EXPLANATIONS OF PLATES 14 AND 15.
Fig. 1. This instrument is ten inches long, two inches and a half broad at the top, and one at the point. It is made of one of the branches of the antler of the moose or elk. The breadth of the upper portion is not seen in the figure, as the piece is represented as viewed edgewise. It is obliquely truncated at the lower end, so as to give it a chisel-shaped edge, and shows the effect of having been hacked by some dull tool. Attached to a handle it might be used to dig with, or might serve for the purpose of a head-breaker, or “casse-téte,” as described by Father Rasles.[17] From Frenchman’s Bay.
Fig. 2. A flat-pointed instrument, 3¾ inches long, and 1¼ wide. This is made of the dense exterior portion of an antler, and at the lower end has a thin sharp edge as in Fig. 2 a. From Crouch’s Cove.
Fig. 3. A piece of one of the branches of the antler of a deer, from which the tip has been cut off. The sides near the pointed end have been worked down so as to present four faces, two of the angles uniting them being quite acute. The detached piece having a deep notch would be provided with two points or barbs, and would be adapted to serve as the point of an arrow. Such points were used by the aborigines, and we are informed by Winslow, that when the Pilgrims were making their first explorations on the shore at Cape Cod, previously to landing at Plymouth, some of the arrows shot at them had the kind of point just described.[18] From Cotuit Port.
Fig. 4. An artificially pointed fragment of bone. From Crouch’s Cove.
Fig. 5. An artificially pointed fragment of bone, suitable for the purpose of an awl. From Crouch’s Cove.
Fig. 6. A fragment of a bone of a bird, obliquely truncated and artificially sharpened. From Crouch’s Cove.
Fig. 7. One of the lower incisors of a beaver, ground to a thin, sharp edge, which last is formed by the enamel on the inner, or flat side of the tooth. From Crouch’s Cove.
Fig. 8. A well wrought and polished spindle-shaped instrument, the lower end of which is flattened, and has a sharp edge; the upper portion is rounded with the end broken off, but appears to have been worked to a sharp point. From Frenchman’s Bay.
Fig. 9. A slender piece of bone, smoothly wrought and pointed. From Frenchman’s Bay.