INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND AND VICINITY 



' 



By Alanson Skinner, 



Department of Anthropology. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THERE is no subject which 

 makes a more forceful appeal 

 to the student, the historian, 

 or even the general reader, than that 

 of tne native inhabitants of what is 

 now Greater New York; yet there is 

 no subject upon which it is more 

 difficult to obtain information, for our 

 Colonial ancestors have left us but few 

 accounts of their observations, and 

 these are in tomes that are rare and 

 difficult of access. 



The aborigines themselves have so 

 nearly passed into oblivion, that no 

 help can be obtained from their 

 scattered and degenerate remnants in 

 exile in the west, so that we must turn 

 to two sources for our knowledge; 

 the writings of the first white settlers, 

 already mentioned, and the archaeo- 

 logical remains, the imperishable 

 objects of stone, clay, bone and antler, 

 which the vanished red men have left 

 behind them on their ancient dwelling 

 places. 



The writings of the Colonists tell us 

 that in appearance the Manhattans 

 and their neighbors were tall and well- 

 built, with black hair and eyes and 

 not unpleasing faces. Their dispo- 

 sition is noted as mild, except when 

 aroused, when they are said to have 

 been very greedy of vengeance. 



The men shaved their heads, or 

 rather burned off their hair with hot 

 stones, leaving often a standing roach 



of stiff black hair two or three inches 

 high and as many broad, running from 

 the forehead to the nape of the neck, 

 and the lock which hung from the 

 crown was generally allowed to grow 

 much longer. This was the famous 

 scalplock, which the warrior culti- 

 vated in defiance of the enemy, who 

 might take it if he could. Sometimes 

 they wore a roach of red dyed deer 

 hair, exactly similar to those worn by 

 the Sauk, Fox, Menomini, and other 

 tribes of the Central West today. 

 Our Indians did not wear the feather 

 war-bonnet so characteristic of the 

 Sioux and other tribes of the Great 

 Plains, and which is now always 

 placed upon the Indians in the con- 

 ventional drawings picturing the 

 sale of Manhattan Island. 



The Manhattans and their neigh- 

 bors, unlike the Indians west and 

 north of them, wore no shirts or coats. 

 Instead, they covered the upper parts 

 of their bodies with robes made of 

 dressed deer leather, of wolf, wildcat, 

 or bear fur, or of the shimmering 

 feathers of the wild turkey, neatly 

 attached to a netted fabric. So closely 

 and carefully were these feathers 

 applied that they are said to have shed 

 the rain. 



The men also wore loin cloths or 

 breechclouts of dressed leather, and 

 leggings and moccasins of the same 

 material. The moccasins of all the 



