NATIVE TRIBES. 31

beams to support roofs and walls. Long, wedge-shaped stones were selected for
adze-heads, then grooved on the upper side, after which the pick-shaped blade
was firmly lashed to a wooden handle by thongs of sinew, rawhide, or spruce root.
Basalt was in use on the Coast; but the tribes of the Interior had the advantage
of a jade-like stone. Well shaped and polished adzes with perfect edges were of
great value, and were handed down as heirlooms; their dimensions being as
varied as was their exact shape.

Chisels also differed widely in dimensions. Large stone chisels were used to
rough-down a surface after adzing, this being then smoothed by scraping with a
sharp-edged stone or mussel-shell. Others, designed for ornamental carving,
measured but an inch and a half in length and one-eighth of an inch in thickness.
But the types most in use all agreed in being narrower at the base than at the
cutting-edge, and having their blades firmly lashed into handles of stone, horn,
or wood. ‘The finest chisels, small and wedge-shaped, were made of jade.

Hammers showed a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and weights, according to
their object and whether for use by men or women. Some were pestle-shaped,
with a flat-striking surface at each end; others were pointed above and were
serviceable as weapons. In some cases the head of basalt was perforated, the
lashings of spruce root passing through the hole in the hammer-head and binding
it firmly to the handle.

Stone and bone scrapers were used to clean hides or to collect the cambium
layer from hemlock and spruce for use as food. ‘Triangular skin-scrapers
attached to long wooden handles are still found among the Thompson tribe.

Mortars and pestles of widely varying dimensions were carved from stone or
large bones. ‘The mortars frequently represented a frog, a fish, or a bird, and
were used to grind tobacco plugs for chewing or the ochreous earth used for
paints. When mixed with fish-oil these paints decorated the body; or combined
with chewed salmon-berries they coloured masks or other carvings.

A compact form of pestle was conveniently carried in the hand as a weapon
or missile when quarrels, brawls, or local feuds were in the air.

Paint-brushes, admirably adapted to their ends, with handles carved as
elaborately as some of the horn spoons, had bristles of hair or vegetable fibres,
and were constructed to admit of renewing these when necessary.

TOOLS USED BY WOMEN.

Knives of many kinds were required to split fish, roots, grasses, rushes, or
_ nettles for the many purposes these were used. Wooden “ digging sticks” were
needed to dig clams and the trailing roots of spruce and cedar trees; besides bark
choppers and beaters employed in the preparation of cedar bark for spinning.

IMPLEMENTS IN USE BY MEN.

The majority of implements were concerned with securing food. ‘Their
ingenuity, efficiency, and excellent design corresponded with that observed in
tools; and they were constructed from the same limited range of materials.

IMPLEMENTS EMPLOYED TO CATCH SEA MAMMALS AND FISH.

Sea-lions, seals, sea-otters, and porpoises were hunted with harpoons, very
similar to those used by the Nootka when hunting whales. Detachable barbed
heads were fastened to a long wooden shaft and attached also to a strong line,
to which one or more floats of seal-bladder were secured about midway in its
length. The canoes employed were specially constructed for the purpose,
smoothed with extra care, and frequently greased in order, for example, noise-
lessly to approach a sleeping seal.