TOMAHAWK (a native

See also:

• AMERICAN

American word, probably from the Algonquian verb otomahuk, to knock down)  , the war-hatchet of the North American Indians . The earliest tomahawks were of chipped stone, usually sharpened to a point at each end some-thing like a pickaxe, and passed through a hole bored in a stout wooden cudgel . In the more primitive types the stone head was simply tied to the handle by animal sinews, or a withe was doubled. over the head and fastened below to form a handgrip . Sometimes deer antlers were used instead of stones . After the arrival of the white man the heads were usually of iron . Where the stone head was sharpened only at one end the blunt end was sometimes cut out into a pipe-bowl, the handle, hollowed, serving as the stem . The weapon was at once symbolical of war and peace, and was ceremoniously buried at the termination of hostilities, to be as formally exhumed when the feuds revived .