Chap. 10- 



STATE OF SOCIETY. 



207 



INDIAN RELICS. 



URNS, AXES, GOUGES, AND ARROWS. 



inon. vThis view is corroborated by the 

 statement of Champlain. In his journal 

 of his first visit to this lake in 1609, he 

 says expressly that here the country was 

 formerly inhabited, but was at that time to 

 a great extent abandoned on account of 

 the continued wars. 



When Mrs. Howe and others were 

 taken at Bridgeman's fort and carried 

 into captivity, in 1755, the northern parts 

 of Lake Champlain were in possession of 

 the St. Francis Indians, who wintered 

 there in large numbers and subsisted by 

 hunting and fishing ; and as late as the 

 time of the revolutionary war, a branch of 

 this tribe had a village at Swanton, con- 

 sisting of about 50 huts with a church, 

 Jesuit missionary, and some lands under 

 cultivation. About the year 1793, the 

 Caughnahwagha Indians advanced a 

 claim to most of the lands lying between 

 Lake Champlain and the Green Moun- 

 tains, and importuned the legislature of 

 Vermont at several sessions for remunera- 

 tion for the same, but without success.* 



Indian relics. These consist princi- 

 pally of pots or urns, mortars and pestles, 

 axes, chissels, gouges, arrow and spear 

 heads, and some other implements the 

 use of which is not now known. The 

 most interesting of these are the pots or 

 urns, which appear to be made and baked 

 in the manner of our common earthen 

 or stone ware. These have been found 

 at several difterent places, and of sizes 

 varying from one quart to 5 or 6 gallons. 

 One was dug up in Middlebury in 1820, 

 nearly entire and of the capacity of about 

 20 quarts. The urn, of which the following 



is a figure, was found in Colchester in 

 in 1825, by Captain John Johnson, and in 

 1827 was presented by Luther Loomis, 

 Esq. to the College of Natural History in 

 the University of Vermont, and is now 

 preserved in the society's collections. — 

 It is about eight inches in height, and, 

 through the largest part, about nine inch- 

 es in diameter, and would hold about four 



quarts. The bottom, up to the middle of 

 the bilge, is hemispherical and plain. 

 Above, it is compressed so as to become 

 four sided ; but the sides are a little con- 

 vex, and ornamented with various lines 

 and checks. It is considerably contract- 

 ed at the neck with a deep groove, as if 

 designed for putting round a cord or withe 

 by which it might be suspended. Above 

 the groove, it enlarges and spreads out- 

 ward, becoming nearly square at the top, 

 and measuring just six inches from angle 

 to angle on each side. Along the groove, 

 on the angles and around tlie bilge, it is 

 ornamented with rows of small circles. 

 One of the corners is broken off, as shown 

 in the figure, and the bottom exhibits evi- 

 dent indications of having been used over 

 fire. It appears to be composed of pul- 

 verized granite and clay, numerous par- 

 ticles of feldspar and mica being seen in 

 its composition. It is unglazed, but very 

 compact and smooth, except where rough- 

 ened by the ornaments. Its antiquity is 

 shown to be great by the circumstances 

 in which it was found, it being covered 

 with a flat stone, over which a large tree 

 had grown, and had been so long dead as 

 to be nearly all rotten. A similar vessel, 

 but much larger, was found many years 

 ago in Bolton, and is now in the posses- 

 sfon of John N. Pomeroy, Esq. of Burling- 

 ton. 



The following, among other implements 

 of Indian manufacture, all of stone, are 

 occasionally picked up. 



The axes vary from half a pound to five 

 or six pounds. 



The gouges are sometimes grooved 

 through the whole length, which is gen- 

 erally from 8 to 12 inches. 



*Sea part aecondj page 89. 



The arrow jwints are from one to five 

 inclips lonor. 



