36 RELICS OF THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA PIERS. 



made of chipped stone and identical in form with, what are too 

 frequently termed spear or arrow-heads. These are inserted into 

 short wooden handles. According to Major J. W. Powell, these 

 knives are very effective, especially in cutting leather. The natives 

 of Alaska still occasionally use knives formed in a similar manner, 

 which they carry in a rough wooden scabbard. A most signifi- 

 cant fact is mentioned by the late Dr. Gilpin*. An admirable 

 Indian hunter named Joe Glode, once shot a moose in Annapolis 

 County. Not having a knife, he. immediately took the flint from 

 his gun, and without more ado, bled and dressed the carcass 

 therewith. Lescarbot, in a sentence before quoted, mentions the 

 occasional use of a stone in fashioning arrow-shafts. 



B. PECKED, GROUND, AND POLISHED STONE. 



Polished Stone Hatchets or Celts, and Adzes. These two 

 groups I have classed together, for although the tools I shall 

 here describe are usually termed celts or, more correctly, stone 

 hatchets, in most archaeological books, yet after a careful exami- 

 nation of a great many specimens found in this province, I have 

 come to the conclusion that nearly all of those specimens, in 

 form or otherwise, bear evidence of having been used as adzes, 

 mostly hafted to wooden handles in the manner still or until 

 recently exemplified in the stone implements of the South Sea 

 Islands and elsewhere. This was accomplished in the following 

 manner. A branch of sufficient stoutness was obtained, together 

 with part of the stem from which.it sprang. The stem portion 

 was then split, forming a flat surface, and the superfluous wood 

 having been trimmed therefrom, the flat portion was applied 

 to the face of the stone tool which was then lashed to it by 

 means of raw-hide thongs or possibly withes. Owing to the 

 tapering form of the stone head, every blow would tend to 

 tighten the hold of the binding. A piece of skin was perhaps 

 interposed between the handle and the stone, as the Indians 

 of Dakota have been known to do in fashioning their bone 

 hoes or adzes.-)- There cannot be a doubt that most of the 



* ' Stone Age of Nova Scotia." Trans. N. S. Inst. Nat Sc.< vol. iii. 



t See Rau, Archaeological Collection of U. S. National Museum, p. 95, fig. 334, etc. 



