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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



proves that the former inhabitants of the site had contact, direct or 

 indirect, with Europeans. That few objects of European metal 

 were found and no glass beads save a fragment of one indicates that 

 the people acquired them from a single trader or by trade from other 

 Indians. This latter conclusion in the light of evidence seems the 

 more probable. If the inhabitants of the site had contact, direct or 

 indirect, with the whites, then we may look for historical records 

 by which we may identify them. In the Jesuit Relations are found 

 many references to a people who inhabited the region of which 

 the Ripley site forms a part. These people are variously called 

 Eries, Eriegoneckkak, Eriehronnons, Eriee, Riquehronnons, Rhiier, 

 Nation des Chat, Cat Nation, Rhiierrhonnons, etc. etc. Besides the 

 accounts by the Jesuits there are several maps which place the Erie 

 Indians in this territory, notably the maps of Sanson of 1656 [see 



NouvE^LXx Beetagn-e, 



Fig. 19 A portion of Sanson's map of 1656 showing a part of the territory held by 

 the Eries up to 1654. The Ripley site lies in this territory. Eriechronons is one of the 

 names for the Eries frequently used by the early French explorers and missionaries. 



fig- 19] J of Creuxius of 1660, of LaHontan of 1690, and of Hen- 

 nepin of 1698. From these records and maps we may define the 

 territory of the Eries as the region bordering the southern shore of 



