34 RELICS OF THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA—PIERS. 
Mr. Henry Sorette, of Bridgewater, N. S., has sent me a 
drawing of a very remarkable implement of unusual length 
which was found with other relics while excavations were being 
made for a canal at Milton, Queen’s County, N.S. The imple- 
ment may be likened to a poniard blade. Apparently it had 
been ground into shape. It is 18 inches long and _ tapers 
recularly from 1°75 inch in width at the base, to about °75 of an 
inch (according to the drawing) in width at a distance of about, 
three-quarters of an inch from the end, where it suddenly 
diminishes to a point. Mr. Sorette’s drawing seems to indicate 
a central line of elevation from base to point. My informer 
thinks it is made of hard slate. While being taken from the 
ground, it was broken into four pieces. Doubtless this relic was 
a ceremonial implement, such as some of the exquisitely flaked 
blades, long and delicate, which have been found in California.* 
Its fragile character would forbid any rough usage such as that 
of war or sport. Strange to say, one or more other implements 
of this type were discovered with it at Milton. Mr. John 8, 
Hughes of the Milton Pulp Company, in a letter to me relative 
to this discovery, says, “ quite a number of relics were found 
when we were excavating for the canal; they consisted of stone 
chisels, gouges, and ‘ swords or fish-spears’ about 20 to 24 inches 
long [i. e., poniard-shaped stone blades, one of which has just 
been described]. The articles were generally kept by the finders, 
Out of the lot [ got one gouge, and Mr. Sorette has one of the 
swords.” 
In the McCulloch collection already referred to, there is a 
polished slate “ spear-head” with a stem notched on the sides to 
facilitate the attachment of a handle or shaft (Fig. 83). A 
portion of the point, probably about three-quarters of an inch, is 
missing. It measures nearly 650 inches in length, by 1°35 inch 
in width at the base of the blade, from which place it tapers 
very gradually to the broken point. The central portion of the 
blade is flat. This flat part is bordered on both sides by con- 
*See Report of U. S. Geographical Surveys west of 100th Meridian, vol. vii, 
(Archeeology), page 49 et seq. 
