4053. IRON, Indians and.—
Nothing I
have ever yet heard of proves the existence of a
nation here who knew the use of iron. I have
never heard even of burnt bricks, though they
might be made without iron. The statue you
* * * send me would, because of the hardness
of the stone, be a better proof of the use of iron
than I ever yet saw; but as it is a solitary
fact, and possible to have been made with implements
of stone, and great patience, for
which the Indians are remarkable, I consider
it to have been so made. It is certainly the best
piece of workmanship I ever saw from their
hands.—
To Harry Inness. Washington ed. iii, 217.
Ford ed., v, 294.
(Pa.,
1791)
