REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I9II 201 



years bore his name. Some local historians, in writing concerning 

 Staten island, have placed the scene of Colman's death at. the locality 

 now known as the Cove, in West New Brighton, Staten island, but 

 there is little evidence to confirm this. 



At a later date Vslu der Donck stated the young warriors wore 

 " a band about their heads, manufactured and braided, of scarlet 

 deer hair, interwoven with soft shiny red hair,'' perhaps very much 

 like the deer's hair head dresses worn today by the Sauk and Fox, 

 Sioux and other modern tribes, " with this head dress they appear 

 like the delineations and paintings of the Catholic saints. . 

 When a young Indian is dressed this way he would not say plum 

 for a bushel of plums. But this decoration is seldom worn unless 

 they have a young woman in view." 



" The women wear a cloth around their bodies, fastened by a 

 girdle, which extends below their knees, and is as much as an under- 

 coat ; they wear a dressed deer skin coat, girt around the waist. The 

 lower body of this skirt, they ornament with great art, and nestle 

 the same with strips which are tastefully decorated with wampum. 

 The wampum with which one of these skirts is ornamented is fre- 

 quently worth from one to three hundred guilders. They bind their 

 hair behind in a club about a hand long, in the form of a beaver's 

 tail, over which they draw a square cap, which is frequently orna- 

 mented with wampum. When they desire to be fine they draw a 

 head band around the forehead which is also ornamented with 

 wampum, etc. This band confines the hair smooth, and is fastened 

 behind over the club, in a beau's knot. Their head dress forms a 

 handsome and lively appearance. Around their necks they wear 

 various ornaments, wdiich are also decorated with wampum. Those 

 they esteem as highly as our ladies do their pearl necklaces. They 

 also wear hand bands or bracelets curiously wrought, and inter- 

 woven with wampum. Their breasts appear about half covered with 

 an elegantly wrought dress. They wear beautiful girdles, orna- 

 mented with their favorite wampum, and costly ornaments in their 

 ears. Here and there, they lay upon their faces black spots of paint. 

 Elk hide moccasins they wore before the Dutch came, and they too 

 v/ere most richly ornamented." 



Van der Donck states that chiefs or men of wealth and importance 

 had a plurality of wives, but that this was not the rule. Chastity 

 seems to have been considered a virtue, and was much more common 

 in this immediate vicinity than among the Algonkin of the north. 



Enough has been here stated to give a general idea of the personal 

 appearance of the Indians about Fort Amsterdam at their first meet- 



