Part 19

No. 89636 [1122], Fig. 123, approaches yet nearer the ancient shape, but still has one end slightly produced. The handle is also of reindeer antler, which seems to have been very commonly used with the slate blades. The lashing round the blade close to the handle is of seal thong, with the end wound spirally round all the parts on both sides and neatly tucked in. It seems to serve no purpose beyond enlarging the handle so as to make it fit the hand better. One beautiful blade of light olive green, clouded jade, No. 89675 [1170], belonged to a knife of this pattern. The older pattern is represented by No. 89676 [1586], a small knife blade from Ukiavwĭñ, which has been kept as an amulet. No. 56660 [129], is a blade of the same type, but elongated, being 7½ inches long and 2 broad. This is a very beautiful implement of pale olive jade, ground smooth. The bevel along the back of each of these blades indicates that they were to be fitted into a narrow slit in a long haft, like that of No. 89684 [886], Fig. 124, from Nuwŭk. Though both blade and handle of this specimen are very old, and have been put together in their present shape for a long time, the handle, which is of whale’s bone, evidently belonged to a longer blade, which fitted in the cleft without the need of any lashing. Fig. 125, No. 89693 [874], shows a form of handle evidently of very great antiquity, as the specimen shows signs of great age. It was purchased from a native of Utkiavwĭñ. It is made of a single piece of coarse whale’s bone. It was intended for a blade at least 7 inches long.

Fig. 126, No. 56672 [191], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a very crude, large knife, intended for use without a handle. It is of rough, hard, dark purplish slate. The upper three-quarters of both faces are almost untouched cleavage surfaces, but the lower quarter is pretty smoothly ground down to a semicircular cutting edge, which is somewhat nicked from use. The angular grooves on the two faces were evidently begun with the intention of cutting the knife in two. We were told that this large knife was specially for cutting blubber. It is a genuine antique.

While ground slate is a quite common material for round knives, flint appears to have been rarely used. We obtained only three of this material. No. 89690 [1311] is a flint knife hafted with a rough, irregular lump of coarse whale’s bone. The blade is a rather thin “spall” of light gray flint, flaked round the edges into the shape of a modern ulúrɐ blade, with a very strongly curved cutting edge. Though the handle is new, the flaking of the blade does not seem fresh, so that it is possibly a genuine old blade fitted with a new haft for the market. A similar flint blade, more neatly flaked, was brought from Kotzebue Sound by Lieut. Stoney, U.S. Navy, in 1884. The other two flint knives are interesting from being made for use without handles.

No. 89691 [1360], Fig. 127, from Sidaru, is an oblong, wedge-shaped spall of gray flint, of which the back still preserves the natural surface of the pebble. It is slightly shaped by coarse flaking along the back and one end, and the edge is finely flaked into a curved outline rounding up at the ends. The specimen is old and dirty, and was probably preserved as a sort of heirloom or amulet. No. 89692 [1178] is a similar spall from a round pebble. Such knives as these are evidently the first steps in the development of the round knife. The shape of the spalls, produced by breaking a round or oval pebble of flint, would naturally suggest using them as knives, and the next step would be to improve the edge by flaking. The greater adaptability of slate, from its softness and easy cleavage, for making such knives would soon be recognized, and we should expect to find, as we do, knives like No. 56672 [191]. The next step would naturally be to provide such a knife with a haft at the point where the stone was grasped by the hand, while reducing this haft so as to leave only just enough for the grasp and cutting away the superfluous corners of the blade would give us the modern form of the blade. Round knives of slate are not peculiar to Point Barrow, but have been collected in many other places in northwestern America.[N279]

[Footnote N279: See, especially, Dall, Contrib., vol. 1, pp. 59 and 79, for figures of such knives from the caves of Unalashka.]

The relationship between these knives and the semilunar slate blades found in the North Atlantic States has already been ably discussed by Dr. Charles Rau.[N280] It must, however, be borne in mind that while these are sufficiently “fish-cutters” to warrant their admission into a book on fishing, the cutting of fish is but a small part of the work they do. The name “fish-cutter,” as applied to these knives, would be no more distinctive than the name “tobacco-cutter” for a Yankee’s jackknife.[N281]

[Footnote N280: Prehistoric Fishing, pp. 183-188.]

[Footnote N281: It is but just to Dr. Rau to say that he recognized the fact that these implements are not exclusively fish-cutters, and applies this name only to indicate that he has treated of them simply in reference to their use as such. The idea, however, that these, being slightly different in shape from the Greenland _olu_ or ulu, are merely fish knives, has gained a certain currency among anthropologists which it is desirable to counteract.]

