58 NEW YORK STATE MUISEUM 



prominent men of New York. It is of silver with the simple 

 inscription on the bowl : '' Presented by (xovernor Tompkins to 

 Skenandoah." De ^Yitt Clinton visited the old chief at Oneida 

 in 1810 and said: '' He is entirely blind but his hair is not gray. 

 He smokes, and can converse a little in English. He was highly 

 delighted with a silver pipe that was given him by Governor 

 Tompkins.'' The latter filled his office from 1807 to 1817, and 

 the pipe is now nearly a century old. Mr Wyman said: "The 

 lettering is very much rubbed but is legible. The pipe was 

 obtained with the wampum belt of the Oneida treaties, directly 

 from old Skenandoah, the chief of the Oneidas in Wisconsin, 

 who died three 3ears ago. He was the grandson of the owner 

 of the pipe and was about 90 when he died." 



Mr Jeptha R. Simms describes another of these New York 

 silver pipes in the following words: 



Oct. 28, 18G7, I had a visit from Rev. Robert Jones Roberts, 

 a young English missionary to the Six Nation Indians at New- 

 port, province of Ontario, Canada. He was accompanied by 

 O. H. M. Johnson — On- wan-on-shy-son — one of the principal 

 Indian chiefs of that province, who claimed to obtain his name 

 by descent from Sir William Johnson. . . He carried with him 

 a pipe which had descended through several generations of 

 sachems, and had become among them an evidence to its bearer 

 of his dignified position. On the plate under its stem, next the 

 bowl, was engraved the history of its origin, reading upon the 

 right side, from the mouth, ''As a testimony of their sincere 

 esteem;-' and on its reverse, "To the Mohawk Indians, from the 

 Nine Partners of the tract near Schoharie, granted in 17G9." 

 This pipe is of pure silver and weighs four ounces avoirdupois. 

 It is of goodly proportions, with a bowl 2 inches deep; from 

 which the stem measures 18^ inches. An ornamental plate, 

 perhaps an inch wide, extends 5 inches from the bowl, bearing 

 the inscription above named. From this plate to within 4 inches 

 of the end of the stem, is a small silver chain. On the front of 

 the bowl stand the figures of a white man and an Indian, liolding 

 a chain in tln^r riglit hands; the latter having in his left hand 

 a pii)e from which he is smoking. This relic is sacredly 

 treasured among the Indians. — Minims, p. 43 



Mr Simms gave a good figure of this interesting article. The 



Schoharie valley belonged to" the ^lohawks, and the original 



Nine Partners' great and little patents were in Dutchess county. 



