POLISHED STONE ARTICLES USED BY THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES 6l 



ornamental in this, but it might readily be used as the Zuni amulets 

 were. 



Another, almost exactly like this, was found at Onondaga Lake, 

 but is a little longer. Still another of striped slate, very uniform 

 in thickness throughout, was found on the Oneida River in 1879. 

 It had lain for centuries in low land, and was much discolored. The 

 length was five and one fourth inches, and the width and depth one 

 inch each. One from Wayne County is of dark green slate, and has 

 small notches or tally marks along the edges. It has a flattened 

 top, which may have been a curving ridge at first, and is five and 

 one eighth inches long by three quarters of an inch high. A broken 

 one, of the same material, comes from Brewerton, and another, of 

 brownish slate, was found near the Willard Asylum on Seneca Lake. 

 This is four inches long. 



BOAT STONES 



Mr. Fowke classes the boat stones as a division of the banner 

 stones, sometimes calling them gorgets; neither of which do they 

 much resemble. They are not always perforated, though this may 

 have been the ultimate intention. When this has been done there 

 are usually two holes, bored from the same side. Banner stones 

 have commonly but one hole, which is large, central, and quite uni- 

 form. Gorgets may have several, and each one is usually drilled 

 from both sides. The banner stones might have been used on a 

 staff, whether they were or not. No such use could have been made 

 either of boat stone or gorget. Very often, however, fine examples 

 of the former are not perforated, and have little in common with 

 the other implements mentioned. 



Few true boat stones, if by this is to be understood those which 

 have been excavated, are to be found in New York. The excava- 

 tion, however, may be merely a device to make the stone lighter, 

 rather than an essential feature. If this is allowed, as seems reason- 

 able, many might be placed under this head. 



Fig. 154 is one of these, four and one eighth inches long, and 

 seven eighths of an inch high. It is a little over an inch in width, 

 and a lateral section gives a long triangle, the deepest part being 

 near one end. Before and behind this are perforations from top 



