of bark, and in his figure shows the two ends of the stick more firmly bound together.
Another example has been engraved by the Rev. J. G. Wood.[1] This mode is very similar to that in common use among blacksmiths
Fig. 105.—Axe—Northern Australia.
for their chisels and swages, which are held by means of a withy twisted round them, and secured in its place by a ring.
It seems extremely probable that so simple a method may have been in use in early times in this country, though we have no direct evidence as to the fact. A "fancy sketch" of a celt in a withy handle will be found in the Archæologia.[2] It resembles in a singular manner the actual implements employed by the Ojibway Indians,[3] of which there is a specimen in the Christy Collection, engraved by the Rev. J. G. Wood.[4] Some of the other North American tribes[5] mounted their hatchets in much the same manner. A hatchet thus hafted is engraved by Schoolcraft.[6]
In some instances a groove of greater or less depth has been worked round the axes mounted in this manner, though undoubtedly British examples are scarce. An axe-hammer of diorite (13 inches), found near Newburgh,[7] Aberdeenshire, has a groove round it instead of the usual haft-hole. The blade engraved in the Archæological Journal[8] and found near Coldstream, Northumberland, is probably of Carib origin, like others which have also been supposed to have been British. Another from the Liverpool
- ↑ "Nat. Hist, of Man," vol. ii. p. 32. Conf. Worsaae, "Dänemark's Vorz.," p. 10.
- ↑ Vol. xxxi. p. 452.
- ↑ see Jones's "Hist. of Ojibway Indians."
- ↑ "Nat. Hist. of Man," vol. ii. p. 652. Conf. Catlin, "N. A. Ind.," vol. i. pl. xcix. f.
- ↑ Col. A. Lane-Fox, "Prim. Warf.," part ii. p. 17.
- ↑ "Ind. Tribes," vol. i. pl. xv. 1, p. 285.
- ↑ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxvii. p. 49.
- ↑ Vol. xxiv. p. 80.
