38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
ax or broad gouge from Avon N. Y. given to that museum by 
Dr William Nisbert. This form seems more common in the 
Genesee valley and that of the Susquehanna than elsewhere. 
The general form is that of the ax, but the edge is slightly hol- 
lowed, as will be seen in one of the sections. Fig. 177 shows a 
piece of native copper given by Dr Nisbert and coming from the 
same place. It has been hammered into a rude celtlike form but 
has not been finished. Its importance is in this lack of comple- 
tion, showing that some native copper articles may have been 
made here. Very few of such fragments have been found. bi 
_ Fig. 173 is from an article entitled “ The mound-builders,” by 
W. L. Stone, in the September number of the Magazine of Ameri- 
can history, 1878, p. 5382. It is of a spearhead found in 1876, near 
the outlet of Saratoga lake and north of Moon’s Lake house, by 
J. W. Coit. Fig. 174 is from the same article and is a figure of a 
similar but larger spearhead. This was found the same year by 
Horace Kelly, 2 miles up the lake on the Ramsdill farm. The 
point has been broken off. Both these slender spearheads have 
pointed tangs and are typical specimens. | | 
In the same article Mr Kelly is credited with finding another 
fine spearhead at Ramsdill’s cove on Saratoga lake. No descrip- 
tion or figure of this is given but Mr Stone said it was tinged 
with red, apparently vermilion. If this were the case the article 
would be modern. Another curious find by the same person was 
a skull, colored on each side by verdigris. From this Mr Stone 
inferred the use of copper earrings. His article has some inter- — 
esting statements and curious conclusions. Considering its — 
sparse population the region about Saratoga and Lake Champlain 
has been unusually prolific in native copper articles. It is prob- 
able they were brought directly from Lake Superior, through the ~ 
Georgian bay and Ottawa river to the St Lawrence, and thence 
into Lake Champlain. This was an early and well known route. 
Fig. 172 is a fine and broad spearhead of native copper from a 
drawing by Mr Van Epps, made Aug. 1, 1901. It was found in — 
Saratoga county many years ago and now belongs to William T. 
Becker of Schenectady. In this specimen the broad tang is auite 
short and by itself would have afforded a slight hold to the shaft. 
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