NO. 8 MANAHOAC TRIBES IN VIRGINIA — ^BUSHNELL 1/ 



man. It was near the island that several hundred Manahoac Indians, 

 the last of the native trihes to claim the country, had gathered early 

 in August 1608, when some were met by the English who had ascended 

 the Rappahannock, and it is easily conceived that it had served as a 

 gathering place for others through centuries. As related by Amoro- 

 leck, the Manahoac man who had been wounded and taken captive, 

 the English were not discovered by the Indians until he and " those 

 with him came thither fishing ". 



Fish traps may have extended across the rocky bed of the river, 

 below the island, in the year 1608 as some do at the present time. 

 Those still existing have been used in recent years, but by whom they 

 were originally constructed will never be ascertained. Traps similar 

 to these, however, had undoubtedly been made by the Manahoac, as 

 well as by others who had preceded them in the region. They resemble 

 the traps in the James River at Richmond, described by Beverley more 

 than two centuries ago. 



Fragments of pottery found a few years ago on the right bank of 

 the Rappahannock opposite the middle of the large island are illus- 

 trated in plate 3. The site, which was cultivated w^ien the discoveries 

 were made but is now in grass, is shown in plate 2. on the extreme left 

 above and adjoining the circular track." 



The 12 sherds belong to several types of ware that dififer in texture 

 and decoration. The nine pieces above are parts of rims of vessels. 

 The three on the right, a, are of a light yellowish-gray color and are 

 very hard. They were made of a fine, clean clay and contain no par- 

 ticles of stone. Although very hard, they are extremely porous, owing 

 to the disappearance of the tempering material. Evidently a vegetal 

 substance had served as the tempering material ; possibly stems of 

 grass or bits of wood had been reduced to the proper size and mixed 

 with the clay. A fresh fracture through the lowest of the three speci- 

 mens revealed particles of carbon filling small cavities, but the greater 

 part of the material, after having been carbonized, had leached away, 

 leaving the many small cavities. The fragments are decorated with 

 incised lines. 



The three specimens b are fragments of rims of large vessels. All 

 are black, hard, and compact, and are tempered with finely pulverized 

 quartz. 



The two pieces c may have belonged to the same vessel, and resemble 

 in texture specimens a. The fracture at the bottom of the lower speci- 



" All specimens shown in plates 3 and 4 were collected by F. M. Aldridge, 

 Fredericksburg, Va., by whom the pottery has been presented to the U. S. 

 National Museum. 



