POLISHED STONE ARTICLES USED BY THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES 7 I 



Many come from near Brewerton and Oneida Lake. One of 

 these is of brown banded slate, and has an irregular back. It is 

 slightly broken, and was originally six by two inches. Another 

 is of brown sandstone, and has a simple back neatly rounded on 

 both edges. It is a little over one and one fourth inches deep, but 

 was originally seven and three eighths wide. One of grey sand- 

 stone is five and three fourths by two and one eighth inches. An- 

 other of green slate is a true half circle, being five by two and one 

 half inches. It has a straight back, and a similar one has a thick- 

 ened back. Another, from Oswego County, is made of grey slate 

 and has a straight back. It is six inches wide by two and one 

 eighth deep. 



A very light drab slate knife was found a little east of Onondaga 

 Lake, and is five and three eighths by one and one fourth inches. 

 The back is quite irregular. Another, from the Seneca River, is 

 six and one eighth by two and one half inches; and still another of 

 red slate is five and one half by two inches. One from St. Law- 

 rence County has a simple back, which is more convex than usual. 

 It is seven and one half by two inches. A large and handsome one, 

 of purple slate, is from Cayuga Lake, and is six and one fourth by 

 two and one half inches. 



Dr. Rau figured a very fine one, in his Prehistoric Fishing, from 

 Newark Valley, in Tioga County, which is six and three fourths 

 inches wide/and has a thick curving back. Two others in that work 

 are from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and others are added 

 from the Eskimo of Norton Sound in Alaska, one of which is a 

 frequent New York form. 



Although most of those mentioned have been found in a few local- 

 ities, they probably have a much larger distribution, while it is also 

 true that they become rarer as we proceed west and south. In but 

 few instances is the sweep of the blade quite a half circle, and those 

 with thick backs are less symmetrical than those without. Their 

 purpose is evident, from their use by the present Eskimo, being 

 identical with the Ulu or woman's knife. Whether that people 

 actually reached New York will not be debated now, but the opinion 

 of those who think the Northmen found them in New England nine 