_Adzes (udlimau)._--Even at the present day the Eskimo of Point Barrow use no tool for shaping large pieces of woodwork, except a shorthandled adz, hafted in the same manner as the old stone tools which were employed before the introduction of iron. Though axes and hatchets are frequently obtained by trading, they are never used as such, but the head is removed and rehafted so as to make an adz of it. This habit is not peculiar to the people of Point Barrow. There is a hatchet head, mounted in the same way, from the Anderson River, in the Museum collection, and the same thing was noted in Hudson’s Strait by Capt. Lyon[N282] and at Iglulik by Capt. Parry.[N283] Mr. L. M. Turner informs me that the Eskimo of Ungava, on the south side of Hudson’s Strait, who have been long in contact with the whites, have learned to use axes. The collection contains two such adzes made from small hatchets. No. 89873 [972], Fig. 128, is the more typical of the two. The blade is the head of a small hatchet or tomahawk lashed to the haft of oak with a stout thong of seal hide. The lashing is one piece, and is put on wet and shrunk tightly on. This tool is a little longer in the haft than those commonly used, and the shape and material of the haft is a little unusual, it being generally elliptical in section and made of soft wood.

[Footnote N282: Journal, p. 28.]

[Footnote N283: 2d Voyage, p. 536, and pl. opp. p. 548, fig. 3.]

Fig. 129, No. 56638 [309], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a similar adz, but the head has been narrowed by cutting off pieces from the sides (done by filing part way through and breaking the piece off), and a deep transverse groove has been cut on the front face near the butt. Part of the lashing is held in this groove as well as by the eye, the lower half of which is filled up with a wooden plug. The haft is peculiar in being a piece of reindeer antler which has been reduced in thickness by sawing out a slice for 8 inches from the butt and bringing the two parts together with four stout wooden treenails about 1½ inches apart. This is preferable to trimming it down to a proper thickness from the surface, as the latter process would remove the compact tissue of the outside and expose the soft inside tissue. The whipping of seal thong just above the flange of the butt helps to give a better grip and, at the same time, to hold the parts together. As before, there are two large holes for the lashing. Adzes of this sort are used for all large pieces of wood work, such as timbers for boats, planks, and beams for houses, etc. After roughly dressing these out with the adz they are neatly smoothed off with the crooked knife, or sometimes, of late years, with the plane. The work of “getting out” the large pieces of wood is almost always done where the drift log lies on the beach. When a man wants a new stem or sternpost for his umiak, or a plank to repair his house, he searches along the beach until he finds a suitable piece of driftwood, which he claims by putting a mark on it, and sometimes hauls up out of the way of the waves. Then, when he has leisure to go at the work, he goes out with his adz and spends the day getting it into shape and reducing it to a convenient size to carry home, either slung on his back or, if too large, on a dog-sled. A man seldom takes the trouble to carry home more of a piece of timber than he actually needs for the purpose in hand.

The adz was in general use long before the introduction of iron. There is in the collection a very interesting series of ancient tools, showing the gradual development of the implement from a rude oblong block of stone worked down to a cutting edge on one end, to the steel adzes of the present day. They have, however, not even yet learned to make an eye in the head of the tool in which to insert the haft, but all tools of this class--adzes, hammers, picks, and mattocks--are lashed, with one face resting against the expanded end of the haft. Firmness is obtained by putting the lashing on wet and allowing it to shrink tight. Nearly all these ancient adzes are of jade, a material well adapted for the purpose by its hardness, which, however, renders it difficult to work. Probably the oldest of these adzes is No. 56675 [69], Fig. 130, which has been selected as the type of the earliest form we have represented in the collection. This is of dark olive green, almost black, jade, 7.2 inches long, 2.8 wide, and 1.3 thick, and smoothly ground on the broader faces. The cutting edge is much broken from long use. One broad face is pretty smoothly ground, but left rough at the butt end. The other is rather flatter, but more than half of it is irregularly concave, the natural inequalities being hardly touched by grinding. Like the other dark-colored jade tools, this specimen is very much lighter on a freshly fractured surface. The dark color is believed to be due to long contact with greasy substances.

No. 89662 [900], from Nuwŭk, is an exceedingly rough adz of similar shape, but so slightly ground that it is probably one that was laid aside unfinished. From the battered appearance of the ends it seems to have been used for a hammer. It is of the same dark jade as the preceding. No. 89689 [792], from Utkiavwĭñ, is of rather light olive, opaque jade and a trifle better finished than the type, while No. 89661 [1155], Fig. 131, also from Utkiavwĭñ, is a still better piece of workmanship, the curve of the faces to the cutting edge being very graceful. The interesting point about this specimen is that a straight piece has been cut off from one side by sawing down smoothly from each face almost to the middle and breaking the piece off. We were informed that this was done to procure rods of jade for making knife sharpeners. We were informed that these stones were cut in the same way as marble and freestone are cut with us, namely, by sawing with a flat blade of iron and sand and water. A thin lamina of hard bone was probably used before the introduction of iron. Possibly a reindeer scapula, cut like the one made into a saw (No. 89476 [1206], Fig. 147), but without teeth, was used for this purpose.

