a 
308 Aboriginal Monuments and Relics of New York. 
were the weaker efforts of a colony, starting from the south- 
western centres, or the ruder beginnings of a people just emerg- 
ing from a nomadic state, becoming fixed in their habits, and 
subsequently migrating southward, next suggested itself; and I 
gladly availed myself of the joint liberality of the Smithsonian 
Institution and the Historical Society of New York, to undertake 
its investigation. The results of my observations are briefly pre- 
sented in the following pages. These observations extended 
from the county of St. Lawrence on the north, to Chautauque 
on the south, embracing the counties of Jefferson, Oswego, Onon- 
daga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Wayne, Monroe, Livings- 
ton, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Genesee, and Wyoming. Through- 
out this entire region, ancient remains are found in considerable 
abundance; they are also occasionally found in the counties 
adjoining those above named, upon the principal tributaries of 
the Delaware, Susquehannah, and Alleghany. They are known 
to extend down the Susquehannah, as far as the valley of the 
Wyoming; and a single one was discovered as far east as Mont- 
gomery county, in the neighborhood of Fort Plain. Some, It 
is said, are found in Canada; but no definite information was 
received of their localities. It is to be observed that they are 
most numerous in sections remarkable for their fertility of soil, 
their proximity to favorable hunting and fishing grounds—~in 
short, possessing the greatest number of requisites to easy sub- 
sistence. They are particularly numerous in Jefferson county, in 
the vicinity of the central lakes, in the southern part of Monroe, 
in Livingston, Genesee, and Erie counties. Many are said to 
exist in Chautauque; but the lateness of the season, and the 
unsuspected number of remains elsewhere claiming attention, 
prevented me from examining them. £-e 
In respect to the number of these remains, some estimate may 
- 
allotted to the investigation of that county. It is safe to estimate _ 
enabled to ascertain the localities of not less than one hundr 
warranted in estimating the number which originally existed in 
state at from two hundred to two hundred and fifty. Proba- _ 
bly one half of these have been obliterated by the plough, oF 80 
much encroached upon as to be no longer satisfactorily traced. 
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