Evening star., 1935-10-13
Indians

Indians
Continued From Third Page.)
in huts, made of bent poles, covered
with woven grass mats and tree bark
The club, ak and bow were their
weapons.
There were some 40 tribes of In
dians that inhabited the region be-
tween the Atlantic and Great Falls,
Thomas Jefferson records Henry
Fleete, an Englishman. was held cap
tive by the Anacostian Indians, who
lived there. He is credited with being
the first European to have come to
the District and left an authentic
account of it. He calls the Indian
village here Tohogae, which is placed
by scholars at the site of Georgetown.
He was the vanguard Of that horde Of
Europeans-English, Scotch. Irish,
Germans and Quakers-who were to
Pdo4l oR t41C SA1CCdPCdhC dllu 6OtOIlldC
River country to build here a last
ing city.
For cooking. for sacred and cere-
monial uses, vessels were employed by
the Indians. Sometimes fabrics were
impressed upon the pottery Of this
region. The scientists of the Smith,
sonian have ascertained that the tattoo
marks found upon the foreheads,
cheeks, chins, arms and legs of the
chief women Of the Chesapeake Bay
country Indians are identical with
those found upon the pottery gathered
out Of the shell heaps Of this area.
The Indians Of Virginia for shelter
created wattled structures, and from
the supple saplings wove traps for fish.
Baskets, fish nets, pouches, mats of
various descriptions, carpetings and
other historic fabrics were the prod
ducts Of their deft fingers. From the
markings left on their pottery The
scientists can trace the ancient lines
Of nets, cloths and baskets.
DR.. M. w. Sterling, chief Of the Bu-
reau of American Ethnology of the
Smithsonian Institution, is interested
in developments pertaining to the In
dians Of this section and historical EVIL
dences unearthed. DR.. J. N. B. Hewitt.
ethnologist who has made exhaustive
studies In Canada and New York
State into the League of the Iroqouls
Indians, says that its influence was felt
even among the tribes of the Potomac
River Basin. He explains that Algon-
quin means fishing by torchlight,
standing in the front of the canoe"
The evidences are that Powhatan
means "the village at the falls" Guam
tico means "a long inlet"
The difficulties of the Alongquin
language are manifold, for the Indian
of yesterday left no written alphabet,
no grammar, no literary works. But,
says DR. Hewitt, the Indians in the
same section were not able to compre-
hend the dialects of their neighbors.
Accordingly, the real translation of
many Of the words Is lost to us. As a
further complication, asserts DR.. Hew-
lit, there were different sounds in the
dialects Of the same region. With the
shreds Of knowledge that have come
down to us 1t is difficult to give q true
translation Of many Of the Indian
words.
EVEN to this day such remnants of
the Indian tribes as the Pamunkey
Reservation, near Richmond, know lit
tie or nothing of the tongue or GUS
toms of their sires. says DR.. Hewitt.
Out Of the quarry and workshop at
Piney Branch came the arrowheads
that shot down the foemen, that felled
the deer and other denizens of the
forest and spelled victory and feasting
for the Indians Of the District-and
far beyond. DR.. Holmes did much re-
reach there. Out of the abundance of
his knowledge he constructed the ex-
hibit that men may view today in the
National Museum here and see again
the labor of the Washingtonians of
500 years ago. The great quarries are
found, DR. Holmes recorded, near where
Eighteenth street would cross Piney
Branch.
In the showcases of the National
Museum are seen the results Of the
Indians handiwork. There are the
thin blades, suitable for refinement as
arrow heads, spear heads. knives and
scrapers. There are the typical turtle
bacl~' and the blades which resulted
from imperfect fracture Of the stones.
Then, there are the 'soapstone vessels,
resistant to fire, that were quarried IN
Soapstone Valley. There are earthen-
ware vessels, too.
Carved shell ornaments from Acco-
tink and Potomac Greeks In Virginia
are on exhibition and ornaments made
from Lake Superior copper. found in
the graves Of Virginia. There are
ornaments carved from antler. deer
bones used for DRESSING skins, whistles
made from the bones Of birds, FISH,
hooks okhbone. bone tmplemeutS used