140 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the log house for more than a century. The fires were placed 

 at intervals in the long aisle, with couches or floors on either side, 

 these huts often being of great length and holding many families. 



Their weapons were simple at first. An ungrooved stone ax, 

 a long bow and arrows, defensive armor including a shield at 

 times, a club with bone or stone inserted at the head, a knife of 

 stone or bone and afterward of steel, furnished all that was 

 needed in war. Nets and bone harpoons were used in fishing, 

 and more rarely lines with bone hooks. Weirs and hurdles were 

 also employed, but in shallow waters spearing was the favorite 

 mode. Arrows were tipped with bone, horn, or stone, and the 

 use of metal changed the material but not the form. Blowguns 

 were largely used. 



Baskets and mats were woven in an artistic manner, and weav- 

 ing embraced other simple articles. Thread and cords were made 

 of Indian hemp and the inner bark of the elm, sinews also being 

 used for many things. Baskets, bark vessels and carved wooden 

 bowls were found in every house, and every Iroquois had his 

 capacious and often handsome wooden spoon. At the period of 

 European contact pottery had gone beyond simple lining, pinch- 

 ing and dotting, and many clay vessels were ornamented with 

 the human face or figure. According to the maker's taste or skill, 

 such vessels were rude or elegant. This is true of the early pipes, 

 in which the Iroquois chiefly used fine clay. They were often 

 simple and of a curved trumpet form, but as frequently the bowl 

 had some tasteful figure, facing the smoker. Sometimes the pipe 

 was ornamented throughout. 



The true Iroquois canoe was of elm bark, quite clumsy in com- 

 parison with the graceful birch bark of the northern Algonquins 

 and Hurons. On the Mohawk river dugouts were sometimes 

 used. Snowshoes aided winter travel, and the back frame was in 

 favor for carrying some burdens. The sled was rarely used. 



Dress was.scanty in summer, but ample in winter, and had the 

 usual ornaments of feathers, beads or embroidery. Perforated 

 or grooved teeth were much used, and the introduction of bronze 

 and silver, with the white man's blanket, greatly changed primi- 



