ABORIGINAL CHIPPED STONE IMP1 EMENTS OF NEW YORK 77 



might be even now looked for in the waters mentioned. When 

 Francis A. Vanderkemp descended the Oneida river, in 1792, at one 

 rift he remarked, ' It was said here was an ancient indian eel-weir — 

 by which this natural obstruction in the bed of the river had been 

 increased.' 



Several such stone weirs still remain in the Seneca river, in a more 

 or less fragmentary condition. One which is several hundred feet in 

 extent, runs in a zigzag way across the river, and two deep bays are 

 in excellent order. The third was removed to permit the passage of 

 large boats. The French missionaries mentioned such structures 

 here in 1656, in these terms: ' The fish which are most common here 

 are the eel and salmon, which are fished for from the spring until the 

 end of autumn, our savages managing so well their dykes and weirs, 

 that they take at the same time the eel which is going down, and the 

 salmon which is going up.' They also speared fish by torchlight, but 

 often used a peculiar wooden spear for this. Fifty years earlier they 

 had bone harpoons. 



There are several early accounts of the use of these fish-weirs, in 

 various parts of the country, and Loskiel gives that which was com- 

 mon in Pennsylvania, when the shad ascended the rivers. ' The in- 

 dians run a dam of stones across the stream, where its depth will 

 admit of it, not in a straight line, but in two parts, verging towards 

 each other in an angle. An opening is left in the middle for the water 

 to run off. At this opening they place a large box, the bottom of 

 which is full of holes. They then make a rope of the twigs of the 

 wild vine, reaching across the stream, upon which boughs of about 

 six feet in length are fastened at the distance of about two fathoms 

 from each other. A party is detached about a mile above the dam 

 with this rope and its appendages, who begin to move gently down 

 the current, some guiding one, some the opposite end, whilst others 

 keep the branches from sinking by supporting the rope in the middle 

 with wooden forks. Thus they proceed, frightening the fishes into 

 the opening left in the middle of the dam.' 



Though their use may be inferred in this, nothing is said ni stone 

 sinkers. In another account, published by Adair in 1775. there are 

 mentioned on the vine, ' stones attached at proper distances, to rake 



