5
of convenient size. The operator sits down usually on a
box or a rough block of wood; upon his left leg, above
the knee, is tied a thick pad, upon which he lifts one of the
great masses of flint, and, with a quartering-hammer,
consisting of a heavy iron head and short handle, he breaks
up the hardest flint as easily as if it was so much
chocolate.
Now there is a reason for this, which is one of the
greatest importance as showing how pre-historic man must
have gone to work. If the flint be placed on the ground
and broken with a hammer, it would not only be an
exceedingly difficult operation, but, when broken, it would
have a rough, splintery fracture in all directions, rendering
the. flint useless for anything. But, by adopting the former
method, an elastic rebounding blow is obtained, which not
only breaks the flint with the greatest ease, but it does it
in exactly the spot the operator wishes, and with a clean,
even fracture. One may sometimes see, at country fairs,
men who make a show of strength by breaking stones with
their fist. The "knack" followed by them is practically
the same as that which enables the gun-flint maker to
break up his flint, and it was also known to pre-historic
man in the making of his flint implements.
When a sufficient quantity of flint has been "quartered,"
the operator replaces the thick pad on his leg by a piece
of leather, and taking up one of the pieces of flint, places
it thereon, and proceeds to flake it up by means of another
hammer somewhat similar in shape to a quartering-hammer,
but smaller, the head being only about three inches long.
The mode of proceedure is as follows: the piece of flint
is held firmly on the leg by the left hand, a smooth surface
being presented to the hammer, and the worst or most
useless part of the flint being used to hold it by, so as not
to waste any good material. The hammer is now used to
crush off any crust or useless rough edges, and when this
is done, a slight tap of the hammer about a quarter of an
inch from the edge of the flint strikes off a curious,
knife-shaped piece of flint, whose length is equal to the
thickness of the lump operated upon. The point where