^6 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 



held a position of little importance among the stronger and more 

 ambitious tribes surrounding them. It is quite certain they 

 took no prominent part in the bloody drama of the French and 

 Indian wars, since no Nipmuck name adorns nor deed disfigures 

 the page of history. It is said that the tribe with which we are 

 more immediately concerned was subject to the Penacooks ; and 

 this is rendered more plausible from the fact that the headquar- 

 ters of that tribe, generally made at Penacook, were sometimes 

 transferred to Amoskeag, probably in the height of the fishing 

 season, and in virtue of the right of the stronger. 



INDIAN HABITS AND RELICS. 



From evidence which appears conclusive we locate the head- 

 quarters of the Nipmucks at or near Amoskeag Falls, a place 

 famous for hunting and fishing. Hunting has become a thing 

 of the past, though to this day the search is kept up for any stray 

 fish which may have escaped the Nipmuck nets. The chief vil- 

 lage, or more accurately the village of the chief, was situated on 

 the hill-bluff known as "The Willows," now owned by Ex-Gov. 

 Frederick Smyth. In the steep banks of this bluff, and where 

 the soil had been upturned, there was found a great number of 

 broken fragments of rude pottery and other utensils used by the 

 Indians. Nearly everything naturally grouped under the head 

 of Indian relics has been found on the site of this village, includ- 

 ing arrow and spear-heads in great variety, stone mortars and 

 pestles, stone axes, gouges, clubs, and fish-knives, stone tools for 

 removing fish-scales or scraping skins, bone fish-hooks, needles, 

 hairpins, and numerous other relics, some broken, but many per- 

 fectly preserved. When making an excavation on the premises, 

 for the purpose of forming a small artificial pond, there was un- 

 earthed a deposit of arrow and spearheads, knives, etc., of quartz, 

 flint or chert, which with unfinished specimens and chipped frag- 

 ments amounted in the whole to several bushels. This was 

 probably one of the workshops or armories of the tribe, and un- 



