IO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



men to some places, and the small supply of the former was a suffi- 

 cient reason why the Mohawk valley was so little visited until a 

 recent day. For a similar reason deep lakes were little frequented 

 here, unless at the shallow waters near their outlets. The aborigines 

 of New York seldom used the hook and line until after European 

 contact, and the harpoon, arrow, stone fish weir and net were useful 

 only where the water was of no great depth. Large lakes, too, were 

 often perilous places for canoes, while on most rivers they could 

 be employed at any time. Accordingly early relics and camps are 

 most frequent near large streams and small lakes. Where a river 

 was as large as the Hudson in its lower course, camps would be 

 expected only near the mouths of its tributaries, or in sheltered spots ; 

 near the sea they would also occur on shallow bays. In the one case 

 the burnt earth and frequent relics, in the other the great shell heaps 

 attest the presence of early man. 



Many of the finest articles, however, have been discovered near 

 the old trails, or in low grounds. If lost on a village site in peaceful 

 times, they would have been sought and found with comparative 

 ease. On the road, time could not always be allowed for this, and 

 weeds, brambles and mire might have rendered all search useless. 



These visitors came from many directions, and with differing 

 habits, as relics plainly show; but having once been here, there were 

 soon favorite places of resort. In process of time small hamlets were 

 formed, often but the renewal of fishing camps from year to year. 

 The old lodges would be repaired or rebuilt on the same spots, used 

 in the summer and abandoned in the winter. This was the Iroquois 

 practice in the seventeenth century, and in Canada the wandering 

 tribes had a succession of camping places, to which they periodically 

 resorted. Some northern tribes were thus winter visitors in New 

 York. Nearer the sea, many indian tribes as steadily vibrated be- 

 tween the shore and the interior as some of our people do now. The 

 new is ever the old. 



When the Iroquois came into New York they brought a change. 

 They hunted and fished, but they were also growers of corn, pump- 

 kins and beans. Although they camped on the rivers, their towns 

 and forts were almost always at some distance from them. It might 



