«889.] Cayuga Indian Relics. 405 
middle of the seventeenth century. In a very old grave Mr. 
Adams found a slender marrow-bone, the central part shaved 
down into a long elliptical opening. The cavity was filled with 
paint, and a slender pestle for mixing paint almost closed the 
orifice. In this grave was a large piece of mica. 
Some old burial places present curious features. In one 
spot an upper stratum of bones had been disturbed, but on re- 
moving a layer of soil two inches thick another would be found, 
and thus until the fourth bottom course was reached. Some- 
times a single skeleton occupied one course, and then there 
might be three or four side by side. Ten or twelve would be 
the average in the successive burials, but in one case there were 
over twenty. One or more skeletons would have accompany- 
ing articles, and these were early burials. 
Here is a curious and suggestive list of articles found in a 
Cayuga chiefs grave last year by Mr. Adams: "Seventeen 
flmts, 2 gun-flints, 6 bullets, 6 baldric beads, i bone harpoon, 
3 buckhorn handles, i knife with buckhorn handle, 21 gam- 
bling flints, 3 bars of lead, 5 rubbing stones, 16 bears' tusks, 
2 axes, I brass kettle, 2 pair shears, 4 pair bullet moulds, 2 
gun-locks with flints, 47 pieces gun-locks, 2 iron shears, 32 
knives and cutting implements, i gun, i pipe, i piece death 
paint (plumbago), 1 piece mica, 2 trigger guards, i wormer, i 
gun-cleaner, steel and 2 flints, a quantity of powder in a cloth 
hag, 2 melting ladles, 2,500 wampum beads." Each bar of 
lead weighed three pounds. The mica shows a modern as 
well as ancient use, and some other articles would elsewhere 
be thought old. 
Of recent articles Mr. Adams has obtained a large number, 
and some of those of the Jesuit period are of much interest. 
Copper kettles prove much more frequent than vessels of clay, 
and many articles still used by the New York Indians occur. 
The valley of the Salmon Creek was once rich in remains, and 
accounts were published long ago of the large quantities of 
iron and brass taken thence to Auburn for sale. They were 
plowed up for a space of several miles in length along the 
bottom lands. 
