POLISHED STONE ARTICLES USED BY THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES 69 



well as deep notches. It is two and three eighths by one and three 

 eighths inches. Another from that vicinity, of black slate, is smooth 

 and thick. It is shouldered but there are suggestions of barbs, and 

 the base is nearly half the length. It is three and one eighth inches 

 long by one and one half wide. In all about ioo have been figured 

 and described in New York, and a smaller number in Canada. Of 

 New York specimens two thirds come from a territory of forty 

 miles square, and always near water. This is significant of their 

 use. 



THE WOMAN'S KNIFE 



Much better known than the double edged slate knife is the 

 semi-circular one, known as the Ulu, or woman's knife of the 

 Eskimo, and still in use by that people. In the interesting 

 examples figured by Prof. Otis T. Mason and others, will be 

 found those of metal and slate, which closely resemble those 

 of stone found in our fields, shown also with handles at- 

 tached. Ours, however, are never perforated, nor is the curved out- 

 line interrupted before reaching the back, thus answering to but a 

 division of these interesting implements. Dr. Abbott has well said, 

 ' As these semi-lunar knives are more abundant in New England 

 than in the Middle States, and do not appear to have been in use 

 among the southern coast tribes, it is probable that the pattern is 

 derived from the Eskimo, with whom the Northern Algonkins were 

 frequently in contact.' Dr. Rau endorsed this view. 



Since these eminent scientists published this opinion many of 

 these implements have been found in New York, perhaps more 

 than in all the New England States, and the features of their 

 distribution point to their use by northern visitors, rather 

 than by settled inhabitants. They are far from rare on both 

 sides of Lake Ontario, but most frequent toward the eastern end, 

 the part most accessible to the Eskimo. Very rarely they have 

 been found in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and are oftenest near 

 fishing resorts. They were unknown to the Iroquois. 



They are all essentially of the same form, the principal difference 

 being in having a simple or a thickened back, so that a very few 



