Chapter VI

_Other natural Spoons—Debris of Animals—Horns—Ancient uses of
them—Horn Spoons—The Earth given to Mechanics—Indian
Spoons—Laplanders—Custom at Highland
Christenings—Horners—Proverbs—Ivory—Wood, and its importance to
Man—Wooden Spoons—Invention scarcely a human attribute—Wooden Spoons
from Africa and Oceanica—American Indian Spoon._

Another class of natural spoons was, and still is, derived from the animal kingdom; from _horns_ of goats, sheep, the bison, buffalo, ox, &c. Animals are the oldest occupants of this planet, and man the youngest. Their previous existence through countless ages was necessary to prepare the earth for his reception; to impart to it a suitable soil for the growth of grain and every kind of vegetable food—to put it into a condition, that when he appeared, he might become “a tiller of the ground.” Having done this, unknown multitudes retired forever from the scene: probably the changed condition of the earth was no longer fitted for their continuance.

Bones, horns, and other organic debris must have been exceedingly numerous at the birth of our species. Scattered on mountains, strewed over prairies and forests, they were met with every where, for ere man appeared they lay unmolested till dissolved by the elements. At first, they would be viewed as mementos of death—curious relics of beings which had careered in life, and had laid down and died. Strange must have been the remarks made on them, singular the reflections they suggested. But when time and familiarity with them overcame a natural repugnance to handle such relics of mortality, the properties of buffalo and other horns would become obvious, and eventually implements and utensils be formed of them. The ancients had altars built wholly of horns, and Plutarch (in Theseus) mentions one formed of “_left-sided_ horns.”

Horns were the first trumpets: perhaps the first musical instruments, of which some are still named after them, as the French-horn, bugle-horn, &c. Primeval cups were natural horns. The Greeks, Romans, Celts, and all the people of antiquity drank out of such. To ‘take a horn’ was, and still is, an expression equivalent to quenching the thirst. Tumblers and other drinking vessels are yet occasionally called horns. Bows were anciently made of horn, and archers wore ferules of the same material on their thumbs. Ink-_horns_ have been used since writing was practiced, while combs, pins, needles, lanterns, knife-hafts, and spoons, &c., have been formed of the substance since such things were invented. As with other materials, its adaptation for one purpose quickly suggested its appropriation to another.

Little art was required to cut or carve spoons out of horn. The substance is soft, and by holding it to the fire, or immersing it in warm water becomes more so, and susceptible of being bent into any position or receiving any impression. From its plastic properties, it was well calculated for man to practice on in the beginning of his apprenticeship to the arts. The lessons he learned by it prepared him to undertake less pliant materials, as bone, ivory, wood, metals, &c. Every advantage gained from one acted as a stimulus to proceed to others. In this way the useful professions began and progressed till they became what they are at this day.

Horn spoons are small matters, but their material was the first animal substance employed in the fabrication of implements, and they themselves were among the first things made of it. When it is remembered that man’s existence and improvement through all time was to depend on the development of his character as a mechanic; that this was to be his distinguishing attribute, one in which he approaches the nearest to the Creator—for what are the useful and ornamental arts but sources of physical and mental refinement, and what the universe but tangible, beneficent mechanism—it certainly is not useless to recur to those early lessons which contributed to form that character.

If the earth was given into the charge of one class of men more than others, it was to intelligent artisans—a term including farmers—they support all. Without them no other class could exist, and nature would resume the phase she wore before our species came. If our first parents were located, as generally imagined, at a distance from the sea, horn spoons were probably in use before those made of shells. Dispersed over the earth wherever animals roamed, horns were always at hand, and no doubt were often used in their natural forms, as exhibited in _Figures 1, 2, 3, Plate I_, or with slight alterations. The _Figures_ marked _4_ and _5_ are American Indian spoons, in the Philadelphia Museum. They are made of buffalo horns, but present nothing remarkable. The first is plain and about seven inches long. The other is much the same in size; the end of the handle being the natural termination of the horn, which was probably that of a cow or calf. The horns of the buffalo cow are much smaller than those of the bull. The bowls of both implements are shallow. Northern Indians have spoons, which hold several quarts, obtained from the animal named _Gros Corne_, or “Big Horn.” In travelling they scoop up water with them to quench their own thirst and that of their dogs, which drag their sledges or carry their packs. Pliny (xi. 37,) mentions barbarians of the north drinking out of buffalo horns which contained several gallons, and were probably used as with our Indians, for buckets, scoops and spoons.

