74 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



found in the Mohawk valley. Some of it mav be irrelevant, but 



no more appropriate place may be found for it: 



In the modern sites there is found a great variety of traders' 

 iron and copper work. I have some; principally iron axes, hoes, 

 padlocks, Jew's harps, thimbles, knives — some made from files, 

 cold chisels, steels, etc. Copper kettles are found in graves, 

 as well as ornaments of copper. I have but a few. Venetian 

 beads are in great variety. Nails, buckles, and horse shoes are 

 found; also hinges, gun locks and barrels. Every digger has 

 some noveltv. Most of the iron axes found here, marked with 

 one, two and three crosses, were made at Utrecht for the Indian 

 trade. The white clay pipes marked R. T., E. B., and others, 

 are English, while some others are Dutch. They were given 

 to the Indians bv thousands. Gr^s de Flanders ware was 

 brought in small quantities by the traders. I have one jug 

 from a grave, and I know of one other with the arms of the 

 citv of Amsterdam on it. There is a curious w^hite earthen 

 vessel in the Richmond collection, from a grave, and I have 

 heard of a few other pieces of earthenware. Bottles are sin- 

 gularly scarce. I know of one " apostle spoon." I never heard 

 of a single steel trap being found. English gun flints are not 

 uncommon. A rum bottle with W. J. impressed (said by the 

 finder to mean William Johnson) came from the site of the 

 Jogues shrine. 



The writer a2:ain calls attention to the fact that the so called 

 French axes were most of them made in the Netherlands. It 

 is quite the fashion in the interior of New York to call any 

 early European remains French and there are several nominal 

 French forts where none ever stood. Articles of a religious 

 character mostly came from that nation. 



Steel traps were commonly used at a distance from the towns 

 and were not likely to be lost at home. The writer has found 

 but one small one on an Indian site. This may be recent, but 

 seems antique. Bottles are rare and may have been little used. 

 The Indian did not drink while hunting, but emptied the keg 

 at village feasts. Cups were used then, and several silver ones 

 have been found. 



The above summary does not include everything furnished in 

 the Indian trade, but no one who reads it will be surprised to 

 find any article of the period on any Indian site later than 

 the middle of the 17th century. It was a simple question of 



