44 RELICS OF THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA—PIERS. 
chisel,” is nearly flat on one side, while around the other side is 
a depression or shallow groove wherein where lodged the thongs 
which bound it to an adze-haft. In nearly every case the cutting 
edge is more or less rounded ; very rarely is it nearly straight. 
Indications of the prevalence of the adze-form of tool, are very 
frequent, and in many cases they leave not a doubt as to how 
the implement was used. In an axe or hatchet the flat side 
would have little or no advantage, except that it would allow the 
tool to le closer to the wood in making cuts in one direction. 
Chisels.—There is no implement before me which I care so 
to designate, although one thin celt, before mentioned, might be 
so considered by some (Fig. 51). It seems doubtful whether our 
Indians ever used an implement in the manner in which we 
handle a chisel. A hafted implement for striking blows would 
be far more useful to a savage people. 
Gouges.—Dr. Rau, in his description of the archeological 
collection of the U. S. National Museum, says that these imple- 
ments occur in the United States far less frequently than the 
celts, and that they appear to be chiefly confined to the Atlantic 
States. The latter circumstance suggests that the work in 
which they were employed, was principally necessary or pos- 
sible in the country bordering the eastern coast. They may 
have been used in making canoes, but we would then expect to 
find them abundant on the Pacific Coast, unless another imple- 
ment was there applied to the purpose, which is quite likely. 
Their employment by certain tribes may account for their more 
frequent occurrence in particular parts of the continent. Of 
course it is not probable that all gouges were put to the same 
use. Doubtless many of them, perhaps even all, were hafted 
adzewise, and employed in forming hollows in wood which had 
previously been charred by fire and so rendered capable of being 
worked by such fragile tools. They would thus be useful in 
making wooden canoes, or in fashioning various utensils from 
the same material. I cannot agree with those who consider that 
some of these easily-destructible implements (those with the 
groove from end to end) were employed in tapping and gathering 
