6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
METALLIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NEW YORK INDIANS 
The stone and bronze ages of Europe have little reference to 
America except in a very broad sense. Using stone implements. 
here from the earliest times to the present day, men may have 
used copper also in New York when the whites came, as some 
others had done centuries before. There had been a time when 
durable or massive implements were made of this. Customs 
changed. The later New York aborigines knew little or nothing 
of these implements, and others employed the material only in 
an ornamental or reverential way. The earlier nations did not 
despise this use, and welt wrought articles for personal adorn- 
ment are found in many parts of the United States and Canada. 
South of our national limits beautiful early articles of silver 
and gold occur. Recent metallic ornaments are frequent in 
New York, but none have been reported of native copper except 
beads. . 
Most of the early discoverers had something to say of copper 
ornaments, but these may not have been of native metal in all 
cases. When the Cabots landed at Newfoundland or Nova 
Scotia in June 1497, they observed that “the inhabitants had 
plenty of copper,” probably the native metal. When Verrazano 
visited the coast of New England in 1524, he saw many articles 
of wrought copper, highly esteemed for their color and beauty. 
The source of these may be doubtful. Cartier found no copper 
among the Iroquois of Montreal on his visit there in 1535, but 
heard of it. ‘“* They took the chayne of our capitaines whistle, 
which was of silver, and the dagger-haft of one our fellow mar- 
iners, hanging on his side being of yellow copper guilt, and 
showed us that such stuffe came from the said river. 
Our capitaine shewed them redde copper, which in their lan- 
guage they call Caquedaze, and looking towarde that countrey, 
with signes asked him if any came from thence, they shaking 
their heads answered no; but they shewed us that it came from 
Saguenay, and that lyeth cleane contrary to the other.”— 
Dawson, p. 37 | 
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