STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. di'3 



had access coutaiu no illustration or description ofjnst sucli a specinu'n 

 as tii^are 210.* 



It will be found, on comparison with the hoe which wo represent in 

 figure 174, that it bears some resemblance to it; but there is no 

 indication whatever of figure 210 ever having been used for agricultural 

 purposes; there are no scratches or stripe, as would be the case had it 

 been so used. It is smoothly polished over its whole surface, but the 

 smooth surface is that of the hand-ax and skiuning-knife, and not the 

 scoured smoothness of a well-worn hoe. 



Ilaving a cutting-edge at one end, and that a very good one, it would 

 seem proper to place this specimen in chapter xiv, with the chisels 

 and gouges, a fitting place on some accounts, but the chisel was not 

 available as a tool without a hammer, and the conical head of this spec- 

 imen is as smooth, as highly polished, and as free as any portion of the 

 implement from every trace of violent contact with other stones. If a 

 chisel, it has never been used, and is more elaborately finished than any 

 other specimen, with i)erhaps one exception, that we have met with. 

 The whole amount of the work of fashioning chisels and gouges as a 

 class is expended upon the edge. The gouge, figure 131), for instance, 

 is beautifully wrought at the edge, which is accurately curved ; but 

 elsewhere this specimen is quite rough as compared with the edge. 



It has been suggested by a successful collector and student of Indian 

 antiquities, that this implement might have been used in detaching 

 bark from trees, either for canoe purposes or for coverings for their 

 huts; that by placing the flat side down or upon the body of the tree, 

 and pushing the implement forward, the bark would be detached from 

 the trunk of the tree without danger of cutting it, as the edge of the 

 implement pressed upon the wood, and the curved back of the blade 

 lifted the bark up as the blade moved forward. This certainly is an 

 ingenious speculation on the part of Mr. JSTewbold ; but we cannot see 

 why the groove and tapering head of the implement should have been 

 added, if such were its use, and certainly they are too well made and 

 carefully finished to be placed there as ornaments merely. It may be, 

 however, that the narrowed part was so made that a cord could be 

 placed about it to facilitate its carriage, as it is easier to make a groove 

 around such an object than it is to drill a hole. If so, the speciaieu 

 may be a " hark-deiadicrP 



Chapter XXVI. 



FLAKING-nAMMERS A^TD rOLISIIINGTOOLS. 



Every considerable collection of Indian antiquities we have seen 

 from Xew Jersey, has included certain globular, oval, cylindrical, and 



* Figures 210^ and 2iiSh rcprosont a fine specimen of a " tally-stick," found near Free- 

 hold, N. J. The scries of deeply-cut uotclus are indicative of its use as a record or tally. 

 We liave seen uo other specimen of this pattern from New Jersey. It '.vas received 

 from Rev. S. Lockwood too late for farther description. 



