone recently 

 received by the warriors, The weapon maker was very 



"LOOK, ZEKE, HERE'SJIA FINE LARGE ARROW-HEAD." 



skillful. Taking me in his left hand, and striking repeated 

 blows with an implement of flint held in his right, he 

 soon separated from the rest a piece of stone about double 

 the size of the arrow-head desired. From this piece I am 

 descended. The same process was then repeated on the 

 other side of the mass of flmt, but owing to an imperfec- 

 tion the line of fracture was so irregular that the frag- 

 ment thus obtained was useless, and with the portion that 

 remained — a core too small to be of any further use — it 

 was tossed into a heap of cores, broken arrow-heads and 

 chippings of atone which each night were emptied outside 

 the entrance. This duty fell upon Kakola, the daughter 

 of the maker of arrow-heads, and with Kakola, as I soon 

 learned, my owner was in love. 



When my twin was discai'ded the weapon maker turned 

 his attention to me, and putting aside his heavy hammer 

 of stone he began to chip small flakes from me with a 

 lighter implement, and so deftly did he work that under 

 his rapid blows I soon assumed the outline desired, though 

 my thickness had to be reduced by still further careful 

 chippings. At length I was completed, and proud was 

 the armorer of his triumph when I lay before him, an 

 drrow-head of graceful outline, twice the usual size, and 

 fashioned from flint of a deep red, alike useful and beauti- 

 ful. 



That evening my owner came to the home of the maker 

 of arrow-heads. As Kakola met him her cheeks assumed 

 a hue as deep as mine, though in her congratulations on his 

 safe return she was not so warm as had been many of the 

 other maidens of the tribe. My owner received me with 

 an exclamation of approval, and paying over a string of 



♦Tlus »oi«»4 18 on Tick latena, Yoliwlft county, FJ«, 



shell beads put me in a pouch'of deer skin which hung at 

 his belt. Speedily returning to his home he selected the 

 straightest and strongest shaft in his possession, and 

 bound me to it with the tough sinews of the deer. 



Was it chance that took him toward the lonely burial 

 mound that night, when the moon had risen? I never 

 knew, but as my owner passed along the causeway to the 

 swamp, a long, wailing cry arose, and then a woman's 

 shriek. There was no mistaking either. The one was 

 the cry of a panther, the other came from Kakola. In 

 an instant my owner was at the base of the mound. 

 Above him stood Kakola, while between them crouched 

 the yellow beast ready to spring. Twang! went the bow. 

 Passing clean through the panther's neck I came out on 

 the other side. The beast staggered and fell; its sinewy 

 limbs twitched for a moment, then all danger was over. 

 Kakola stood pale and motionless, but in an instant her 

 preserver had her in his arms, and there, on the huge 

 mound of sand,' with the moonlight shining through the 

 palmettoes and the dead panther at their feet, their vows 

 were plighted. 



Before returning my owner puUed me from the neck of 

 the beast and vowed that since I had done him such a 

 service in time of emergency he would never use me again 

 " save in the direst need. 



As they walked toward the 

 village he hung around the neck 

 of Kakola a charm made from 

 a pebble of quartz brought from 

 I the ocean, a pebble with a 



] groove cut around the smaller 



end to afford a more secure hold 

 [ for the deer sinew by which it 



1 was suspended. By these charms 



j of quartz the Indians set great 



' store, and I thought nothing 



I could be more highly prized; 



but years after when I saw what 

 the white men would do and 

 endure for a yellow stone they 

 I called gold I realized of how 



little comparative value were 

 ' the quartz pebbles to the In- 



dians. 



The adventure with the pan- 

 ther made a great stir in tbe 

 tribe, and I was pronounced a 

 bearer of good fortune. The 

 resolution of their chief never 

 again to use me save in case of 

 imperative necessity was highly 

 commended by all, as was the 

 betrothal of Kakola. No, not 

 all, there was one exception. 

 The chief's cousin and nearest 

 of kin looked upon the girl with 

 a covetous eye, but it was not in 

 his power to interfere, and my 

 owner took Kakola to his home. 



A period of rest in the alfairs 

 of the tribe foll^\s!^d the nup- 

 tials, the chief hfefi^ting to 

 make any move XBjaWjTiight 

 separate him friJIfi l«M)ride; 

 but one day, being ov^^m the 

 mainland in pursuit .of deer, he 

 unwarily planted his foot upon 

 a large serpent coiled in his 

 way. Quick as lightning the 

 snake struck at his leg, driving 

 in both fangs above his ankle. 

 Of little service was the circular 

 charm of shell he wore, the gift 

 of his bride, and equally vain 

 were the incantations of the 

 medicine man, for swelling im- 

 mediately set in, and fainter 

 and fa'nter beat the heart until 

 at last it ceased. Poor Kakola! 



The rival cousin succeeded my 

 late owner, and decreed a fu- 

 neral befitting the dead man's 

 rank. First of all an expedition 

 was sent to the river, where an 

 attack was made upon a passing 

 canoe containing three vvrarriors 

 of another tribe. Of these one 

 escaped, the remaining two be- 

 ing brought back as prisoners. 

 These unfoi-timate wretches 

 were promptly slaughtered and 

 cooked, and upon them the 

 whole tribe feasted, until noth- 

 ing but the charred bones re- 

 mained. Having thus, after their fashion, honored their 

 departed chief, the funeral was solemnized. Along the 

 causeway, through the swamp, marched the whole tribe, 

 the warriors in full war regalia, the women wailing pite- 

 ously. 



When the slope ascending to the movmd was reached 

 they halted, and the principal braves mounted to the 

 summit. The body was then placed upon the ground, no 

 pains being taken as to any particular arrangement of 

 head or limbs, such being their custom, and while it lay 

 thus in a heap poor Kakola, knowing full well what fate 

 awaited her, took her last farewell. 



With the remains were placed the charred bones of the 

 victims, a chisel of stone, two strings of shell beads, and 

 a gauge fashioned from a conch shell. Beneath the head 

 were laid two pieces of broken XJOttery, and lastly, upon 

 the breast I was placed, to serve my owner in the future 

 life, as I had done upon earth. The suspicion of a smile 

 flitt«d across the new chief's face as he saw me, and 

 glancing toward Kakola his eyes for an instant only 

 flashed triumph, and then resumed the downcast expres- 

 sion that befitted the occasion. Last of all a mass of 

 sandy loam was heaped upon the dead man and myself, 

 and we were left alone. 



The mound had been formed by successive burials. It 

 had been begun, tradition ran, hundreds of moons before, 

 after a great battle, when a round shell heap was selected 

 and the slain, placed side by side, were covered with a 

 mound of white sand. Upon this first interment others 

 had been made, until at last it had assumed its present 

 shape and size. 



We had lain in our grave but a short time when I saw 

 a flat i»Btw»e»t oi yfQQ^ Ptril?© tb© body pft YrUok I lay, 