That such stone blades were used with a haft is shown by the only hafted specimen, No. 56628 [214], Fig. 132, from Nuwŭk. This is a rather small adz. The head of dark green jade differs from those already described only in dimensions, being 4 inches long, 2.1 wide, and 1.7 thick. The haft is of reindeer antler and in shape much like that of No. 56638 [309], but has only one hole for the lashing. The lashing is of the usual stout seal thong and put on in the usual fashion. No. 89673 [1423] is an old black adz from Sidaru of the same pattern as those described, but very smoothly and neatly made. About one-half of this specimen has been cut off for whetstones, etc.

The next step is to make the lashing more secure by cutting transverse grooves on the upper face of the head to hold the thong in place. This has been done on No. 56667 [215], figured in Point Barrow Rept., Ethnology, Pl. II, Fig. 5, an adz of dark olive green jade, from Utkiavwĭñ, which shows two such grooves, broad and shallow, running across the upper face. Of these two classes the collection contains thirteen unhafted specimens and one hafted specimen, all of jade. As cutting these grooves in the stone is a laborious process, the device of substituting some more easily worked substance for the back part of the head would naturally suggest itself.

Fig. 133, No. 89658 [1072], from Utkiavwĭñ, has a long blade of black stone with the butt slightly tapered off and imbedded in a body of whale’s bone, which has a channel 1 inch wide, for the lashing, cut round it and a shallow socket on the face to receive the end of the haft. Adz heads of this same type continued in use till after the introduction of iron, which was at first utilized by inserting a flat blade of iron into just such a body, as is shown in Fig. 134 (No. 89877 [752], from the cemetery at Utkiavwĭñ).

From this type to that shown in Fig. 135 (No. 89876 [696] brought by the natives from the ruins on the Kulugrua) the transition is easy. Suppose, for the greater protection of the lashings, we _inclose_ the channels on the sides of the head--in other words, bore holes instead of cutting grooves--we have exactly this pattern, namely, vertical eyes on each side of the head joined by transverse channels on the upper face. The specimen figured has on each side two oblong slots with a round eye between them. The blade is of iron, Fig. 136, No. 56640 [260] has two eyes on each side, and shows a different method of attaching the blade, which is countersunk flush with the upper surface of the body and secured with three stout iron rivets. The next step is to substitute horizontal eyes for the vertical ones, so as to have only one set of holes to thread the lashings through. This is seen in No. 89869 [878], Fig. 137, from Nuwŭk, which in general pattern closely resembles No. 89876 [696], but has three large horizontal eyes instead of the vertical ones. The blade is of iron and the haft of whale’s bone. The lashing is essentially the same as that of the modern adz, No. 56638 [309].

That this final type of hafting was reached before stone had gone out of use for such implements is shown by Fig. 138, No. 89839 [769], from Utkiavwĭñ, which, while very like the last in shape, has a blade of hard, dark purple slate. The haft is of reindeer antler. The lashing has the short end _knotted_ to the long part after making the first round, instead of being slit to receive the latter. Otherwise it is of the usual pattern. These composite adzes of bone and stone or iron seemed to have been common at the end of the period when stone was exclusively used and when iron first came into use in small quantities, and a good many have been preserved until the present day. We obtained four hafted and six unhafted specimens, besides seven jade blades for such composite adzes, which are easily recognizable by their small size and their shape. They are usually broad and rather thin, and narrowed to the butt, as is seen in Fig. 139, No. 56685 [71], a beautiful little adz of bright green jade 2.8 inches long and 2.3 wide, from Utkiavwĭñ. No. 56670 [246] also from Utkiavwĭñ, is a similar blade of greenish jade slightly larger, being 3.4 inches long and 2 inches wide. No. 89670 [1092] is a tiny blade of hard, fine-grained black stone, probably oil-soaked jade, only 1.7 inches long and 1.5 wide. It is very smoothly ground. Such little adzes, we were told, were especially used for cutting bone. The implement,[N284] which Nordenskiöld calls a “stone chisel,” found in the ruins of an old Eskimo house at Cape North, is evidently the head of one of these little bone adzes, as is plainly seen on comparing this figure with the larger adzes figured above.

[Footnote N284: Figured in the Voyage of the _Vega_, vol. 1, p. 444, Fig. 1.]

