THE THOMPSON INDIANS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. TEIT, JAMES MEMOIRS, 2, 1900

« For skinning beaver and other animals, a bone skinning tool was used. Of the four specimens in the Speck collection, one, collected in the Kiskisink settlement, is made from a transversally cut bear's leg bone beveled at the working edge (fig. 4i). The other three are moose leg bones, two of which are cut transversally and have beveled, serrated working edges (fig. 4h); the third also has a beveled edge but is not cut (fig. 4g). Although these particular specimens are undecorated, Speck (1930, p. 449; 1935, pp. 216-217) notes that similar implements had ceremonial associations and were thus sometimes carved or perforated according to motifs received in dreams. Game and fur-bearing animals were believed to derive satisfaction from having their pelts removed with leg bone skinning tools (Speck, 1935, pp. 216-217). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.8, fig 4h, i et g (p.32)

THE THOMPSON INDIANS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. TEIT, JAMES MEMOIRS, 2, 1900