"
"But what did you do?" asked both children at once.
"Everything, from knocking out the crude flakes with a stone hammer to
shaping points with a fire-hardened tip of deer's horn. The ridge was
miles long and free to any one who chose to work it, but most people
preferred to buy the finished points and blades. There was a good trade,
too, in turtle-backs." The Tallega poked about in the loose earth at the
top of the mound and brought up a round, flattish flint about the size
of a man's hand, that showed disk-shaped flakings arranged like the
marking of a turtle-shell. "They were kept workable by being buried in
the earth, and made into knives or razors or whatever was needed," he
explained.
"That summer we had a tremendous trade in broad arrow-points, such as
are used for war or big game. We sold to all the towns along the north
from Maumee to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, and we sold to the
Lenni-Lenape. They would appear suddenly on the trails with bundles of
furs or copper, of which they had a great quantity, and when they were
satisfied with what was offered for it, they would melt into the woods
again like quail.
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