40 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



temporary writers prove conclusively that these archaeological remains, if 

 not those left by Indians found here by the early Dutch and English settlers, 

 must have been from people of very similar culture, lu culture, the local 

 Indians were not as high as the [roquois, nor perhaps as the Lcnape or Dela- 

 ware proper from whom they sprang; hut they compare very favorably with 

 the Xew England tribes. Absence and scarcity of certain artifacts such as 

 steatite vessels, the long stone pestle, the gouge, adze and plummet, and the 

 abundance and character of bone and pottery articles show them to have 

 been intermediate in character between the Lcnape on the south and west, 

 and the Xew England tribes on the cast and north; and consultations of 

 the old European contemporaries show that this was the case linguistically 

 as well as culturally. Examination of the remains also shows that the 

 influence of the Lcnape on the west, and of the Xew England peoples on the 

 east, was most strongly felt near their respective borders, [roquoian in- 

 fluence was strong, as evinced by the pottery, and there is also documentary 

 evidence to this effect. Finally, as is frequent throughout most of eastern 

 Xorth America, the archaeological remains may be definitely placed as 

 belonging to the native Indian tribes who held the country at the time of its 

 discovery or to their immediate ancestors. 



Historical Notes on the Indians of Manhattan. 1 



Historical references to the Indians who occupied this territory in the 

 early days are very confusing and contradictory. There seems to be a 

 great deal of trouble in the usv of the word Manhattan. Van der Donck 

 in 1633 classified the Indians of this section by language, and said, "Four 

 distinct languages - namely Manhattan, Minqua, Savanos and Wap- 

 panoos" — are spoken by Indians. "With tin- Manhattans we include 

 those who live in the neighboring places along the Xorth River, on Long 

 Island, and at the Xeversinks." It is probable that "it was. . . .this clas- 

 sification by dialect that led the Dutch to the adoption of the generic title 

 of Manhattans as the name of the people among whom they made settle- 

 ments." ' De Lact wrote that "on the east side, on the mainland, dwell the 

 Manhattans,"' and in 1632 Wassenaer adds that they are "a bad race of 

 Savages, who have always been unfriendly to our people" and that "on the 

 wesl side are the Sanhikans, who are the deadly enemies of the Manhat- 

 tans." ' "When Hudson returned from his trip up the River which now 



1 First paragraph by James K, Finch. 



2 Wilson, Memorial History ol N. V.. Vol. I, p. 34. 

 > Ibid., i>. 19. 



< Ibid., p. 34. 