The natives of Nootka Sound prepare a species of broth by putting flesh of the dolphin in a square wooden trough containing water. Heated stones are then thrown in, by means of cleft sticks, till the meat be sufficiently stewed. They sup the broth “with a large spoon or scoop, made of horn.” [_Cook’s Voyages._] The Greenlanders boil meat in wooden dishes of fir wood, and “drink the soup or eat it with spoons made of horn or wood.” In the regions of Behring’s Straits flesh is stewed in cylindrical caldrons, formed of the rind of the birch, the only tree that withstands the rigor of arctic winters. The liquid is heated by stones, and the decoction supped with “large horn spoons.”

Laplanders carry a little bag hanging over the breast. Divided into two compartments, it contains in one tobacco and a pipe, a tinder-box and a spoon in the other. Some of the rich possess two or three pewter dishes and a few silver spoons, but the general household furniture consists of a brass or copper kettle, often a stone one, wooden bowls of birch wood, a basket, “and horn spoons.” Infants are fed with milk through a small opening made in the end of a horn. The flesh of the rein-deer is the principal food, and generally boiled: it is previously cut into small pieces, which, when eaten, are dipped into liquid fat and “washed down by a ladleful of broth taken occasionally during the repast.”

An old account of the Scotch Highlanders states that when a child was christened, it was put in a basket along with bread and cheese, and handed across the fire or suspended on the pot-hook or trammel! Immediately afterwards a dish of “crowdie” (a mixture of oatmeal and hot water) was handed round, and each person present “took three horn spoonfuls.” This was designed to counteract the power of evil spirits and witches! The custom of passing the child over a fire is analogous to one common in China. When a bride first reaches the residence of her husband, she is lifted by matrons over a brazier of charcoal. Horn spoons were considered in old times as “the meetest instruments to eat furmenty and porage withall.” [_Nichol’s Progresses of Elizabeth._]

The working of horn is one of the old professions descended to us through the Romans. Pliny enumerates a variety of uses to which the material was put in his time; one was inlaid work, for which purpose it was stained with different colors. It was also, he says, much used for lanterns, being “cut into thin plates:” (xi. 37.) In the early acts passed by the English Parliament for the protection of trades and handicrafts, ‘horners’ are often mentioned. At their solicitation the importation of ‘horns for lanthorns’ was expressly forbidden by an act of Rich. II. A.D. 1480. Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, speaks of the exportation of horns being prohibited for the benefit of two insignificant trades—that of the _horner_ and comb-maker.

_Plate 4_ _Middle Ages_

_Lith. of E. Jones 128 Fulton S^t. N.Y._
]

The antiquity of proverbs goes back to the infancy of our race. One of the oldest extant, though only occasionally now met with, may here be mentioned, as it shows how common horn spoons at one time were. ‘_To make a spoon or spoil a horn_’ was an ancient mode of expressing a determination to accomplish an object at whatever risk or however thwarted. The incident on which it is based must have been constantly occurring in primitive times, and to some extent it occurs in all times. In attempting to make a spoon, the horn was often frittered away by bunglers, until sufficient material was not left for the smallest object. A farmer selected a log of timber to make a gate, but he sawed, chopped, and planed, until what barely sufficed for a rail was left—hence the saying, ‘To spoil a tree or make a rail.’ Spaniards have the idea in another form: they say, in shaping the skirts of a gown, the material was cut down to a sleeve—cloth for a coat to a cuff. The Romans took the maxim from a potter, who, undertaking to make an enormous jar, turned out a small saucer.

