54 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



some wooden handles, and the perforation gradually contracts, 

 showing an important difference in the mode of drilling. The size 

 is four and one half long by one and one fourth inches in diameter. 

 The illustration is reduced. 



Fig. 130 is a large and angular tube of soapstone, much curved, 

 and with a raised band in the central part. It is eight and one half 

 inches long, and is from Allegany County. The same form occurs 

 in Tennessee, but is rare. 



Three of a greenish white and soft slate were found in a grave by 

 Otisco Lake some years since. They are in fragments, all of which 

 were not saved, and are of the same general character as the first 

 described from Palatine Bridge. The expanded end is one and 

 three eighths inches in diameter, and the general thickness is one 

 and one eighth inches, thus closely corresponding in size. Full 

 accounts of those at Palatine Bridge and Swanton have been pub- 

 lished in the American Naturalist, and some particulars regarding 

 the Otisco tubes may be of interest. They were unearthed many 

 years ago, in digging foundations for a barn on the east side of 

 Otisco Lake, and were thrown into a soap box with other things, 

 some of which were taken away from time to time. Two skeletons 

 lay side by side with them, well preserved; also arrow points, and 

 lumps of red and white paint. They were about two feet under 

 ground, and the skeletons had their heads to the west. Among the 

 fragments left are two perforated end pieces, and the size of other 

 pieces indicates at least three tubes. Being broken the circular 

 lines of the boring within are plainly seen, and the perforation 

 rapidly contracts near the small hole by a series of four or five cir- 

 cular ridges. Some of the fragments are stained within and without 

 with red paint, but probably did not contain this. The graves were 

 on Mr. Van Benthuysen's farm north of Amber. 



One of reddish grey sandstone, found east of the Seneca River in 

 1 841, and therefore one of the earliest brought to light, was described 

 by the owner as a stone faucet, which it resembles. It is tapering, 

 and thickest near the center. The length is six and one eighth 

 inches, and the diameter one and one half in the thickest part. The 

 orifice is three fourths and five eighths of an inch. 



