usual manner of savage nations, charred the stem of the tree at the root and the summit only, and then hollowed it out by means of fire till it acquired its equilibrium on the water.
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To this use the instruments which have been termed hollow chisels, (1) were most probably destined. These like the hatchets are formed of flint, and only differ from them in the fact of their edges being always ground hollow in a very careful manner. Among the implements of this age we must also reckon some small long four-cornered pieces of stone (2) which have been named narrow chisels. They are always formed of flint, are from three to eleven inches long, have a sharp edge, and appear to have been fastened by moistened thongs to wooden handles, as in figure (3), which is a drawing of a similar implement from the South Sea. The knives, both those used for domestic purposes and those employed in works of labour, are of flint, two edged and with a broad blade, and frequently have handles hollowed out of the stone itself.
Not unfrequently these handles are adorned with regular ornaments; at other times, they are less carefully formed, as if they had been destined to be enveloped or inserted in wood. These knives are usually from three to twelve inches in length. They are scarcely ever polished,
