70 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS OF NEW YORK. 



has lost its color, and appears like chalk. A piece had been cut from its base, 

 probably for making the beads that were found in it.* From the base of the col- 

 umella of the smahest shell a piece had been cut, evidently for the purpose of man- 

 ufacturing beads. The extreme point of the base of each shell 

 had a perforation through it. 



" The axe. Fig. 6, is of nearly the same model with the toma- 

 hawk now in use among the Chippeway Indians, though very 

 much larger, measuring eleven inches in length and six inches 

 and a half along its cutting edge. Numbers of these have been 

 found in the neighborhood on newly cleared land. 



" The pipe is imperfect. It is made of the earthenware of 

 which so many specimens are found in the neighborhood, in 

 the form of vessels and pipes. The spots where the manufac- 

 ture of these articles was carried on are still to be seen in some 



Fig. 6. ^ 



places. 



" The beads are formed of a white chalky substance, varying in degree of 

 density and hardness ; they are accurately circular, with a circular perforation in 

 the centre ; of different sizes, from a quarter to half an inch, or rather more, in 

 diameter ; but nearly all of the same thickness, not quite the eighth of an inch. They 

 may be compared to a peppermint lozenge with a hole through the centre. They 

 were found in bunches or strings, and a good many were still closely strung on 

 a fibrous woody substance. The bracelet is a simple band of copper, an inch 

 and a half broad, closely fitting the wrist. The hair is long, evidently that of a 

 woman, and quite fresh in appearance. 



" Another pit, about two miles from that just noticed, was also examined in 

 September. It is considerably smaller, being not more than nine feet in diameter, 

 by about the same original depth. It is situated on rising ground, in a light sandy 

 soil, and there is nothing remarkable in its position. A beech-tree, six inches thick, 

 grew from its centre. It contained about as many skeletons as the other pit, but 

 had no kettles in it. The bones were of individuals of both sexes and of all ages. 

 Among them were a few foetal bones. Many of the skulls bore marks of violence, 

 leading to the belief that they were broken before burial. One was pierced by a 

 round hole, like that produced by a musket ball. A single piece of a brass vessel 

 was found in the pit ; it had been packed in furs. A large number of shell beads, 

 of various sizes, were also found here. Besides these, there were some cylindrical 

 pieces of earthenware and porcelain or glass tubes, from an eighth to a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter, and from a quarter to two inches long.f The former had the 

 appearance of red and white tobacco-pipes, worn away by friction, the latter of 

 red and white glass. A hexagonal body, with flat ends, about an inch and a half 

 in diameter, and an inch thick, was also found. It was composed of some kind of 

 porcelain, of hard texture, nearly vitreous, and much variegated in color, with 

 alternate layers of red, blue, and white. It was perforated through the centre. 



* Dr. Bern W. Budd, of New York, states that this shell, the pyrula perversa, abounds in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and particularly in Mobile Bay. It has also been found by the officers of the U. S. Coast Sur- 

 vey as far north as Cape Fear, in North Carolina. 



t These were -learly the European I'nitations of '^e much piized Indian wampum. 



