The right hand : $b Left-handednessWilson, Daniel, Sir
History
The right hand : $b Left-handedness
Wilson, Daniel, Sir
Left- and right-handedness
The artificer was Consolulu, the aged chief of the Wintoon Indians. His
implements consisted of a deer-horn prong split lengthwise, four inches
long and half an inch thick, with the semicircular end at right angles;
two deer-horn prongs, one smaller than the other, with the ends ground
down nearly to the shape of a square sharp-pointed file; and a piece
of well-tanned buckskin, thick, soft, and pliable. Laying, as we are
told, a lump of obsidian, about a pound in weight, in the palm of the
left hand, he placed between the first and second fingers of the same
hand the semi-cylindrical deer-horn implement, so that the straight
side of one of the ends rested about a quarter of an inch from the edge
of the block of obsidian. With a small water-worn stone in his right
hand, he struck the other end of the prong, and a flake of obsidian
was severed, well adapted for the arrow-head. On the buckskin, in the
palm of his left hand, he laid the obsidian flake, which he held in
place by the first three fingers of that hand, and then took such a
position on the ground that the left elbow could rest on the left knee
and obtain a firm support. Holding in his right hand the larger of
the two pointed prongs, and resting his thumb on the side of his left
hand to serve as a fulcrum, he brought the point of the prong about
one-eighth of an inch within the edge of the flake; and then, exerting
a firm downward pressure, fragment after fragment was broken off until
the edge of the arrow was made straight. As all the chips came off the
lower edge, the cutting edge was not yet in the centre of the side. But
the Wintoon arrow-maker rubbed the side of the prong repeatedly over
the sharp edge, turned over the flake, and, resuming the chipping as
before, brought the cutting edge to the centre. In a similar manner,
the other side and the concave base of the arrow-head were finished.
The formation of indentations in the sides near the base for the
retention of the tendons to bind the arrow-head securely to the shaft,
apparently the most difficult process, was in reality the easiest. The
point of the arrow-head was held between the thumb and finger of the
left hand, while the base rested on the buckskin cushion in the palm.
The point of the smaller deer-horn prong, not exceeding one-sixteenth
of an inch square, was brought to bear on the part of the side where
the Indian arrow-maker considered the notch should be. A sawing motion
made the chips fly to right and left, and in less than a minute it
was cut to the necessary depth. The other side was then completed in
like manner. The entire process was accomplished, and the arrow-head
finished, in about forty minutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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