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 lie 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 archseological 

 collection of the IT. 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 



