415 
quartz into arrow- and spear-heads, knife blades, saws, drills, and 
skin scrapers. Wliere harri ne])hrite was available, as in Alaska, 
they shaped and polisherl it into adze-blades, whetstones, and even 
labrets. Their single- and double-edged hunting knives of ground 
slate, and the women’s semi-lunar knives of the same material, were 
generally siii}crior to Indian tools of this character; the semi-lunar 
knife, in fact, seems to have been copied by some Algonkian and 
Pacific Coast tribes. In Coronation gulf the Eskimo substituted local 
copper for flint and slate in all their cutting tools, and the Greenland 
natives sometimes used meteoric and telluric iron; but both these 
metals they treated simply as malleable stones. 
It was in working antler, bone, and. particularly, ivory, however, 
that the Eskimo most excelled. Arctic explorers liave Ijeen aston- 
ished at the variety of articles they manufactured from these 
materials. The majority, it is true, were small, but they were made 
wdth great care and skill and in most cases served some useful 
purpose. Mei'ely to list them all would fill several pages, for they 
ranged from parts of harpoons and arrows, ice-chisels, sled-shoes, 
toggles, and handles of various shapes and sizes, to needles and 
needle-cases, thimbles and thimble-holders, and a wealth of miscel- 
laneous objects for everyday use, besides numerous toys and amulets. 
Some were carved into animal and human forms, others carried 
incised decoration. The latter was always geometrical in prehistoric 
times, but in Alaska, after the natives acquired iron tools, it 
blossomed into vivid scenes of dailv life. 
There w^as very little basketry among the Eskimo except around 
the Yukon delta in Alaska and farther south, for its place was taken 
by bags of skin. Nor w^as there any embroidery in porcupine-(iuill 
or moose-hair, because neither the porcupine nor the moose extended 
into Eskimo territories. But needle-work w^as well developed; most 
of the ornamentation on clothing was prodiu^ed by means of narrow 
bands of differently coloured skin or fur finely stitcherl together 
wdth sinew thread. We need not w^onder that the Eskimo should 
be the only American people to devise a thimble, for after all 
thimbles were of little use to Indians wTo did not tailor their 
garments. But we cannot help admiring their resourcefulness in 
equipping themselves wdth so many serviceable articles from 
