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 example of this in the National Museum has a leaf-shape, chipped blade, one end of which is wrapped with a long strip of otter fur to serve as a handle.

Departing from this starting point, it is easy to trace the edged weapon through the knife, the American form of the pattu pattu or stone swords, the style common among the Sioux and in Mexico of inserting blades into a club.

The macana, described by Hawkins, in 1593, as "a sword of heavy black wood some four fingers broad, an inch thick, and an ell long, something broader at the top than at the handle," has wide distribution in South America. The edged or cutting arrow, common in various parts of the eastern hemisphere, is not known to have existed in America.

The fifth method of taking animals is with some piercing device. These devices are far more numerous than those employed in all the other methods, and have been subject to the widest differentiations of form and complexity of development. A full discussion of those on the American continent would far transcend the limits of this paper.

Piercing devices begin with a thorn or sharpened bone held in the hand. When the point has a short handle, it is a dagger; when it has a long handle, it is a lance; if the point is barbed for retrieving, it becomes a spear; when shot from a bow, it is an arrow; when hurled from the hand or throwing-stick, it is a dart; when it has a detachable point, it is a harpoon, and these may be either barbed harpoons or toggle harpoons. Above these simple forms there are many that involve two or more of the processes named. A great many of them serve the double purpose of piercing and retrieving. (See plate .)

The lance was used anciently for stabbing, and it could be withdrawn; it exists with a point or blade of chipped stone, bone,