The leisure incident to rural and pastoral life elicited the art of carving—one of the earliest of human arts, and what can be said of few, one that has been practiced in considerable perfection by most savages. It necessarily developed the peculiar properties of solid materials, and in so doing, must have originated many inventions. It is the most prominent mechanical profession mentioned in the Old Testament, and was carried to a wonderful extent by people of old. After horn, _bone_ and _ivory_ were used for personal ornaments and useful implements in the first ages; for pins, knives, spoons, and a hundred other matters.

Ivory formed a large item in the commerce of Tyre. (Ezek. xxvii.) Solomon imported it from India. We read in both sacred and profane authors of beds, thrones, and even houses built of it. It seems to have been as much used for _spoons_ as it is at this day. Some ancient Egyptian ones will be shortly noticed. The famous Curule chairs were

Wrought from those valued tusks Syene lends,
Which the swart Moor, or swarthier Indian sends
From Nabath’s forest, where the unwieldly beast
Drops his huge burden of its weight released.
[_Juvenal_, xi. _Sat._—_Badham._]

A material difference in the properties of horn and ivory must quickly have been seen by the patriarchs of the arts. The former softened by heat, retains when cold, impressions stamped on it; but the latter and bone must be carved in detail. Spoons formed of marine shells are not used by all people, but those of bone, ivory, or horn, are everywhere met with.

How beneficial to men have the horns, &c., of quadrupeds been. More durable than the rest of their bodies, and possessing peculiar properties, they would seem to have been ordained as a material for useful manufactures. We forget half the obligations we owe the lower tribes, when we forget the numberless uses to which their skins, hair, bones, &c., are put.

Another substance of primitive spoons was _wood_.

The earth, as one of Nature’s workshops, is stored with every kind of stock its occupants can require. It is the same throughout the Universe; for all physical beings are artisans, and every orb an _atelier_ in which they are at work. The proprietor of these wonderful establishments employs, we may presume, in each a distinct order of intelligent laborers, and supplies them with materials adapted to their capacities and wants. Compared with the magnitude of others, this globe is one of the Creator’s minor establishments, and we, in whose charge it is placed, may be among the least intellectual and skillful of his artificers. When first man took possession, the development of his energies, and the direction given them depended upon the natural productions around him. These necessarily arrested his attention, excited his curiosity, and became identified with his existence, his habits, thoughts and pursuits.

Of terrene substances, none has exercised a greater influence over human destiny than _wood_. None is more indispensable—hence we find it diffused over all lands. Its consumption is enormously large, and as an indication that it was designed to be so, provision is made, in the reproductive powers of plants and trees, to secure a supply for all generations. Without wood, man had probably never used fire, nor known what artificial light and heat meant. He would have been a troglodyte. The metals had not been worked: for want of fuel ores had not been reduced. Wood is the basis of the arts, savage or refined. It is the key which first unlocked the agricultural and mineral treasures stored away in the vaults of this terrestrial factory. No substance is more extensively used, and few, if any, possess so rich a variety of qualities, or have been applied to such a multitude of purposes. Essential in the construction of the palace as the hut; the primitive bridge as well as ship or canoe; the great agent of domestic conveniences to rich and poor; it constitutes the elaborate furniture of the one and the homeliest utensil of the other—_the spoon_.

Unlike those made of vegetable, of horn, or marine shells, every feature of wooden spoons is brought out by art. Still they can hardly be deemed a human _invention_, since they are but imitations (in another material) of natural types. Indeed, so far as relates to _figure_ man has little claim to originality—it is not in his power to produce a purely new form—all that he has done or can do is to copy, modify, combine and apply those which nature has given. Every artificial object, no matter how irregular or uniform its contour, is a proof of this—the stately column or elaborate capital, an ordinary goblet, a pipkin, a pyramid, or a spoon.

