Going Native...and Loving It!

Pine Island, Washademoak Lake, may have been a playground for the locals (way back when)

It must have been a hard life back in the day. A hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, two thousand years ago...hardly matters.

On Saturday morning I launched my war canoe, which happened to be a 12-foot tin boat with a 9.9 H.P. outboard, and proceeded down the lake to find a source of chert for making weapons and tools. That's what the First Nations people did, more or less.

On the shores of Washademoak Lake, near Belyea's Cove, lies a source of chert that the natives knew only too well. It was the only known source in New Brunswick of a rock type, called chert, that was ideal for making arrow heads, spear tips, and cutting implements.

I (surprise, surprise) didn't find the chert source but I did  discover an inner sense of the importance of place. I was happy to be where I was, rock-hounding on the Washademoak shores. Beyond that, I also had a huge sense of appreciation for what life must have been like hundreds of years ago. Not easy.

I'm not sure how the natives chipped away at the chert to make tools. What did they use to break and shape the rock? I tried using a hammer on a piece of jasper and I failed. They succeeded, but how? I suppose it's like building a Stradivarius violin...all the technology in the world won't replace craftsmanship. There is much to learn.