7^ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the bottom.' This was another use of the flat stone sinker, differing 

 slightly from its use in nets. The polished and grooved plummets, 

 so distinct from these, had other uses, though notably most abun- 

 dant at two early fishing resorts. The grooved pebbles were many 

 of them sinkers. 



It may be remarked that the Hurons and others placed hurdles in 

 streams, with nets across the openings, and that the Oneidas in New 

 York made fish pounds with two rows of stakes across streams, 

 driving the fish into them and killing them there. 



The flat stone sinker was easily made by the aborigines, and in 

 fact is still made and used by their white successors. A small flat 

 stone was found and neatly chipped around the edge, or sometimes 

 left almost unchanged. As a sinker it might have two to four oppo- 

 site notches by which it could be attached more securely. If used as 

 a quoit, the notches might be omitted, and the whole surface neatly 

 chipped. This was the sole difference between these two forms, 

 which might be large or small in either case. Occasionally a small 

 and thin smooth pebble is found on a village site, not over an inch 

 across and with two opposite notches cut in the edge. These have no 

 relation to either of the preceding forms. There are also grooved 

 and chipped stonesof considerable size, which were used for anchors, 

 but these are somewhat rare. A series of grooved elliptical pebbles 

 may be classed with those of picked stone, although probably net 

 sinkers. They occur most frequently on Cayuga and Seneca lakes. 



Some of the flat sinkers are quite large. Dr Rau figured one which 

 was eight inches across, and one and three eighths inches thick, the 

 weight being two pounds and fourteen ounces. Dr Abbott found one 

 on the Delaware river, which was eight inches square, and had four 

 notches. The weight was nearly five pounds. Here they are rarely 

 much over six inches across, when of the typical form. One fine 

 one, however, unwrought except by the slight notches, is nearly 

 seven inches across, and two and three quarters thick. It may have 

 been used for an anchor, for which it is well fitted in every way. 



While abundant near many fishing places on the land, heaps of 

 them have been found in Onondaga lake below the present low 

 water mark, itself the result of drainage. The unnotched forms are 



