NEW YORK. 



249 



bushels. It IS commonly packed for sale in barrels of five bushels, and is inspected and brand- 

 ed before it can be removed. 



8. Indians. In this State are the remains of the celebrated confederacy of the Six JVo- 

 <ions, and the remnants of a few other tribes, amounting in all to 5,000. The Five JVcttions 

 were the aboriginal proprietors of the northern and western part of the State, and the territory 

 beyond. Their confederacy has long since been broken up. The Mohawks, who were the 

 leading tribe, emigrated to Canada in 1776. The Cayugas followed the IMohawks to Cana- 

 da in 1796, leaving about 40 of their number, who are now mingled with the Senecas and 

 other tribes. The Tuscaroras came to this State from North Carolina in 1708, and formed 

 the Sixth nation ; before that date, the New York Indians were called the Five Nations. The 

 Moheakunnuks came from Stockbridge in the western part of Massachusetts. The Seneca 

 and Oneida tribes make up the number. They dwell upon lands of their own in the western 

 part of New York, called Reservations, comprising in all 246,675 acres. They have some 

 good houses and farms, and maintain scliools and missionaries. INIany of them, however, are 

 indolent and intemperate. Parties of them may often be seen in the streets of Bufi'alo, ana 

 other towns, sometimes wearing blankets and sometimes dressed like the poorer classes of 

 whites. 



9. Antiquities. In the western parts of New York are numerous remains of ancient Indian 

 fortifications and towns. Some of these inclose a space of 500 acres. They consist of circular 

 and angular walls of earth, sometimes skirted by ditches, and from the appearance of the trees 

 which have overgrown them are evidently of great antiquity. Some are supposed to be above 

 1000 years old. The fortifications are often accompanied with funeral piles, in which the bones 

 are still discernible. Many are seated on spots which appear to have been the beds of rivers, 

 Defore the great lakes shifted their borders. 



10. Religion. The Presbyterians and Congregationahsts number 564 ministers, ai.d 86,000 

 communicants; the Baptists, 483 ministers, and 67,18.3 communicants ; the Methodists, 591 

 ministers, and 30,700 communicants ; the Dutch Reformed, 142 ministers, and 15,800 com- 

 municants, and the Protestant Episcopal Church, 207 ministers, and about 10,000 communi- 

 cants. The Associated Reformed Church has CO ministers ; the Lutherans 27 ; the Roman 

 Catholic Church 32 ; the Universalists 25 ; the Unitarians 8 ; and the New Jerusalem Church 

 5. The Christians have also several ministers, the Friends and Moravians a number of socie- 

 ties ; the Shakers 3 communities, and the Jews 3 synagogues. 



11. Government. The present constitution was adopted in 1821. The legislature consists 

 of an Assembly and a Senate. The Assembly has 128 members, and the Senate 32. The 

 members of the Assembly are elected annually, and one fourth of the Senate is renewed each 

 year. The Executive consists of a Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, chosen every two 

 years. These officers are elected by the highest number of votes given, although the number 

 may be less than a majority. LTniversal sufiiage is allowed. The legislature meets annually 

 in January. New York sends 40 members to Congress. The annual expenses of the State 

 are about 300,000 dollars. 



12. Education. Very ample provision is made for popular education in this State. The 

 State has a common-school fund of 2,000,000 dollars, the proceeds of which are distributed 

 among the towns, each town being required to raise by tax a sum equal to that which it receives 

 from the fund ; the whole of these two sums is expended solely for the payment of teachers' 

 wages, in addition to which the school-districts erect and support the school-houses, and are 

 chargeable with other incidental expenses. The number of school-districts in the State is 

 10,200, comprising 530,000 pupils ; the sum of 313,377 dollars was distributed among these 

 districts in 1835, under the name of public money, and 425,643 dollars was raised by the 

 school-districts, making a total of 739,020 dollars paid for teachers' wages. Provision has also 

 been made for the education of teachers, by the establishment of a department for that purpose, 

 with suitable books and apparatus, in one of the academies of each of the eight senatorial dis- 

 tricts. 



There are upwards of 200 academies, gymnasiums, or high -schools in the State, of which 60 

 are for girls ; 63 of these institutions are subject to the visitations of the Regents of the Uni- 

 versity, and were attended by 6,056 pupils in 1835 ; there is a literature fund belonging to the 

 State, from the proceeds of which 12,000 dollars were distributed among them in that year. 

 There are five colleges, and one university in the State, namely, the University of the City of 

 New York, estabhshed at New York in 1832 ; Columbia College, at New- York, f'^unded in 



32 



