ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. o.j ( 



OBSIDIAN. 



The peculiar glass-like stoue of volcanic; origin, called obsidian, wliicli 

 played such an important part in the household of the ancient Mexi- 

 cans, has not been met in situ within that large portion of the United 

 States (probably of North America in general) that lies north of iMexico 

 and to the east of the Eocky Mountains. Messrs. Squier and Davis, 

 nevertheless, have found obsidian in the shape of points for arrows and 

 spears and cutting implements, though mostly broken, in five mounds 

 of the Scioto valley, in Ohio ; an object made of this material was like- 

 wise found in Tennessee,* and the numerous unopened mounds of the 

 United States may inclose many more articles of this class. The cop- 

 per used by the Indians, it has been seen, occurs as a product of nature 

 within the area over which it was spread by human agency ; it is differ- 

 ent, however, with regard to obsidian, and the question therefore arises, 

 from what region the builders of the large iuclosures and tumuli in 

 Ohio obtained the last-named mineral. Obsidian, we know, is found 

 in the present territory of the United States on the western side of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Captain Bonneville noticed, about forty years ago, 

 that the Shoshoneesor Snakelndians in the neighborhood of Snake river 

 (or Lewis river) used arrows armed with points of obsidian, which, he 

 adds, abounds in that vicinity .t The latter fact is confirmed b^' Samuel 

 Parker, who found, some years later (1835), in tie volcanic formations 

 of that region, "many large and fine specimens of pure obsidian or vol- 

 canic glass,"! According to Wyeth, the Shoshonees also employ sharp 

 obsidian flakes of convenient shape as knives, which they sometimes 

 provide with handles of wood or horn. The same author mentions the 

 frequent occurrence of obsidian in the district inhabited by the Shosho- 

 nees.§ It is known that various tribes in New Mexico, Arizona, and 

 neighboring parts. Apaches, Mojaves, and others, frequently employ 

 obsidian in the manufacture of their arrowheads. 



Mr. John R. Bartlett, from 1850 to 1853 commissioner of the United 

 States for determining the boundary line between the latter and Mexico, 

 found i)ieces of obsidian and fragments of painted pottery along the 

 Gila river, wherever there had been any Indian villages ; and also 

 among the ruins of the Casas grandes^ in Chihuahua, as well as those of 

 the Gila and Salinas rivers.|| The same observation has been made by 

 earlier and later travelers. The natives of Upper California em])loy 

 obsidian extensively for making arrowheads. Mr. Caleb Lyon, mIio 



* Troost, Ancient Remains in Tennessee, in : Transactions of the American Etliuologi- 

 cal Society, New York, 1845, Vol. I, p. 361. 



t Irving, Adventures of Captain Bonneville, New York, lAjl, p. 255. 



t Parker, Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, Ithaca, New York, 1844, 

 p. 98. 



§ Wyeth, in Schoocraft's Indian Tribes, Vol. I, p. 213. 



II Bartlett, Personal Narrative, &c.. New York, 1854, Vol. II, p. 50. Compare: Hum- 

 boldt, Essai i)olitique sur la Nouvelle-Espagne, Paris, 1825, Vol. II, p. 243, andClavi- 

 gero, History of Mexico, Philadelphia, 1817, Voh I, p. 151. 



