SKINNER, INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 35 



especially at Tottenville, Staten Island, in the Burial Ridge. They are 

 rather rare, but this may be due to the fact that conditions are not suitable for 

 their preservation in most localities. Others are flat and triangular in 

 shape. 



Harpoons. No actual barbed bone harpoons, such as occur in the 

 Iroquois country have been reported from this region; although the writer 

 has seen what appeared to be part of one from Shinnecock Hills, Long 

 Island, whence comes a harpoon barb of bone, found by the writer, now 

 in the Museum collection, which was apparently made to tie to a wooden 

 shaft. While neither of these forms seems to occur within this region, several 

 naturally barbed spines from the tail of the sting-ray, found on the Bow- 

 man's Brook site, at Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, may have been used 

 as harpoons or fish spears, for which purpose they were admirably suited by 

 nature. Long, narrow, chipped stone arrow-heads are generally called 

 "fish points", but they do not seem peculiarly adapted for this purpose and 

 the name is probably a misnomer. No bone fish hooks are reported from 

 hereabouts, though suggested by early writers. 



Bone Beads- and Tubes. While so abundant on Iroquoian sites, tubes 

 and beads made of hollow bird or other animal bones, polished and cut 

 in sections, are very rare here. 



Draw Shaves, or Beaming Tools, made of bone, and probably used for 

 removing the hair from skins, were made by splitting the bone of a deer's 

 leg, leaving a sharp blade in the middle with the joints on either end as han- 

 dles. The writer has seen none from this immediate region, but they are 

 reported by Mr. M. R. Harrington. A number were obtained for the 

 Museum by Mr. Ernst Volk in the Lenape sites near Trenton, New Jersey. 

 An implement, evidently made of the scapula of a deer, and perhaps used as a 

 scraper, was found in a grave at Burial Ridge, Tottenville, Staten Island, by 

 Mr. George II. Pepper. 



Worked Teeth. Perforated teeth of the bear, wolf and other animals, 

 so abundant on Iroquoian sites never seem to be found here. Beavers' 

 teeth, cut and ground to an edge, occur, and may have been used as chisels, 

 or primitive crooked knives, or both, as they were till recently by some of 

 the eastern Canadian Algonkin. Other cut beaver teeth may have served 

 as dice or counters in gaming. 



Turtle Sliell Cups. These are common, and consist merely of the bony 

 carapace of the box turtle (Trancne Caroline), scraped and cleaned inside, 

 the ribs being cut away from the covering to finish the utensil for use. 



Antler Implements. Deer antlers and fragments of antler, worked and 

 unworked, occur in all shell heaps and pits. When whole antlers are found, 

 they usually show at the base the marks of the axe or other implement used 



