While the foregoing pages were in course of publication, the carved
"gorget" (fig. 23) was found on the Hansell farm, on Thursday, January
8, 1885.
The circumstances of the discovery were as follows: Late in the autumn
of last year--1884--the writer had caused an excavation to be made at
a spot in one of the fields on the Hansell property, where the carved
stone (fig. 19) had been found. At this place the soil of the field, a
yellowish clay, was very noticeably discolored as if by the fires and
decayed refuse of aboriginal dwellings; the discolored spot was of a
dark brown color, and covered an area of about twenty square yards.
The excavation measured about 25 feet in length by 4-1/2 feet in width,
and about 3 feet in depth. The dark brown stratum had a depth of 1-1/2
to 2 feet, and beneath it appeared the yellow clay of the surrounding
field. The place was at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from
the spot where the Lenape Stone had been found. In digging the trench
many small stones were thrown up, but no human remains or implements
were discovered. The earth was not thrown through a sieve. As the
excavation was to have been continued in the spring, the trench and
pile of earth were left undisturbed.
Bernard Hansell, the discoverer of the Lenape Stone, states that he
found the carved gorget (fig. 23) in this heap of earth on Thursday
the 8th of last month; his brother had previously found there several
flint chips, and Hansell had gone to the spot, on the day in question,
expressly to look for "Indian relics."
The day was warm and the trench full of water. The field was very
muddy. Hansell found the stone, the perforation in which had attracted
his attention, protruding a little from the mud on the outside of the
heap, and in the yellow earth last thrown out. Without displacing it,
he returned to the house, and brought his brother, William Hansell, to
the spot, that the latter might witness his discovery. Then removing
the stone from the mud, he washed it in the water of the trench, not
rubbing it, but holding it in the water for about five minutes. The
mud clinging to it, having melted and frozen several times within a
few days, was very soft and dissolved easily. On the same day Hansell
informed the writer of his discovery in a letter.
The stone is a soft, red shale, similar in appearance to the Lenape
Stone. Unlike the specimens (figs. 19 and 20) found on the surface of
the ground, its surface presents a very polished and rubbed appearance,
as if it had been subjected to long wear after the carvings had been
made. The lines, the edges of which are much worn and rubbed, do not
seem sharply and deeply cut, as those of fig. 20 or the Lenape Stone,
and the bottoms of the grooves, to which the soil still clings, appear
rounded, as if cut with a dull point--as in the case of the shallow
incisions upon fig. 19.
The discovery of this stone in the clayey soil, beneath the black
stratum above mentioned, and where it had lain for an indefinite
period beyond the reach of the ploughshare, would account for its
polished appearance and the absence of weathering upon its surface--the
conditions of its discovery generally corresponding with those in the
case of highly polished implements found in the mounds.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--(Natural size) Carved "Gorget" Found on the
Hansell Farm, January 8, 1885.]
The design consists of: (_a_) three waving lines representative of
water; (_b_) three points between the perforations, referring probably
to wigwams--possibly an allusion to the triple clanship of the Lenapes
and their settlement by the _Lenape whittuck_ or Delaware River; (_c_)
a bow; (_d_) an arrow; and (_e_) a quiver.
The design on the reverse side, of which we here give a rough outline
(fig. 24) consists mainly of a series of circular waving lines,
representative probably of water; numerical dots and "tallies";
and three triangular outlines, common Indian symbols for the human
figure, and again suggestive perhaps of the Wolf, Turtle, and Turkey
brotherhood of the Lenapes.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Reverse of fig. 23.]
FOOTNOTES:
----------
[A] See Hansell's sworn statement in the appendix.
[B] Nothing seems to contribute so much to the problem of their use
as the absence, in most cases, of any sign of friction around the
holes. Similar stones have been recently seen in use by the Pah-Utes
of Southern Nevada, "for giving uniform size to their bow-strings,"
yet the clean edges of the perforations make it impossible to believe
that these stones could have been used for such a purpose, while the
difficulty of supposing they could have been used as buttons, or that
they could have been suspended at all is almost as great, unless we
adopt the very ingenious theory of Dr. F. W. Putnam, _i. e._, that the
raw deer thong used for suspending them, and forced tightly through the
holes, becoming hard when dry, remained motionless in its place, and
rendered friction impossible.
[C] See an interesting little book, from which we here quote, entitled
"Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man." By J. P. McLean. Cincinnati, 1880.
[D] A term, says Filson (Imlays' Topographical Description of the
Western Territory, 2d Ed., p. 276) formerly applied by the Indians "to
the fertile region now called Kentucky."
[E] A word meaning "hog" in modern Iroquois.
[F] "Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth to San
Diego, Cal.," Col. W. H. Emory, Washington, 1848, p. 90.
[G] See article on Indian picture-writing, appendix, p. 87
[H] Heckewelder states that he had himself seen "many of these
fortifications,"--of course the works of the mound-builders. He
mentions in particular two "entrenchments" along the Huron River,
and several large flat mounds near them, in which were buried, as he
learned from the Indians, hundreds of the Alligewi, slain in the bloody
wars which the narrative proceeds to mention.
[I] This view coincides with the opinion of the Indians who have seen
the carving since the above was written.
[J] The point projecting behind the handle in the figure reminds us
forcibly of the shape of the modern iron tomahawk; yet that stone axes
of this shape were anciently in use among the Indians was proved by the
discovery of the "Thorndale Axe" with a similar projection, and found
in the original wooden handle, now at the Museum of Natural History in
New York.
[K] The word Namaesi Sipu (Fish River) given by Heckewelder, but
published _Messussipu_ (Great River) in Mr. Squier's version of the
_Wallum Olum_, appears _Namasipi_ in the Rafinesque version of 1836,
and in the original manuscript now in Dr. Brinton's possession it seems
that the latter word has been written over the word _Messussipu_ by the
author, who probably had been comparing the account with Heckewelder.
[L] See article on "Indian Migrations" by Horatio Hale, _American
Antiquarian_, Jan.-April, 1883.
[M] On the other hand, how shall we account for the occurrence of
the word _Messusipu_ in the Wallum Olum, or, more exactly, in the
Rafinesque copy of it--the only version we possess?
_Messusipu_ is derived, says Squier, from the Algonkin words _Messu_,
_Messi_, or _Michi_ (great), and _Sipu_ (river).
The name _Mississippi_ is of Algonkin origin, and has the same
etymology,--it means "great river." Among the Algonkin tribes living
to the north and along the eastern shore of the Mississippi, the
Sauks called it _Mecha-sapo_, the Menomonees _Mecha-sepua_, the
Kicapoos _Meche-sepe_, the Chippeways _Meze-zebe_, and the Ottawas
_Missis-sepi_; _Mecha_, _Meche_, _Meze_, _Missis_, meaning "great," and
_sapo_, _sepua_, _sepe_, _zebe_, and _sepi_, "river." (Wisconsin Hist.
Col., ix., 301.)
The Lenape word _Messusipu_ must therefore refer to the Mississippi.
Yet we may suppose that Rafinesque had written the word by mistake in
his copy of the Wallum Olum, a supposition which gains strength from
the fact that _Messusipu_ plainly appears in his manuscript to have
been changed to _Namasipi_. Had he been comparing his copy with the
original "painted sticks" or some other Indian authority not mentioned?
or did he merely borrow the word _Namasipi_ from Heckewelder? Again
we may suppose the word _Messusipu_ to have been an indefinite term
applied by the Lenape to more than one of the great streams crossed by
them in their migrations.
[N] See Appendix.