10 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



The Indian children, shortly after 

 birth, were bound to a stiff board, 

 which served as a cradle, and there they 

 were kept until they were able to walk 

 and run about. This served the double 

 purpose of making their backs straight 

 and also of keeping them out of 

 mischief. 



The religion of the Manhattan and 

 their neighbors was a nature worship, 

 pure and simple. They believed that 

 there were deities who dwelt in the 

 four quarters of the compass, that the 

 sun and moon, the thunder and the 

 winds were various supernatural 

 beings. That these were all controlled 

 by a supreme god whom they called 

 ' 'Kickeron," or * 'Kickerom" was their 

 conviction. They thought that the 

 earth was populated by the descend- 

 ants of a woman who fell from the sky 

 and who would have been lost in the 

 sea, save that a gigantic tortoise which 

 afterwards became the earth, caught 

 her on his back. They were also in 

 fear of a terrible evil power, a horned 

 snake, to whom they made sacrifices 

 by burying objects in the ground in its 

 name. 



The Manhattans and their neighbors 

 also believed in a future existence, plac- 

 ing their Elysian fields in the south- 

 western skies, where they believed the 

 souls of their dead journeyed. It was 

 for this reason that they placed food 

 and implements in their graves with 

 the bodies, so that the wandering soul 

 might lack nothing necessary to its 

 comfort on the trip. 



The religion of the Indians was 

 marked by periodic ceremonies, one of 

 which has come down to the present 

 day among the modern remnants of 

 the Shinnecock of Long Island and the 

 Mohegan of Connecticut. This is the 



"June Meeting," which was formerly 

 a ceremony held for the green corn. 

 The Delaware in Oklahoma and Canada 

 still perform a number of other annual 

 ceremonies. 



The old writers tell us that each 

 Indian had some such name as ' 'Buck's 

 Horn," "Wildcat," or " Rattlesnake," 

 and that when he died it was con- 

 sidered sacrilegious ever to mention 

 his name again. It is also known 

 that polygamy was practised by the 

 local Indians. 



So much for the ethnology of the 

 Manhattan and their neighbors. Let 

 us now turn to their archaeology as set 

 forth by the specimens on view in the 

 entrance of the Woodland Hall. 



On entering the Eastern Wood- 

 land Indian Hall the visitor will find 

 that the first table sections are 

 devoted to an exhibition, as com- 

 prehensive as possible, showing the 

 life of the natives in prehistoric 

 times by means of specimens obtained 

 from the ancient village and camp sit es. 

 Here may be seen bones of the various 

 animals, fish and shell-fish upon which 

 the Indians depended for subsistence; 

 fragments of nuts, corn, roots and other 

 food products preserved by charring 

 and obtained from ancient fireplaces, 

 and such implements as arrow points 

 of antler and stone, net -sinkers of stone 

 and stone hoes for tilling the field, all 

 illustrative of primitive methods of 

 hunting and agriculture. Implements 

 exhibited in the same case show the 

 preparation of animal and vegetable 

 food with primitive utensils, while close 

 by are tools used by the Indians in 

 preparing skins. The manufactures of 

 the Indians are illustrated in the 

 immediately adjacent section. 



A progressive series of implements 



