COUNCILS AND CEREMONIES OF ADOPTION OF NEW YORK INDIANS 44I 



Some notice has been taken of a quantity of articles found in a 

 large ossuary in Niagara county. The writer has since seen the 

 entire collection securing figures of these and other valuable articles 

 found in that region. Among the latter are fine bird amulets. 

 Many fine articles along the Susquehanna have had brief notices, 

 but the figures and descriptions are as yet unpublished. This is 

 also the case with many unique fragments of Indian pottery. The 

 evolution of the human face and form on earthenware can now be 

 fully illustrated, and many handles of vessels have been found. 

 The rare pottery with circular bosses on the outside has several 

 times been secured, and better figures of perfect vessels can now 

 be had. Perhaps in no one department has there been a more dis- 

 tinct advance in our knowledge than in that of earthenware of all 

 kinds, since the publication of the bulletin on this subject. 



Since the treatment of metallic implements and ornaments many 

 interesting examples have come to light, one fine specimen being 

 from a burial mound. A number of photographs of wampum belts, 

 whose history is of some interest, have also been secured. As was 

 anticipated, the publication of this series of bulletins has called out 

 information on almost every subject, and there is abundant ma- 

 terial now in hand to round out our knowledge of the aborigines 

 of New York to a great ex-tent. 



/ One interesting class of relics has not been mentioned, bel??g 

 European in character, though Indian in use. Nothing pleased the 

 aborigines more than the early glass beads. They were used in vast 

 quantities and were often of fine designs. Of course they are rarer 

 now on Indian sites than they once were, but the writer has handled 

 many thousands, and figured hundreds, plain or in colors. The 

 reader need expect none as large as a hen's egg, as sometimes 

 reported, but some are as large as the egg of the crow. These 

 massive ones are angular, with concentric starry patterns of many 

 colors appearing at the ends. From this they range down to those 

 of a very small size. Those of the size and form of a pea are either 

 a rich blue or Indian red as a rule, but other colors appear. Some- 

 what larger globular beads are striped or have the internal star 

 pattern, and similar forms are used in our kindergartens now. On 

 Iroquois sites later than 1620 they abound, and occasionally appear 

 on camps. 



