34 
The primary tool of the Canadian Indians was a stone-bladed 
knife ^ set in a handle of wood, bone, or, among the Eskimo, ivory. 
Its shape varied greatly according to its exact purpose, and accord- 
ing to the fashions of different tribes; and it was made from many 
different varieties of stone, igneous ami sedimentary, that called for 
different processes of manufacture. Whatever its shape and material 
the knife was the Indiaivs indispensable tool. An early exjolorer 
relates of the Dogrib Indians on the lower Mackenzie river that 
a man, carrying in his hand nothing except a knife, could march 
alone into the wilderness and secure everything he needed. Hearne, 
who travelled with the Chipewyans after they had been trading for 
many years with the fur posts on Hmlson bay, placed the needs of 
that tribe a little higher. “ The real wants of these people,” he says, 
“are few and easily supplied; a hatcliet, an ice-chisel, a file, and a 
knife, are all that is required to enable them, with a little industry, 
to procure a comfortable livelihood. Yet the same author 
describes'"^ how his party chanced on the well-furnished camp of a 
western Dogrib woman, a fugitive from the Cree, who had lived 
in solitude for seven months; “ Five or six inches of an iron hoop, 
made into a knite, and the shank of an arrow-head of iron, which 
served her for an awl, were all the metals this poor woman had with 
her when she eloped; and wuth these implements she had made her- 
self complete snow-shoes, and several other useful articles.” Fifty 
years earlier the blade of her knife woultl have been, not iron, but 
stone, native copper, or the tooth of an animal, probably of a beaver. 
Next to the knife in importance was the stone adze or ax, 
some tribes attaching their blades both vertically and transversely, 
some transversely only. With this implement, which also varied 
greatly in shape and material, the Indian cleared his land, made 
planks and poles for his house, his toboggan, and his sled, hollowed 
his dug-out canoe, and secured all the wood that he required for 
household utensils, tools, and weapons. Naturally he could not 
obtain with stone, however hard, either the strength or the keen- 
1 It i.s wtirtli reinai'kiitsi llial ftnv stoiu' foiil.s have lii'cii d !.■«■< in llie t>asin of tlio Markenssie 
rivpr. Crude sfoue .axes were aiiiiareiiil>' not uiieoiiiiiioii in this retrion, lint niaiiy if not niost knives 
had blades of Ix'aver tt'eih, carihon antler, or ainontr the Vellowkiiives, C’hiitew,\ans, and some of the 
Dogribs, native copper. On the Paeihe coast the Indians often ttsed knives of shell. Ncvertlielo.ss, the 
statement made abo\e applies generally throughout the Dominion. 
^ Heariie, Samuel: “A .Journey from Prinee of Wales Fort in Iludson'.s Bay to the N'ortliern 
Ocean”; Edited by J. B. Tyrrell, p. 123, The Chamiilain Society (Toronto, 1011). 
3 Ibid., p. 265. 
