HISTORY OF VERMONT. 21S 



yivers ; and w«re the metals, v/hich werc first 

 kno\vn and used. But nature never completes 

 the formation of iron. It must pass through 

 two or three tedious operations by fire, before it 

 appears in its perfect and useful form. With 

 the former metals, the Indians in some parts of 

 America, were well acquainted : But of the na- 

 ture and use of iron, all of them were wholly 

 i^^norant. Destitute of this capital advantage, 

 all their tools and instruments to an European, 

 would have been wholly useless. Their axe 

 was made of a sharpened stone. Their knifs 

 was formed out of a shell, or bone. Every oth- 

 er instrument ¥/as equally impotent, and ill con- 

 trived. The arms they had contrived for de- 

 fence or attack, were equally feeble and awk- 

 ward : A club made of hard wood, a stake har- 

 dened in the fire, a lance armed with a flint or a 

 bone, a bow and an arrow, constituted the whole 

 artillery of an Indian war. Of domestic utensils 

 and household furniture, they had nothing that 

 deserved the name. A bed, a chair, a table, a 

 pot, a kettle, or an oven, were wholly unknown. 

 Their bread was baked on the coals. Their 

 meat was broiled in the same manner. Their 

 greatest art in cookery, was their method of 

 boiling theii' food. Apiece of wood, or a stone, 

 with extreme labour, was formed into a hollow, 

 and filled with water ; and this water was made 

 to boil, by throwing into it stones heated red 

 hot. 



The greatest performance of the Indian gen- 

 ius, was the construction of his canoe. With 

 Infinite labour, they sometimes hollowed out a 

 tTce, and gave it a form adapted to the Jpurpose 

 vol. I. C 2 



