METALLIC IMI'LEMl-iNTS OF NBW YORK INDIANS 23 



Fi<^'. M!) has also pai-allcl cd^cs and is (jiiilc broad I'or its 

 li'iigtli. Jt is ill A. II. W a(.('Li)iii'^''s coiled ion, aiid was foiiud 

 beUveeii lii'idj^cpoil and Oneida lake TIk- Icnj^lli is 1^ iindies 

 and LIk' uvcraj^<* \vi«ltli 1^ iucbes. TL(_* cd^e is i-oiiiMifd and 

 slightly expanded. 



Fig. 40 is still wider in proportion and suggests an ax. It 

 belongs to Mr Albert Hose of Manchester Center, Ontario co. 

 N. Y. and was found on the Rose farm, a little over a mile north 

 of the old ford at Canandaigua outlet. Mr Irving W. Coats 

 made the drawing in 18D2. He says it is of native copper and 

 is 3 inches long. The extreme breadth is If inches, being 

 a little less at the head wdiere there is a rounded depression. 

 The cutting edge is curved, as usual. 



Fig. 23 has the modern ax form and came from Livingston 

 county, N. Y. It is of native copper but has unfortunately been 

 ground down. This is in the Smithsonian collection and is of 

 actual size. 



Fig. GO is taken from Squier's Antiquities of the state of New 



York (p. 122} and is here of actual size. He said: 



One of the most interesting relics which has yet been dis- 

 covered in the state, is an ax of cast copper, of which tig. 25 

 is a reduced engraving. The original is 4 inches long by 2^ 

 broad on the edge, and corresponds in shape with some of 

 those of wrought native copper, which have been found in the 

 mounds of Ohio. From the granulations of the surface it ap- 

 pears to have been cast in sand. There is no evidence of its 

 having been used for any purpose. Its history, beyond that 

 it was plowed up somewhere in the vicinity of Auburn, Cayuga 

 county, is unknown. No opportunity has yet been attorded of 

 analyzing any portion, so as to determine whether it has an 

 intermixture of other metals. It appears to be pure copper. 

 An inspection serves to satisfy the inquirer that it is of abo- 

 riginal origin; but the questions when and by whom made, are 

 beyond our ability to answer. There is no evidence that the 

 mound builders understood the smelting of metals; on the con- 

 trary, there is every reason to believe that they obtained their 

 entire supply in a native state, and worked it cold. The Portu- 

 guese chronicler of Soto's expedition into Florida, mentions 

 copper hatchets, and rather vaguely refers to a '' smelting of 

 copper," in a country which he did not visit, far to the north- 

 ward, called '' Chisca." The Mexicans and Peruvians made 



