l66 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



124 is Aunt Dinah's burden strap, and is of alternate flaxen and 

 purplish hues, being 5^ feet long. It belongs to the Onondaga 

 Historical Association. 



Both strings and ropes were made of elm bark, and figure 51 

 shows one of the latter, called an-hye-acW-hah by the Onondagas. 

 Fine bags were made of this. Clark thus describes one in which the 

 wampum belts were kept at Onondaga : 



The bag which contains these relics is of itself a singular curiosity. 

 It is made of the finest shreds of elm bark, and a person without 

 being apprised, might easily mistake it for the softest flax. Its 

 capacity would exceed a bushel. This bag is reputed to be as old 

 as the league itself, and certainly bears the marks of great antiquity. 

 Clark, 1 : 125 



The writer examined this 30 years later, and it was as well pre- 

 served as in Clark's day. It might have lasted to this time had it 

 not been cast aside when the belts were dispersed at Thomas 

 Webster's death. To make it coeval with the league is a mere fancy. 



Quantities of the inner elm bark are kept for use, after having been 

 boiled in lye, sometimes in loose masses and sometimes braided, as in 

 figure 49. Out of a mass of this at Onondaga, the writer took a 

 small piece for illustration in figure 50. It easily separates into very 

 fine filaments and is quite strong. The straps are woven in many 

 ways, and a blind Onondaga woman was very skilful at this work, 

 some of which remains. 



White men sometimes used the burden strap. When Cammerhoff 

 went from Onondaga to the Senecas in June 1750, he said : " We had 

 no straps for carrying. David went out and procured some inside 

 bark, and with it manufactured a pair as well as he could. Thus we 

 were able to carry our bundles." Cammerhoff, mss 



These were not so good as those the Indians made, as they found 

 when they came to Cayuga : " We bought a pair of straps for carry- 

 ing from our Gajuka's mother, as ours of bark would not answer 

 well, and our baggage had grown heavier. . . David had a great 

 load to carry, between 50 and 60 pounds, and besides his gun and 

 powder and lead." Cammerhoff, mss 



