5th. February Tuesday 1805.
—
Pleasent morning wind from N.W. fair; visited by many
of the natives who brought a considerable quanty of corn in
payment
for the work which the blacksmith had done for
them they are pecu[1]arly
attatched to a battle ax formed in
a very
inconvenient manner in my opinion. it is fabricated
of iron only, the
blade is extreemly thin, from 7 to nine
inches in length and from 4
¾, to 6 Inches on it's edge, from
whence the sides proceed nearly
in a straight line to the eye
where it's width is generally not more than
an inch. the eye
is round & about one inch in diameter, the handle
seldom
more than fourteen inches in length, the whole weighing about
one pound the great length of the blade of this ax, added to
the
small size of the handle renders a stroke uncertain and
easily avoided, while the shortness of the handel must
render a
blow much less forceable if even well directed, and still more
inconvenient as they uniformly use this instrument in action
on
horseback. The oalder fassion is still more inconvenient,
it is somewhat
in the form of the blade of an Espantoon
[19]
but is
attatch
d. to a helve of the dementions before discribed
the blade is sometimes by way of ornament purforated
with two three or more small circular
holes the following is the general figure it is
from 12 to 15 inces
in length
