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64
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
protect himself and his kind against the wild beasts which shared the country with him. If those people had no other weapons at command than the palacoliths, even well and securely mounted and hafted, they would certainly have been heavily handicapped against their foes. But it must not be forgotten, suggests Foote,i that they could hare made very effective weapons out of the hard woods which grow so freely in Indian forests. These hard woods could be worked into spears with extreme sharp points and of sufficiently big size, so as to be very formidable weapons of defence and offence if wielded by strong and active men and, especially so, if a number of them were so armed and acted in concert.2 Clubs too of the largest size could easily have been prepared by uprooting young trees of various kinds and trimming away tops and thin roots.
1. Mad. Mus. Cat., p. 12.
Compare, for instance, the wondan bows and arrows so often used in India from times immemmorial. There were other weapons also mado likewişe of wood which were equally effective.
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