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Those people had only five or six hatchets, which had no edge, and they used these, by turns, for cutting their wood; they had hardly one knife or one bodkin to a cabin, and cut their meat with the stones214 which they used for arrows; and they scaled their fish with mussel-shells. Want rendered them so hideous that they aroused compassion. Although their bodies were large, they seemed deformed in shape; they had very disagreeable faces, brutish voices, and evil aspects.   They were
214 "Primitive men doubtless first used stones in their natural form for throwing, striking, and abrading; but, as use continued, a certain amount of adventitious shaping of the stones employed necessarily took place, and this probably suggested and led to intentional shaping. Men early learned to fracture brittle stones to obtain cutting, scraping, and perforating implements; and flaking, pecking, cutting, scraping, and grinding processes served later to modify shapes and to increase the convenience, effectiveness, and beauty of implements. Much has been learned of the course of progress in the stone-shaping arts from the prehistoric remains of Europe; and studies of the work of the native American tribes, past and present, are supplying data for a much more complete understanding of this important branch of primitive activity." At the time of the discovery, "the Americans north of Mexico were still well within the stone stage of culture. Metal had come somewhat into use, but in no part of the country had it in a very full measure taken the place of stone. According to the most approved views regarding Old World culture history the metal age was not definitely ushered in until bronze and iron came into common use, not only as shaping implements but as shaped product." The tribes of middle America had with stone implements constructed handsome buildings and excellent sculptures, but north of Mexico only the Pueblo group had made intelligent and extensive use of stone in building, except for the limited use made of it by the mound-builders, the Eskimo and some others; sculpture, however, was employed by many other tribes on objects used for purposes of utility, adornment, and religion. A great variety of stones were utilized by the primitive workers, including several semi-precious kinds. "The processes employed in shaping these materials by the American tribes, and for that matter, by the whole primitive world, are: (1) fracturing processes, variously known as breaking, spalling, chipping, flaking; (2) crumbling processes, as battering, pecking; (3) incising or cutting processes; (4) abrading processes, as sawing, drilling, scraping, and grinding; and (5) polishing processes. . . The knowledge acquired in recent years through experiments in stone-shaping processes has led unfortunately to the manufacture of fraudulent imitations of aboriginal implements and sculptures for commercial purposes, and so great is the skill acquired in some cases that it is extremely difficult to detect the spurious work; thus there is much risk in purchasing objects whose pedigree is not fully ascertained." — W. H. Holmes, in Handbook Amer. Indians.