272 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



indirect, with Europeans. That few objects of European metal 

 were found and no glass beads, save a fragment of one, indicates that 

 the people acquired them from a single trader or by trade from other 

 Indians. This latter conclusion in the light of evidence seems the 

 more probable. If the inhabitants of the site had contact, direct or 

 indirect, with the whites, then we may look for historical records 

 by which to identify them. In the Jesuit Relations are found many 

 references to a people who inhabited the region of which the 

 Ripley site forms a part. These people are variously called 

 Eries, Eriegoneckkak, Eriehronnons, Eriee, Riquehronnons, Rhiier, 

 Nation du Chat, Cat Nation, Rhiierrhonnons, etc. etc. Besides the 

 accounts by the Jesuits there are several maps which place the Erie 

 Indians in this territory, notably the maps of Sanson of 1656, 

 of Creuxius of 1660, of LaHontan of 1690, and of Hennepin of 

 1698. From these records and maps we may define the territory 

 of the Eries as the region bordering the southern shore of Lake 

 Erie between the region of the Neutrals on the eastern end of 

 Lake Erie east to the western banks of the Genesee, westward to 

 the western watershed of Lake Erie and the Miami river and south- 

 ward to the Ohio river. In the Relation of 1647-48 we find the 

 following description of the Erie country: 



This lake, called Erie, was formerly inhabited on its southern shores by 

 certain tribes whom we call the nation of the Cat ; and they have been 

 compelled to retire far inland to escape their enemies, who are farther 

 to the west. These people of the Cat Nation have a number of stationary 

 villages, for they till the soil and speak the same language as our Hurons. 



Under title of " Description of the Country of the Hurons " in 

 the relation of 1653 there is the following paragraph : 



Beyond that same neutral nation, in a direction nearly south, there is a 

 lake 600 miles in circumference, called Herie, formed by the fresh-water 

 sea, which discharges into it, and thence 'by means of a very high cataract, 

 into a third lake still greater and more beautiful; it is called Ontario or 

 Beautiful Lake, but we were wont to call it the Lake of Saint Louis. The 

 former of these two lakes was at one time inhabited toward the south by 

 certain peoples whom we call the Cat Nation ; but they were forced to 

 proceed further inland in order to escape the enemies whom they have toward 

 the west This Nation has various territories, cultivates the fields, and 

 speaks a language similar to the Hurons. 



In the Relation of 1654 there is still further reference: 



They (the Iroquois) tell us that a new war has broken out, which fills 

 them with fear, that the Eries have taken arms against them (we call the 

 Eries the Cat Nation, because there is in their country a prodigious number 



