352 ETHNOLOGY. 



Professor Eaii, of New York, Las twice publislied* notices of agricul- 

 tural implemcDts, which he has called " shovels and hoes," which latter 

 bear much resemblance to the example here figured, but differing in 

 being chipped instead of ground, or " pecked," and then smoothed, 

 either intentionally or by constant use. The hoe figured in Professor 

 Eau's later paper (1868) "is seven and a half inches long, nearly six 

 inches wide, and about half an inch thick in the middle. The rounded 

 part forms a sharp edge. The material of which these implements 

 (also, shovels) are made is a peculiar kind of bluish, gray, or brownish 

 flint, of slightly conchoidal fracture, and capable of splitting into large, 

 flat fragments. I never succeeded in finding this stone in situ. The 

 agricultural implements of my collection were all found in Saint Clair 

 County, in Southern Illinois." It will here be noticed that the New 

 Jersey hoes, while bearing a marked general resemblance to, differ con- 

 siderably from, the western forms. The western specimens are all larger, 

 or at least broader. The side notches are deeper, and the head is of a 

 uniform thickness with the blade of the implement. Mr. Ran further 

 says, and our specimen agrees entirely with his statement, that " if the 

 shape of the described implements (shovels and hoes) did not indicate 

 their original use, the peculiar traces of wear which they exhibit would 

 furnish almost conclusive evidence of the manner in which they have 

 been employed; for that part with which the digging was done, appears, 

 notwithstanding the hardness of the material, perfectly smooth, as if 

 glazed, and slightly striated in the direction in which the implement 

 penetrated the ground." The New Jersey specimen has the polished 

 surface and the striations perfectly, but being of a very different mate- 

 rial, the specimen in question probably does not show them as plainly 

 as described by Professor Rau. These hoes appear thus far to have 

 been overlooked by archaeologists, except as occurring in the West. 

 Professor Eau mentions them as "rather scarce, and merely confined to 

 the States bordering on the Mississippi Eiver." We have seen none 

 from Pennsylvania or the New England States, and, as regards New 

 Jersey, they seem to occur only in the favorite corn-fields of the aborigi- 

 nes, now Burlington, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties. This hoe, illus- 

 trated by figure 194, was kindly presented to the writer by Joseph 

 Newbold, esq., of Plattsburgh, N. J. It was the only specimen of hoe 

 in his large collection of American antiquities. In the collection of 

 Michael Newbold, esq., of the same neighborhood, which is one of the 

 finest and largest we have seen, are two implements, bearing much 

 resemblance to figure 194, but so much smaller that their use as hoes 

 is doubtful. One of them is of serpentine, the other of fine-grained por- 

 phyry. That of serpentine measures three and three-fourths inches in 

 length, and one inch and seven-eighths in width. The head of this 

 small, beautifully shaped, and polished specimen is narrower than the 

 blade, which is the case also, though to a much less extent, with the 



• Smithson. Ann. Keps., 1863 and 1868, p. 379, and p. 401. 



