wood. The hatchet was originally fixed to a wooden handle, but since wood, as is well known, is decomposed by lying in the ground, no such handle has hitherto been discovered in Denmark[1].
We have, however, good grounds for supposing that the hatchet was provided with a handle, in the same manner as similar stone hatchets which are used by savage nations now existing. It was fastened either to a straight or to a crooked handle. The crooked handle was partly divided, as is seen in the hatchet figured here, which is from an island in the South Sea, so that the stone was placed in the opening, and there fastened, either with the fibres of plants or the intestines of animals. By this means this advantage was gained, that the longer the hatchet was used the stronger the stone was imbedded in its position. In some cases the handle was furnished with an incision or notch, so that by binding the upper part of the hatchet to the wood in such a manner that the neck rested against the incision, as here, (a at 1,) the inconvenience of the hatchet slipping from its fastenings, and so falling out, was avoided. The handle was often split, but it being difficult to hold the axe firmly in such a handle, we see (at 2) that the savage people who still use such handles often cover the stone with pitch, and compress the handle round it by means of thongs and ties.
In this, or at least in some similar manner, in all probabi-
- ↑ Though no such handle has been found in Denmark, a specimen was discovered some years since near Cookstown in the county of Tyrone, and was, when seen by Mr. Du Noyer, who has described it in his Paper on the Classification of Celts, (Archæological Journal, vol. iv. p. 3,) in the possession of Colonel Stewart of Killymoon.—T.
