THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA. —PATTERSON. 245 
12. Large flat instruments usually ovoid in shape, supposed 
to have been used as spades or hoes. One fine specimen from 
Merigomish, 74 inches in the longest and 3} in the shortest dia- 
meter (No. 85.) 
B.—PECKED, GROUND OR POLISHED STONE. 
1. Wedges or celts——There is a great variety of these, though 
in the catalogue they are generally named axes. They are from 
different parts of the Province, though the majority are from 
the kitchen midden at Merigomish, previously described. Our 
weather, with its frequent freezing and thawing in winter, seems 
to act severely upon them, when on or near the surface of the 
ground, so that they become rough or fretted, and portions spall 
off. So that we do not generally find them with the fine polish, 
that we see in many from other countries. They are formed of 
various hard rocks, which may be found among the older Geolo- 
gical formations in Nova Scotia, or fragments found in the drift. 
Their shape seems in many cases to have depended on the origi- 
nal form of the stone, (see No. 36.) In one from Merigomish 
(No. 12) we see the simplest workmanship, where there has been 
only a little rubbing or grinding at one edge, and the stone 
otherwise left in its original condition. But others have been 
earefully and laboriously brought into a regular shape, (No 50, 
from East River of Pictou.) They are of all sizes, from an inch 
and a half to seven inches. A number are two edged, show- 
ing that in use they were to be hafted as axes, (No. 22, Merigo- 
mish ; 55, Bauchman’s Beach ; 268, South Pictou.) 
Some are flat on one side, and are known as fleshers or bark 
peelers, (No. 65, Merigomish.) 
There are also one from Scotland (No 60), two small but finely 
polished ones from Trinidad (Nos. 61, 62), several from the New 
Hebrides (Nos. 57, 58, 59). They show the similiarity of form 
of these implements in widely separated countries, that from Scot- 
land being scarcely distinguishable from one from Erromanga. 
There is one hafted according to the mode customary till recently 
on that island, (No. 179.) 
2. Chisels. In the collection some are set down as axes 
