ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



By Charles Rau. 



The following essay was published in German, Vol. V of the ArcMv fur Anthro- 

 pologic (Braunschweig, 1872) ; but as the subject is purely North American in char- 

 acter, the author has deemed it proper to prepare a version in the language of the 

 country to wliich it refers. The present reproduction, however, is enlarged and im- 

 proved. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 1 



Introduction , 



Copper 3 



Galena 8 



Obsidian 10 



Mica Vi 



Slate 15 



Page. 



Flint 18 



Eed Pipestone 21 



Shells 25 



Pearls 36 



Division of Labor 39 



Conclusion 45 



INTRODUCTION. 



ludicatious are uot wantiug that a kind of trade or traflfic of some 

 extent existed amoDg the prehistoric inhabitants of Europe, even at a 

 time when they stood comparatively low in the scale of human develop- 

 ment. The same practice prevailed in i^orth America, before that part 

 of the new world was settled by Europeans ; and as the the subject of 

 primitive commerce is of particular interest, because it sheds addi- 

 tional light on the conditions of life among by-gone races, I have col- 

 lected a number of data bearing on the trade-relations of the former 

 inhabitants of North America. The fact that such a trade was carried 

 on is i:)roved, beyond any doubt, by the frequent occurrence of Indian 

 manufactures consisting of materials which were evidently obtained from 

 far distant localities. In many cases, however, these manufactures may 

 have been brought as booty, and not by trade, to the places where they 

 are found in our days. The modern Indians, it is well known, sometimes 

 undertook expeditions of a thousand or twelve hundred miles, in order to 

 attack their enemies. The warlike Iroquois, for example, who inhabited 

 the present State of New York, frequently followed the war-path as far 

 as the Mississippi river. Thus, in the year 1680, six hundred warriors 

 of the Seneca tribe invaded the territory of the Illinois, among whom La 

 Salle sojourned just at that time, preparing to descend the Mississippi 

 to the Gulf of Mexico.* More than a hundred years ago, the traveler 



* Morgan, League of the Iroquois, Rochester, 1651, p. 13. More precise information 

 couceruing this memorable expedition is to be found in the writings of Hennepin, 

 Membrd, Lahoutau, and others. 



