Tomahawk

Tomahawk, a light war-hatchet of the North American Indians. The early ones were made of stone or of deer-horn put through a handle of wood, or fastened to the handle by sinews or cords of skin; European traders supplied hatchets of steel. The blunt side of the head was sometimes made hollow, for a tobacco-pipe, a handle of ash, with the pith removed, being the stem. Tomahawks might be either used in close combat or thrown so that the edge would strike the object aimed at. The usage of the Indians supplies the phrases to bury the hatchet and to dig it up, as equivalents for to make peace or to declare war.