56 xNBW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



beiiiff on the outside, were considerably corroded by time and 

 exposure and were unfit for use." — Clark, 2:260 



Squier mentioned a curious burial around a kettle, which may 

 be credited to the Neutral nation. A large number of skeletons 

 were found together in the town of Black Rock. " They were 

 arranged in a circle, with their heads radiating from a large 

 copper kettle which had been placed in the center and tilled with 

 bones. N'arious implements both of modern and remote date 

 had been placed beside the skeletons.'' — Squier, p. lUU 



The brass kettles which he describes and figures from the 



Canadian ossuaries are ipiite ditferent in some respects from 



those of New York. The ears and bails project far out from 



the sides in a yer}' clumsy way and the kettles held from 6 to 16 



gallons. As these were undoubtedly French, those of New York 



may show the preyalent English and Dutch forms in the 17th 



century. 



Metallic pipes 



Koger A\ illiams's statement has been giyen regarding the 

 quickness with which the New England Indians learned to cast 

 metals, eyen in the form of pipes. Their ability to cast brass 

 may be doubted. When the writer was a child every hunter 

 cast his own bullets, and he has done the same. Bullet molds 

 occur on lroi]uois sites 250 years old. Like things were a part 

 of household economy. In the general Bigelow collection is a 

 mold for casting pewter spoons, much in use in pioneer days by 

 those who could not alford silver, then a foreign commodity. 

 Were the old spoons bent and battered? They went into the 

 ladle and mold and came forth in pristine beauty. 



Though Hudson said he saw copper pipes in New York in 

 160U, none of tJiese are known, nor are metallic pipes cummon. 

 Those found on Indian sites were probably made by white men. 

 Jt*evvter and lead were easily melted; not so iron and brass. So 

 Dars of lead were often given lu tiie Indians at treaties and 

 are sometimes found on their village sites. These were mostly 

 used for bullets, but some were formed into rude ornaments, to 

 be noted later. In case of necessity the lead ornament or pipe 

 might take the form of balls for the gun. 



