labors of the spindle and loom had given the
Indian, even before-Columbus descended to his
grave, a new- wardrobe.
To denote what the Indian arts were, at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, we must
resort to their tombs, mounds, and general cemeteries.
The melancholy tale that is told horn
the dust and bones of these sacred repositpriesis
to be our teacher and schoolmaster. Its whispers
are low and almost inaudible. There are
pauses and lapses which it is difficult to make
out. It requires great pare—-nice attention—;
examination and reexamination. We must not
hastily compose the thread of the narrative.
We must doubt and reject where-doubt and , rejection
are proper. We must discriminate The
various epochs of art from the objects disinterred.
If objects of various ages lie in the same cemeteries
we must not confound them. Carefully
to labor, patiently to study, cautiously to conclude,
is the province of the antiquarian ; and
if, after all, he has bur little to ofter, it is, perhaps,
because there is but little to glean.
CHAPTER VIII.
RELI0S .FOUND IN THE ANTIQUE GRAVES AND
TUMULI OF WESTERN NEW YORK.
N ‘ABIK0A«lfNA^ (MEDALS,) — M e DAEKA,' (AMULETS,) — AtTAJE-
’irteUKA, (IMPLEMENTS, —O rO AGFNA, (P IP E S ,) MlNACEA,
^ E A D S ,V — F EA G A ’, (wAMPTJMSi) — M tJBW A M I I ^ t I-HNSLING
^D E E S S GENAMENTS,)”- ^ -O r p A T T G W , (EAE JEW E L S ,)-----O c h a l i -
<feA. ^"'NOgE' JEW E L S J - '-^ - JE sA , (SHELLS, SflELL-C,C>INS, OENA-
' 't>.i^'NTsSH
It will tend to render' the work of antiquarian
examination exact, and facilitate comparison, if
names- descriptive of the general classes and
species of each object of archeological inquiry
be introduced. No science can advance if the
terms and definitions of it be left vague. The
mere inception of this design is here announced;
it is not proposed, at present, to do more than
submit a few specimens from a large number of
antiquarian articles, the result of many years’
accumulation. The figures and descriptions
introduced are confined exclusively to the geographical
area under examination.
To establish the classes of articles, names are
introduced from the Indian vocabulary. These