14 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



•sites in New York, but there is little reason to think them made by 

 the red man. Such pipes Williams probably saw among' the Rhode 

 Island Indians. They could cast pewter and lead, and he too 

 quickly determined that all were made by them. The copper used 

 along the Atlantic coast at the beginning of colonization is now 

 generally conceded to be European, with some rude articles of native 

 metal here and there. The mouth of the St Lawrence was so long 

 haunted by European fishermen that many things may have found 

 their way southward along the coast through aboriginal trade, but 

 it is equally probable that some adventurer pushed his vessel along 

 the shore, without recording his trip. 



The writer's general conclusion is that native copper articles were 

 not in use in New York as late as the year 1600, but that European 

 articles of brass or copper were used along the seashore, and had 

 even reached the interior by that time. 



One article from the Mohawk valley, not represented here, is a 

 stone mold for casting lead or pewter ornaments. It is a flat piece 

 <>f stone in which three circles have been neatly cut, each with 

 several deeper depressions, to form bosses on the rings. The 

 diameter is about that of a common cent, and there are sloping 

 grooves to carry off the superfluous metal, or to run the metal into 

 (lie mold, that being covered. 



Native copper ornaments 



While implements of native copper have been found in New York, 

 ornaments are very rare and mostly confined to beads. A very 

 few are undetermined, but several forms found elsewhere are unre- 

 ported here. On the other hand, no state has yielded more recent 

 metallic ornaments, and the use of some peculiar forms yet con- 

 tinues. There is little that is certain as to the date of these earlier 

 articles, but most of them may be allowed quite a respectable 

 antiquity. The recent ones can often be dated within a score of 

 years, being found on sites whose age and time of duration are 

 known. 



The native copper beads of New York are either small spheres 

 or hollow cylinders, and of these the first seem most numerous. 



