192 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



a False Face in dancing costume, made at the Onondaga council 

 house, Jan. 14, 1888. He holds the customary staff and turtle-shell 

 rattle used in dancing. In dressing for the occasion nothing comes 

 amiss which can make the costume fantastic or hideous. Tin pans 

 or other vessels are sometimes stuffed under the clothing, as may 

 be seen in some of these figures, and like distortions of the figure 

 date back to early days. The dances and ceremonies form another 

 subject 



Miscellaneous 



As a rule, a New York Indian troubled himself little about 

 bridges. A good swimmer, he easily crossed any ordinary stream, - 

 and usually had little care about wetting his clothes. When he 

 wished to spare these, a tree fallen across the stream often gave 

 him safe passage. The women, arrayed in their finery, wanted 

 something better, and bridges were built. Cammerhoff's journal of 

 June 29, 1750, speaks of one near Lake Onnachee or Canandaigua: 



We continued on our way to Lake Onnachee, passing along its 

 shores to its outlet, where it is crossed by an Indian bridge. This 

 was the first of this kind that we had seen. It was constructed on 

 stakes, driven into the ground and bound together by bark, and on 

 these small trees and poles had been laid, over which we were 

 obliged to walk, a very dangerous proceeding. Cammerhoff, mss 



There was also a bridge at Onondaga in 1752, a graded way 

 leading from the fort to the water a few years later. It was much 

 out of repair, and Zeisberger said: 



Otschinachiatha begged us to mend the bridge across the creek; 

 most of them had their plantations over there, and when the women 

 carried their corn across, they were always in danger of falling 

 into the water ; we promised to do it . . . Saturday, Sept. 22nd. 

 We repaired the bridge for the Indians who called out many a 

 " Niarwo." The whole town rejoiced to have a good bridge, par- 

 ticularly the old people. Zeisberger, mss 



Their rude agriculture may often have required protection, but 

 of this we know but little. Loskiel tells us that " their plantations 

 are surrounded with high fences, chiefly to keep off the horses, 

 which feed in the woods without a keeper;" and the Moravian 

 missionaries found it inconvenient to take horses among the Iroquois, 



