308 GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES IN THE
have
been made by a number of our modern archaeologists, and a series is now
in the United States National Museum. The process consists, first, in
chipping off a thick, suitable flake, then pressing against one of the
sides a bone object (nothing better than the handle of a tooth-brush)
until a small nick is made in the side. Each pressure makes a nick, and
the flake is constantly reversed so that the nicks are alike on both
sides. With a little practise, any one can make a fairly good
arrow-point. Dr. F. Capitan, of Paris, exhibited in the liberal arts
section of the World's Fair held in Paris during 1889, in connection
with a collection of flint cores, flakes, and fragments illustrating
the manipulation of the material in the palaeolithic age, models of two
wax hands, the left holding a hammer stone, the right the flint core
(see Fig. 20), thus giving a graphic illustration of the manner in
which the flints were chipped.
The
Oregon arrow-points are examples of the highest degree in stone
chipping attained by savages, and they often afford gem material so
that the demand for them as articles of jewelry is not surprising. They
are not now made by Oregon Indians and are only sparingly found. They
may be picked up in certain districts, after a heavy freshet. Large
quantities were formerly found in Oregon City ; one dealer there is
said to have sold 40,000 during the past ten years and fully 50,000
have been found there in that time, which were sold for at least
$6,000. Originally their price was from five to fifty cents each, but
the present scarcity has increased it to $1, or $5 for exceptionally
fine ones, which are usually made of rock crystal; flesh-colored, red,
yellow-brown, or mottled jasper; obsidian; variously colored
chalcedony; or agat-ized wood. They are sold principally in the East,
as scarcely any are used in Oregon for jewelry. Many thousands are in
the collections of Prof. Othniel C. Marsh of Yale College, New Haven,
and of James Terry at the American Museum of Natural History in New
York City, and they can be seen in all of our better collections. In
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, beautiful arrow-points of
pellucid rock crystal or transparent and smoky quartz are occasionally
found. Some of these are two inches long. A beautiful rock-crystal
knife, which was found at Wind River, Ariz., was exhibited at the
World's Fair held in
