What way can you use a spear besides thrusting it with one or both
hands?
What changes do you think the Cave-men made in their spearheads
when they began to throw spears? What changes do you think they
made in the shafts?
How do you think the Cave-men made straight shafts for their
spears? What do we do with wood when we wish to bend it?
_Why the Cave-men made Changes in their Weapons_
[Illustration: _A stone knife._]
While the Cave-men were resting from the hunt, they did a great many
things. They practiced running; they hunted for stuff to make new
weapons; they worked upon their weapons and trophies; they learned new
hunting dances. No matter what they did, they always asked their gods
to help.
[Illustration: _A laurel leaf._]
[Illustration: _Laurel leaf-shaped spear point._]
All the later Cave-men learned to make light spears and javelins. The
clumsy spear which served Strongarm so well was not what Scarface
needed. But in the days of the early Cave-men the heavy spear was a
good weapon. Strongarm cared as much for his spear as you do for your
dog. It was like a friend in time of need. Few animals could withstand
Strongarm's blow when he grasped his spear in one or both hands and
lunged forward with all his might. His spear was a powerful weapon.
But Strongarm lived in the age of combat when people fought animals at
close range.
The later Cave-men did not make light spears and javelins all at once.
They began by throwing heavy spears. Chew-chew could tell of many a
hunter who lost his life throwing a spear. Sometimes it was because
the spear was too heavy to throw with enough force. Sometimes it was
because the shaft was crooked and the spear did not go to the right
spot.
When the Cave-men practiced throwing, they did not stand still and
throw. They took aim and threw as they ran. That was the kind of
practice they needed for the real chase.
The mark, too, was a moving mark. It was made of a bundle of branches,
or an old skin stuffed with leaves. While one man dragged it by a long
cord, the others ran after it, throwing their spears.
A Cave-man could wound an animal with a spear, but he could not give a
deadly blow. There was always danger of the wounded animal turning
upon the hunter. A skilled hunter with a good spear ran little risk in
throwing it. But not all the Cave-men had enough skill. Not all of the
Cave-men made good enough weapons to be thrown with a sure aim.
And so the Cave-men learned new ways of making and using spears.
Perhaps they did not want to do it. But they had to do it or die. So
you see why the men and boys spent most of their time in learning to
follow the chase. Even the women and girls learned to hunt and to
make all sorts of weapons.
Long before Scarface lived the Cave-men began to make lighter spears.
The straighter they made the shaft, the easier it was to hit the mark.
And so the Cave-men began to vie with one another in making the
straightest and smoothest shafts.
[Illustration: _A stone scraper._]
When they cut the sticks for the shafts the Cave-men made gifts to the
wood-gods, and asked for the straightest and toughest branches that
grew on the trees. Then they cut the branches carefully and carried
them home to the cave. There they peeled them from butt to tip and
smoothed them with stone scrapers. Sometimes they rubbed them with fat
and laid them away to dry. It was hard work to make a crooked stick
straight. But the Cave-men tried many ways and at last they learned to
make as beautiful shafts as ever have been made.
When the Cave-men pulled the shaft back and forth on the sandstone,
they made deep grooves in it. We have found pieces of grooved
sandstone that the later Cave-men used. Sometimes they would clamp a
crooked stick between a grooved piece of sandstone and a flat bone.
Then they would pull and twist, and pull and twist, and pull and twist
that stick back and forth until the crooked place was made straight.
[Illustration: _A shaft-straightener._]
When Scarface was very old he made a shaft-straightener of a piece of
reindeer horn. He carved the head of the reindeer upon it, and made a
hole for the shaft. Then he thrust the crooked stick through the hole
and turned the shaft-straightener round and round as we turn a wrench,
until he straightened the shaft.
#THINGS TO DO#
_See if you can find a good branch for a shaft. If you have a right
to cut the branch, see if you can make it into a shaft._
_Find a stone which you can use for a scraper. What else can you use
as a scraper?_
_If you do not care to make a shaft, make something else out of the
stick which you straighten._
_Name the things which you have at home or at school made of wood._
_Make a collection of the different kinds of wood which you know._
_Which of these are soft wood? What do we use soft wood for? Which
are hard? What do we use hard wood for?_