RELICS OF THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA—PIERS. 49 
condition of the ends and the formation of the groove, are 
evidences of the hand of man, but the oval shape of the stone is 
the work of natural agencies, perhaps slightly improved by the 
skill of the aboriginal craftsman. The implement was_ pro- 
bably used as a weapon in time of war, while in the peaceful 
occupations of savage life, it was put to any uses to which it was 
adapted. 
Grooved stone hammers are very rare in Nova Scotia, in 
truth I do not remember to have met with another. They are 
also, I believe, rare in the neighbouring province of New 
Brunswick. My specimen was found in July, 1894, while the 
foundation was being dug for a manse, two or three rods to the 
northward of St. James’s Presbyterian Church at Dartmouth. 
A great number of human skeletons have been unearthed at that 
spot, but after careful inquiry and personal search for anything 
which might serve to identify those who are there buried, I have 
only succeeded in obtaining this hammer and a linear-shaped 
piece of iron, 9°50 inches long, which 1 think must have been a 
dagger-shaped implement. or possibly a spear-point. A second 
iron relic of the same kind was discovered, but I did not see if, 
The bones were from one foot to two and a half or three feet 
below the surface of the ground. In one instance I succeeded 
in finding the remains of a nailed wooden box or rough coffin. 
It was almost entirely disintegrated and chiefly appeared as a 
dark-coloured line in the soil. The grooved-hammer was found 
close to one of the skulls. After a good deal of investigation, I 
have come to the opinion that there is no evidence whatever to 
to show that this was an Indian cemetery, except the presence of 
the above-mentioned relics. Those who are buried there, are 
doubtless white men. The theory that they were the victims of 
the massacre at Dartmouth in 1751, cannot be maintained. 
Various reasons make me strongly of the belief that this spot 
bears the bones of many of the Duc d’Anville’s plague-stricken 
followers, others of whom were interred near the shores of Bedford 
Basin. For further information on this point, the reader may 
refer to a footnote on page 6 of Mrs. Lawson’s History of 
4 
