110 MICMAC INDIANS OF NOVA SCOTIA 



{ivabanoTianh) is played with eiglit sligktly larger disks oi like 

 form and ornamentation, which are tossed by the hand U23on a 

 spread blanket or cloth. Still another game {comugesjohon'k, 

 i.e. ''to play little sticks") is almost the counterpart of the 

 European game of jack-straws, and may be of European origin, 

 although the Indians themselves claim it as a native game. 



Pre-historic Implements. — There are only two important 

 collections of l^ova Scotian Indian relics of the stone age. The 

 principal one is in the Provincial Museum of i^ova Scotia, 

 Halifax, and embraces (a) miscellaneous implements and other 

 relics deposited therein since 1831; (&) the collection of the 

 late Judge M. B. DesBrisay, of Bridgewater, ]^[. S. ; (c) the 

 collection of the late C. W. Fairbanks ; and (d) the collection 

 of the late Dr. W. Webster. The total number of specimens 

 in these four collections is now 1287. The next largest 

 collection is that of the late Rev. Dr. Geo. Patterson, of ISTew 

 Glasgow, E". S., presented by him to Dalhousie College, Halifax, 

 and containing about 250 specimens. There are also several 

 other specimens there, donated by the late Dr. Thomas 

 McCulloch. All of these have been described except the Des- 

 Brisay collection. 



Relics of the stone age are uncommon in ISTova Scotia, in 

 marked contrast to the large number that are found in Ontario 

 and to the south, and this no doubt indicates that ISTova Scotia 

 had been occupied for a much shorter period than those parts, 

 or that the inhabitants were much fewer for the area. 



Another point to which I desire to draw attention is the 

 great probability that many of the implements found in this 

 province are really remains of a period when the country was 

 occupied by Eskimo. Tradition affirms that the Micmacs com- 

 ing from the southward drove the Eskimo northward, and this 

 is borne out by evidence obtained from the implements. 

 Among the Algonquians, to which family the Micmacs belong, 

 the axe-method of hafting was common, and to the south axes 



