Page 85
An.1683
A Moskito Indian left here.
flint, and a piece of the barrel of his Gun, which he hardened ; having learnt to do that among the Englifh. The hot pieces of Iron he would hammer out and bend as he pleafed with Stones, and faw them with his jagged Knife, or grind them to an edge by long labour, and harden them to a good temper, as there was occafion. All this may feem ftrange to thofe that are not acquainted with the fagacity of the Indians ; but it is no more than thefe Moskito men are accuftomed to in their own Coun- try, where they make their own Fifhing and Strik- ing Inftruments, without either Forge or Anvil ; tho they fpend a great deal of time about them.
Other Wild Indians who have not the ufe of Iron, which the Moskito men have from the Englifh, make Hatchets of a very hard ftone, with which they will cut down Trees, (the Cotton Tree efpecially, which is a foft tender Wood) to build their Houfes or make Canoas ; and though in working their Ca- noas hollow, they cannot dig them fo neat and thin, yet they will make them fit for their fervice. This their digging or hatchet-work they help out by fire ; whether for the felling of the Trees, or for the making the infide of their Canoa hollow. Thefe contrivances are ufed particularly by the Savage In- dians of Blewfields River, defcribed in the 3d Chap- ter, whofe Canoas and Stone-hatchets I have feen. Thefe Stone-hatchets are about 10 inches long, 4 broad, and 3 inches thick in the middle. They are grownd away flat and fharp at both ends: right in the midft, and clear round it they make a notch, fo wide and deep that a man might place his Fin- ger along it, and taking a ftick or withe about 4 foot long, they bind it round the Hatchet-head, in that notch, and fo twifting it hard, ufe it as an handle or helve ; the head being held by it very faft. Nor are other Wild Indians lefs ingenious. Thofe of Patagonia, particularly, head their Arrows with