As regards natural utensils, little mental effort was required to determine or extend their application. Their fitness for certain purposes—as shells for cups, scoops, and spoons; gourds for buckets, bottles, vases, ladles, caldrons, &c.—was so obvious that they were adopted at once; and when artificial ones were introduced, they only so far deviated in figure and dimensions as change of circumstances suggested. All our vessels of capacity retain a resemblance to their originals—art may disguise the likeness, but cannot obliterate it. Invention in its strictest sense is applicable only to God—with man it merely signifies imitation and combination—all his works are reducible to these, and he can never exhaust them.

We have no accounts of wooden spoons in very remote times. History descends not to such things, and no important fact is recorded with which they were associated. But what could history have told us about them which we do not know? We are sure they bore a general resemblance to those now made, were applied to the same uses, and fabricated, chiefly, by the same class of men. Specimens of Egyptian and Roman ones are extant, but before referring to them we shall notice a few produced by modern barbarians, to serve as samples of those made by uncivilized man in the first ages. In mechanical devices, in tools, modes of operating, taste for, and style of ornament, the untutored child of nature is ever the same.

_Figures 6_ and _7_, _Plate I_, are African wooden spoons. The first is from _Tome V._ page 188, of _Histoire Générale des Voyages, Hague, 1748_. It is represented along with jewelry, furniture, pots, knives, &c. made by negroes on the western coast of Africa.

_Figures 8_ and _9_ are from the Fejee Islands, They are made of a light wood resembling beech, and are as neatly finished as the ordinary wooden spoon of civilized countries. The bowls are nearly circular and 2½ inches over—the handles 6½ and 7 inches long. Both are ornamented, but _Fig. 9_ the most. The front and back part of the handle are stained of a dark brown color—the effect of scorching the surface by drawing a hot stone or other smooth body over it. Waving, dotted, and other lines of a light color are then produced by cutting through the dark surface—a species of ornament affording room for great variety of patterns, and skill in working them out.

_Fig. 10._ Another spoon from the South Sea Islands, and preserved in the Philadelphia Museum. The bowl is round; the handle of a peculiar form, and not inelegant. The ornamental spots, at the lower part, are openings cut entirely through—a feature common in Persian spoons. The entire length is about six inches.

_Fig. 11._ A very neatly made spoon, deviating considerably from ours both in the bowl and handle. The former is oblong, pear-shaped, and 3½ inches in length; the latter, attached to the smaller end, is an inch longer. This spoon is of sandal wood. Both it and _Figs. 8_ and _9_ are from Dr. Chilton’s cabinet, New-York.

_Fig. 12._ A singular specimen of American Indian spoons in the Philadelphia Museum. It is of a dark colored wood, and about eight inches in length. The handle terminates in a wolf’s head, upon which stands a human figure with a high cap, in a bent position, and with the arms raised in front of the breast, somewhat as in the attitude of prayer. It has been supposed that the natural form of the root or branch of which the spoon was made, suggested the figures. This may have been true; but there is a beautiful moral in the characters given them, whether intended or not. The animal, whose head is here carved, is the universal emblem of hunger. To ‘keep the wolf from the door,’ is to keep famine from a house. Now, no people on earth are more familiar with the literal and metaphorical wolf than the Indians of North America, and none are more accustomed to invoke the ‘Great Spirit’ for power to keep them at bay. What device, then, more expressive, and, of all things in the world, more appropriate for a _spoon_, than a man praying for bread on the head of a wolf! The idea is in character with the symbolic imagery of the aborigines, and we question if a more comprehensive and beautiful one can be drawn from the works of classical artists.

The few spoons on _Plate I._ are, of course, mere specimens. Savages are known to vary their forms, proportions, and ornaments, as much almost as educated artists. In some respects they display a tact and resource which enlightened mechanics would hardly think of.