flake had some notches near it, the fastenings remained more firm and the point was less likely to become detached from the shaft. He therefore began, by pecking and flaking, to form such notches where he did not find them to suit him, and soon his spear and javelin heads assumed a conventional form. There was a slow but continuous improvement in the weapons of the period, but eventually these spear and knive heads became much like those still found upon the village sites of primitive man all over the world. The worst trouble Longhead had to overcome in the manufacture of weapons was the method of fastening the points to the shafts or handles. The small fibrous roots he used at first would fray and break when they became dry, and the points would be lost or fail the hunter at a critical moment. The stringy bark he cut from trees with his knife was little better, but, one day when cutting up a large animal for cooking, he found its hide so tough he could hardly penetrate it with the knife, an idea occurred to him, and he cut off a long narrow strip of the skin for an experiment. This he hung up until he should have time to make the test he had in mind, and when he came to try it he found that he could not break it even by exerting all his strength. From the skin of the next animal that came into his larder, he secured a number of long strips, and, having dried these, he wet them to make them more pliable, and used some of them in lashing a point to a javelin. This weapon he tested by frequent use, and was pleased to note that the new lashing did not fray or break when it became dry, nor did it loosen, but, on the contrary, the strings of rawhide shrank when drying and held the point the tighter. Thereafter the tough hides were removed, dried and prepared for strings for this and other purposes, and it was not long until he accidentally discovered that wet wood ashes placed on a skin for a few hours would loosen the hair and permit its removal, leaving the skin improved for making strings.