OF 
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PROCEEDINGS 
THE 
NATURAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION 
ISLAND. 
VOL VIII No 23 
The regular monthly meeting of the 
Association was held at the residence 
of Mr. Read Benedict, West New 
_ Brighton. ‘ 
_ In the absence of the President and 
_ the Secretary, Mr. Edw. M. Strothers 
was elected temporary Chairman and 
Mr. O. M. Curtis, acting Secretary. 
_ The Curator reported that arrange- 
_ ments had been made for the delivery to 
_ the Association during the coming week 
_ of the mineralogical collection of the late 
_ Robert T. Robinson and the collection 
of birds’ nests and eggs belonging to 
_Mr. Beverly W. Robinson. 
_ Mr. Wm. T. Davis, for the Committee 
on Re-naming of Streets and Highways, 
stated that in accordance with the reso- 
lution passed at the last meeting, a 
_ typewritten copy of the report presented 
_ at that time, had been sent to Mr. George 
Cromwell. 
Mr. Edw. M. Strothers, for the Com- 
mittee on Parks, reported that according 
to the daily press, the bill to preserve 
_ the Billopp House site, had passed both 
_ branches of the Legislature, and only 
_ needed the Governor’s signature to be- 
come a law. 
Mr. Alanson B. Skinner read the fol- 
_ lowing paper: 
IROQUOIAN INFLUENCE ON THE STATEN 
‘ ISLAND INDIANS. 
. _ About the time of the Dutch governors 
of New Amsterdam, the cry of Mohawk 
MAY 9th, 1903 
would have caused the greatest con- 
sternation if uttered in one of the many 
little Algonkin villages in the vicinity, 
and not without good reason, for when 
a Mohawk war party arrived it was 
wise for the inhabitants to emigrate. 
The people of Aquehonga were not 
exempt from such visits, for it is well 
known that the Mohawks conquered all 
the Indians in this neighborhood. So 
far as I have been able to find out, 
however, there is no record of any Iro- 
quois inroads having occurred on Staten 
Island in historic times, but that they 
did occur and that the Mohawks did 
have considerable influence on the Rari-— 
tans of Staten Island is unmistakably 
proved by those imperishable imple- 
ments of clay and stone, which the red 
men were fortunately unable to take 
with them on their journey to the 
‘‘Happy Hunting Grounds.’’ 
A stone arrow head, a net sinker, a 
hammer stone, is much the same article 
the world over. Arrow heads from 
Denmark are nearly indistinguishable 
from those from Ohio; while an arrow 
head from Australia may look exactly 
like one from New York. Thus it is 
with the stone implements, but with the » 
pottery—there we have the whole story. 
Though the Mohawk style of chipping 
flint was identical with that of the 
Raritans, yet their higher scale of 
civilization rendered the Troqyois pottery 
beautiful in form and decot ation, while 
\ My 2. 
sctf" 
