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 Due 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 



