82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



A very pretty elliptical gorget of dark green striped slate is from 

 the Oneida River, and has two holes. It is two and seven eighths 

 by one and one fourth inches. A very large and thin one from 

 the same river, has two small holes. It is of green striped slate, 

 and nearly rectangular. The dimensions are seven and one fourth 

 by three and three fourths inches. One of polished sandstone, but 

 with a sharp convex edge is from Black Creek, near Oneida Lake. 

 The form approaches the triangular, and it is seven inches long by 

 three and three eighths wide. There is but one hole. This seems 

 more like an implement than most, but sharp edges are not un- 

 common. 



Those with notches, also, are not rare. One of black slate, from 

 Lake Champlain, has notched ends and but one hole. It is seven 

 inches long by one and seven eighths wide. Others might be de- 

 scribed from Chautauqua County, with this feature, as well as from 

 other places. In fact they were so striking a part of personal 

 decoration in early days, that they may be said to occur everywhere. 



GROOVED AXES 



Grooved axes are extremely rare in most parts of Vermont, 

 New York and Canada, though not altogether unknown. Out of 

 419 in Mr. Douglass' collection but two were from New York, and 

 Dr. Rau figured none. Mr. Gerard Fowke said, ' In the eastern and 

 interior States the grooved axes are far more abundant than the 

 celts of the same size, because, as a rule, only the larger implements 

 of this class are grooved. All the ordinary varieties of axes and 

 hatchets are found about Lake Champlain, by far the most abund- 

 ant being celts or grooveless axes.' Between there and Lake Erie 

 a grooved axe is a rare find indeed. In the later days they were 

 not in use among the Iroquois as far as appears, and it may be ques- 

 tioned whether some occasionally found in New York, may not in 

 some instances have been lost by collectors. 



In his history of Onondaga, Mr. J. V. H. Clark represented that 

 hundreds of these, particularly described, had been found on an 

 Elbridge site, but farther inquiry proved this an unaccountable mis- 

 take. They sometimes occur, but are evidently foreign to the soil. 



