1886.] The Stone Ax in Vermont. 339 
skin or whatever the surface that was being worked, and thus be- 
come smooth and flat even if not made so at first, but how any- 
thing of this sort could take place in a large, hafted ax we are 
unable to guess, unless it was used as an adze, and this is possi- 
ble. The oblique direction of the groove seen in this specimen 
is worthy of notice, since it does not appear to be common in 
New England specimens. Dr. Abbott (Primitive Industry, p. 8) 
Says that in the valley of the Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania 
the majority of grooved axes have the groove oblique with refer- 
ence to the edge, but that this feature is rarely met with in New 
Jersey and “ probably does not occur in New England. There is 
no example in the large series of New England axes in the mu- 
seum at Cambridge.” Several of our Vermont axes, all I believe 
from the northern part of the State, have oblique grooves. 
I do not think that archzologists have given the grooved ax 
sufficient credit for utility as a cutting implement. They seem 
for the most part to be of the opinion that at best these axes 
could be used only to cut into the bark and bruise the wood so 
that a fire kindled about a tree so prepared should have greater 
effect. This may very probably have been a common, perhaps 
the common, method, and yet the accounts given us by the early 
explorers of America seem to me to prove that trees were cut, 
and cut so that they came down, with stone axes. We must 
always be on our guard against rendering judgment as to the 
usefulness of a stone implement if we have no other basis for our 
decision than the results accomplished by it in our unskilled 
hands, We all know that stone implements that would be wholly 
useless in civilized hands are yet of very great efficiency in the 
hands of Savages who have learned how to use them. Many of 
Our stone axes do indeed seem quite unfitted for use as cutting 
are tools, and they may be so, but all are not; some are made from — 
very hard stone and have a smooth, regular edge which, although © 
it may not be comparable to that of a modern steel ax, is yet able 
to cut soft green wood if not that which is harder. To cite in 
Proof of this only a single writer, let me call attention to one oF — 
: asd tements made by Champlain. The earliest edition of the 
___- Writings of this explorer, which is now at hand, was published in ` 
~ Paris 
= _ OUP purpose. In his account of a journey which he took with = 
_ “Party of Algonkins in 1609, Champlain speaks several times of _ 
» 1830, a reprint of course of’ earlier volumes, but sufficient 
