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NN ae a a i e hig o a 
1878.] Relic Hunting on the Mohawk. 777 
RELIC HUNTING ON THE MOHAWK. 
BY S. L. FREY. 
p these latter days there has been a great impetus given to the 
study of archæology, and many astonishing discoveries have 
been made by men digging in the dust and rubbish of the past. 
We have all been interested in the stories of Schliemann and 
Di Cesnola, and have looked with much curiosity upon the valu- 
able treasures they have unearthed. Men like John Evans and 
Boucher de Perthes have, by their study of the implements of 
the Stone Age, thrown a flood of light upon the pre-historic 
times of Europe, and the controversy concerning the age of man 
upon the earth, which now waxes so hot, will doubtless eventuate 
in approximately determining that question. 
The golden wonders of Mycenæ and the bones of Agamemnon, 
“King of Men,” are certainly worth digging for; terra-cottas 
from Cypréśs, and statues from Olympia, and Babylonian tablets 
take us back into the far past, and rough flints from the caves and 
gravel beds may lead us to look upon the paleolithic man as a 
brother. 
But while everybody has heard of these strange discoveries in 
the “ far countries,” very few know anything about the antiquities 
of our own country, or of the relics of the Stone Age that He 
scattered over the fields all about us. 
I have been so much interested myself in the relics left by the 
old Mohawk Indians, that I trust it may not be without interest 
to the readers of this magazine if I describe a few of the things 
picked up, from time to time, upon their old village sites. The 
relics of all peoples are interesting as illustrating the manner in 
which they have groped their way up from lower depths of sav- 
agism, and valuable for comparison with objects of similar types 
from other parts of the world. 
The similarity that exists among the relics of all Stone Age 
peoples is a fact that becomes apparent at once to an observer. 
It is interesting and surprising, and shows that they have all 
traveled the same hard road, and out of their necessities have 
wrought out many similar inventions. 
The traveler of to-day, as he passes through the beautiful 
Mohawk valley, has little to remind him of the former savage 
owners of the soil, who, long before the advent of the Whites, 
