Description
Conoy Indians. An Algonquian tribe, related to the Delawares, from whose ancestral stem they apparently sprang, but their closest relations were with the Nanticoke, with whom it is probable they were in late prehistoric times united, the two forming a single tribe, while their language is supposed to have been somewhat closely allied to that spoken in Virginia by the Powhatan. The Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Maryland is a Native American tribe recognized by the state of Maryland. They are a part of the Piscataway people. Prior to European contact, the Piscataway Conoy Tribe was a part of a confederacy of tribes occupying the areas between the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River watershed.
Language
The Algonquian languages are a subfamily of the Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group.
Culture
The natives are very tall and well proportioned; their skin is naturally rather dark, generally with red paint mixed with oil, to keep off the mosquitoes. And as they live almost to extreme old age without having beards, they counterfeit them with paint, by drawing lines of various colors from the extremities of the lips to the ears. They generally have black hair, adding some ornament which is in estimation among them. Some of them wear on their foreheads the figure of a fish made of copper. They adorn their necks with glass beads strung on a thread like necklaces. They are clothed in deerskins, which hangs down behind like a cloak. They wear aprons round the middle, and leave the rest of the body naked The soles of their feet are as hard as horn, and they tread on thorns and briers without being hurt.