REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I913 99 



George Foster Peabody, State Commissioner of Saratoga Springs, 

 appropriate Indian names were selected for certain springs at Sara- 

 toga. These names are from the Algonkian or Iroquoian languages 

 and may be verified as correct by any student of these tongues. 



The publications relating to archeology and ethnology continue 

 to be in demand. The public call has exhausted the supply of 

 several of these bulletins. 



The degree with which this section of the Museum may be useful 

 as a source of information is shown by the very active interest 

 taken by educators, historians, ethnologists, sociologists and writers 

 of fiction, in the Iroquois confederacy. Scarcely any one of these 

 refers to the colonial history of New York without weaving in the 

 history of the Iroquois league and its unique influence. Our 

 archeological and ethnological sections have thus become sources of 

 information and as this fact becomes better known, are attracting 

 increasing attention. The completion of the Museum exhibits will 

 naturally stimulate this interest to the highest degree. 



NOTES ON CERTAIN ACQUISITIONS 



From Irondequoit creek has come a unique clay pipe. It was 

 collected by Mr B. Benro and acquired through the courtesy of 

 Frank H. Ward of Rochester. Mr Benro found it protruding in 

 the bank of the creek about 3 feet below the surface. The form 

 of the pipe as shown in the accompanying figure is like that of a 

 flattened war club or stone axe handle. It is flattened on each side 

 with a curved surface on the back side (away from the smoker). 

 The material is a compact clay, well baked and tempered with sand 

 containing mica. There is a fracture in the pipe just below the 

 curve, and the nipple or mouthpiece has been broken off. The 

 decoration is the familiar angular pattern made by filling the triangles 

 with parallel lines, using one side of the triangle as the base parallel. 

 Short lines more deeply incised, or long dots, are found at each 

 end of these triangles and seem to represent the stitching of quills 

 on birch bark. There is a stitched seam on the front (toward the 

 smoker) of the pipe, near the left side. The back and left side of 

 the pipe are more neatly decorated, as if done first. The top edge 

 of the bowl is decorated on the back and two sides with three 

 parallel lines at the edges of which are " long dots" or " stitch 

 markings." 



The bowl is about 2^ inches deep and extends to the bend. 

 The capacity of this bowl is greater than the usual Iroquois pipe. 



