l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 89 



pie of the two groups were very similar, and undoubtedly all hunted 

 the deer in the same way ; consequently Smith's account would ap- 

 ply equally well to the people of the Siouan and Algonquian tribes. 

 He wrote in part, first mentioning the distance an arrow would 

 carry (p. 365) :" "Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare 

 the marke, and 120 is their best at Random. 



" Having found the Deere, they environ them with many fires 

 and betwixt the fires they place themselves. And some take their 

 stands in the midsts. The Deere being thus feared by the fires and 

 their voyces, they chase them so long within that circle that many 

 times they kill 6, 8, 10, or 15 at a hunting. They use also to drive 

 them into some narrow poynt of land, when they find that advan- 

 tage : and so force them into the river, where with their boats they 

 have Ambuscadoes to kill them." 



The high ground on the Oliver farm, with the plateau sloping to 

 the south, east, and north to the marshy borders of the two small 

 streams, would have been well suited for hunting as described, and 

 this is believed to explain the occurrence of such quantities of arrow- 

 heads found scattered over the surface. It was a great hunting 

 ground, and nearby are indications of small camps that had been 

 reared by the hunters in the primeval forest. 



Here, as elsewhere throughout the country, the discovery of vast 

 numbers of projectile points affords an interesting subject for study, 

 and it is evident that the facility with which an Indian hunter could 

 replenish his supply explains the occurrence of such quantities. 

 Smith, who had undoubtedly witnessed the making of stone points, 

 referred to a hunter when he wrote (p. 68) : " His arrow head he 

 quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his bracer, 

 of any splint of a stone, or glasse in the forme of a hart; and these 

 they glew to the end of their arrowes. With the sinewes of Deare, 

 and the tops of Deares homes boiled to a ielly, they make a glew 

 that will not dissolve in cold water." With these simple means an 

 ordinary point would probably have been made in a few minutes, 

 and material was plentiful. 



More than 2,500 arrowpoints and other small chipped objects have 

 been collected during the past three years from an area of about half 

 a mile square, at the junction of the branches of the Hardware, in- 

 cluding the Oliver farm and adjoining lands. These vary in form 

 and material, but the vast majority are of quartz and quartzite, much 

 of which had undoubtedly been secured nearby. Typical examples 

 are shown in plates 6, 7, and 8, and may be briefly described. 



7 Smith, Capt. John. Works. 1608-1631. Arber ed. Birmingham, 1884. 



