was first girdled and allowed to die, 
then by judicious application of fire 
and a grooved axe it wasfelled. Fires 
were then built upon its upper surface 
and the charred wood was chopped or 
‘scraped away with stone axes, adzes, 
chisels and gouges, until a hollow shell 
remained. The graceful shape was 
given by the same process and the canoe 
was complete. Sometimes these canoes 
were forty or more feet in length. 
The implements of domestic use were 
pottery, bark and _ stone vessels, 
baskets, wooden spoons and bowls, etc. 
For the chase the stone or antler- 
tipped arrow and a sinew-backed bow, 
perhaps six feet in height were used. 
Bone hooks were possibly used in fish— 
ing, but the net was probably a far more 
popular device on Staten Island, as may 
be inferred from the large number of 
net-sinkers which have been found. 
In time of warthe bow and arrows and 
the stone knife andtomahawk, played an 
important part, but after the advent of 
the whites these were set aside for the 
rifle, steel or iron trade axe, and knife. 
In preparing for war the warriors 
were accustomed to shave their heads, 
leaving a small crest running from fore- 
head to neck, which stood upright, and 
gave a most ferocious appearance to the 
wearer. They probably went almost 
naked, being clad in but breech clout 
and moccassins, and were well oiled to 
prevent an enemy from securing a good 
hold in close quarters. Horrible de— 
vices were painted upon the face and 
body, to inspire fear, or from a savage 
idea of ornament. 
In the year 1679 when Hans Dankers 
and Peter Sluyter, the MLabadist 
preachers, visited Staten Island, they 
made no mention of seeing Indians here, 
and as the majority had left four years 
before, in 1675, this is not to be wonder- 
ed at. Nevertheless they saw many 
Indians at ‘‘Najack’’ (Fort Hamilton), 
and as these Indians (probably the 
Canarsies) were essentially the same 
as our Raritans, I may perhaps be for- 
given for quoting their description of 
them. 
‘“‘We soon heard a noise of pounding, 
like threshing, and went to the place 
whence it proceeded, and found there 
an old Indian woman busily employed 
beating Turkish beans out of the pods 
by means of a stick, which she did with 
astonishing force and dexterity. Gerrit 
[their guide] inquired of her, in the 
Indian language, which he spoke per- 
fectly well, how old she was, and she 
answered eighty years; at which we 
were still more astonished that so old a 
woman should still have so much 
strength and courage to work as she 
did. Wewent thence to her habitation, 
where we found the whole troop to- 
gether, consisting of seven or eight 
families, and twenty or twenty-two 
persons. Their house was low and 
long, about sixty feet long and fourteen 
or fifteen wide. 
‘‘The bottom was earth, the sides and 
roof were made of reed and the bark of 
chestnut trees; the posts or columns 
were limbs of trees stuck in the ground 
and all fastened together. The ridge of 
the roof was often about half a foot wide 
from end to end, in order to let the 
smoke escape, in place of a chimney. 
On the sides of the house the roof was 
so low that you could hardly stand un- 
der it. The entrances, which were at 
both ends, were sosmall that they hail 
tostoop down and squeeze themselves 
to get through them. The doors were 
made of reed or flat bark. Inthe whole 
building there was no iron, stone, lime 
or lead. 
‘‘They build their fire in the middle 
of the floor, according to the number of 
their families. so that from one end to 
the other each boils its own pot and eats 
what it likes, not only the families by 
