quantities, without labor and without much forethought, and with this
small supply were content. But even if a much larger supply had been
desirable, and if the modern idea of traffic had found a place in their
hearts, they had no facilities for conveying it from place to place.
Even at the present time, with all our improvement in the arts, the
great desideratum is an appropriate vessel for carrying petroleum from
place to place, or retaining it safely in any locality; but the Indians
were utterly destitute of any appliances suitable for the purpose. If
they were acquainted with a rude kind of pottery, it was without
glazing, and so incapable of retaining fluids, particularly petroleum;
and we have no knowledge of their ability to construct vessels of any
other material that would answer the desired purpose. The inference is
therefore fair, that for purposes of trade the production of oil was not
desirable in so large quantities as indicated by these excavations. The
same reasons would hold good in relation to its use in the religious
ceremonies of the Indians. It could be used only in limited quantities,
from the want of convenient receptacles for its retention. Besides, we
doubt whether the Indians were sufficiently devout to resort to such
labor and pains in religious worship.

Reference is sometimes made to a letter said to have been written by the
commander of Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg) to General Montcalm, describing a
grand scene of fire worship on the banks of Oil Creek, where the whole
surface of the creek, being coated with oil, was set on fire, producing
in the night season a wonderful conflagration. But there is room for the
suspicion that this account is apocryphal. Such scenes as are there
described have been witnessed on Oil Creek since the beginning of the
modern oil trade. During the continuance of several accidental
conflagrations, the scene has been awfully grand and impressive. It has
been strongly suggestive of the conflagration of the last day, when