I have figured two more composite adzes, which are quite different from the rest. No. 89838 [1109], Fig. 140, has a blade of neatly flaked gray flint, but this as well as the unusually straight haft is newly made. These are fitted to a very old bone body, which when whole was not over 3 inches long, and was probably part of a little bone adz. There is no evidence that these people ever used flint adzes. Fig. 141, No. 89872 [785], is introduced to show how the native has utilized an old cooper’s adz, of which the eye was probably broken, by fitting it with a bone body.

While the adzes already described appear to have been the predominating types, another form was sometimes used. Fig. 142, No. 89874 [964], from Nuwŭk, represents this form. The haft is of whale’s rib, 1 foot long, and the head of _bone_, apparently whale’s scapula, 5.6 inches long and 2.8 inches wide on the edge. There is an adze in the Museum from the Mackenzie River region with a _steel_ blade of precisely the same pattern. That adzes of this pattern sometimes had stone blades is probable. No. 89840 [1317], is a clumsily made _commercial_ tool of this type, with a small head of greenish slate. It has an unusually straight haft, which is disproportionately long and thick.

All these adzes, ancient and modern, are hafted upon essentially the same pattern. The short curved haft, the shape of which is sufficiently well indicated by the figures, seems to have been generally made of whale’s rib or reindeer antler, both of which have a natural curve suited to the shape of the haft. A “branch” of a reindeer’s antler is particularly well suited for the haft of a small adze. Not only does it have naturally the proper dimensions and a suitable curve, but it is very easy, by cutting out a small segment of the “beam” where the “branch” starts from it, to make a flange of a convenient shape for fitting to the head. Antler is besides easily obtained, not only when the deer is killed for food, but by picking up shed antlers on the tundra, and is consequently employed for many purposes. The haft usually has a knob at the tip to keep the hand from slipping, and the grip is sometimes roughened with cross cuts or wound with thong. There are usually as many holes for the lashing as there are eyes in the head, though there are two holes when the head has only one large eye. On the bone heads, the surfaces to which the haft is applied and the channels for the lashings are roughened with cross cuts to prevent slipping. The lashing always follows the same general plan, though no two adzes are lashed exactly alike. The plan may be summarized as follows: One end of the thong makes a turn through one of the holes in the haft, and around or through the head. This turn is then secured, usually by passing the long end through a slit in the short end and hauling this loop taut, sometimes by knotting the short end to the long part, or by catching the short end down under the next turn. The long part then makes several turns round or through the head and through the haft, sometimes also crossing around the latter, and the whole is then finished off by wrapping the end two or three times around the turns on one side and tucking it neatly underneath. This is very like the method of lashing on the heads of the mauls already described, but the mauls have only one hole in the haft, and there are rarely any turns around the latter.

Jade adz blades, like those already described, have been brought by Mr. Nelson from Kotzebue Sound, the Diomedes, St. Michaels, etc., and one came from as far south as the Kuskoquim River.

_Chisels._--We collected a number of small short handled chisels, resembling the implements called “trinket makers,” of which there are so many in the National Museum. We never happened to see them in actual use, but were informed that they were especially designed for working on reindeer antler. Of the eight specimens collected No. 89302 [884], Fig. 143, has been selected as a type of the antler chisel (kĭ´ñnusa). The blade is of steel, and the haft is of reindeer antler, in two longitudinal sections, put together at right angles to the plane of the blade, held together by a stout round bone treenail 2½ inches from the butt. The square tip of the blade is beveled on both faces to a rough cutting edge. Fig. 144 (No. 89301) [1000] has a small blade with an oblique tip _not_ beveled to an edge, and a haft of walrus ivory yellowed from age, and ornamented with rows of rings, each with a dot in the center, all incised and colored with red ocher. The two parts of the haft are fastened together by a stout wooden treenail and a _stitch_ of whalebone.

The rest of the steel-bladed chisels, four in number, are all of about the same size and hafted with antler. The blades are somewhat irregular in shape, but all have square or oblique tips and no sharp edge. Three of them have the sections of the haft put together as described, and fastened by a treenail and a whipping of seal twine or sinew braid at the tip. One has the two sections put together in the plane of the blade and fastened with a large copper rivet, which also passes through the butt of the blade, and three stout iron ones. The hafts of all these tools show signs of much handling. The remaining two specimens have blades of black flint. No. 89637 [1207], has a haft of walrus ivory, of the usual pattern, fastened together by a bone treenail and two stitches, one of sinew braid and one of seal thong. The lashing of seal twine near the tip serves to mend a crack. The haft is old and rusty about the slot into which the blade is fitted, showing that it originally had an iron blade. The flint blade was probably put in to make it seem ancient, as there was a special demand for prehistoric articles. No. 89653 [1290], Fig. 145, is nothing but a fanciful tool made to meet this demand. The haft is of light-brown mountain sheep horn, and the blade of black flint. Such flint-bladed tools may have been used formerly, but there is no proof that they were.