The Maori of New Zealand do all their wonderful work of wood carving with only a chisel or adze (of stone or shell).[14] Among the Iroquois, in cutting trees, fire was applied at the root, the coals were scraped away with a chisel, and this process was repeated until the tree was felled. The trunk was divided into lengths in the same way. Similarly canoes and mortars were hollowed out.[15] The Virginia Indians at an early day employed a similar process. They also cleared ground for cultivation by deadening trees with their tomahawks,[16] and used adzes made of shell in cleaning out the charred wood in making canoes.[17] The Nootka of the northwestern part of the continent in felling a tree use a flint or elkhorn set in a handle, this being struck with a stone mallet. In hollowing canoes a musselshell also is used as an adze, and sometimes fire is applied. The outside is shaped by similar means.[18]
Fig. 46.—Notched ax, showing polished edge.
Stone chisels have been found in various steatite quarries, where vessels and other utensils of this material were made, and the marks of their use is plain both on the vessels in an unfinished state and on the cores, as well as on the quarry face.[19]
The different ways of hafting, as shown by specimens in the Bureau collection, were as follows:
(1) A hole was cut entirely through a stick and the celt was inserted so that it would project on both sides;
(2) The hole was cut partly through, and the celt was pushed in as far as it would go;
(3) The top of the celt was set in a socket of deer horn, which was put into a handle as in form 2;
(4) Small celt-shaped knives or scrapers were set into the end of a piece of antler long enough to be used as a handle;
(5) A forked branch was so cut as to make two prongs of nearly equal length, and the celt was fastened to the end of one, parallel with it, the other being used to guide and steady it, a prong being held in each hand;