CONDITION OF THE BONES. 283 



quent forest growth, or the changes wrought on the river 

 terraces where they most abound." It is true that the bones 

 in Stone Age graves are often extremely well preserved ; but 

 it is equally true that those in Saxon barrows have in many 

 cases entirely perished. In fact, the condition of ancient bones 

 depends so much on the circumstances in which they have 

 been placed, that we must not attribute much importance to 

 this argument. 



The evidence derived from the forests is more to be relied on. 

 Thus Captain Peck* observed near the Ontonagon river, and 

 at a depth of twenty-five feet, some stone mauls and other 

 implements in contact with a vein of copper. Above these 

 was the fallen trunk of a large cedar, and " over all grew a 

 hemlock-tree, the roots of which spread entirely above the 



fallen tree," and indicated, in his estimation, a 



growth of not less than three centuries, to which must then 

 be added the age of the cedar, which indicates a still " longer 

 succession of centuries, subsequent to that protracted period 

 during which the deserted trench was slowly filled up with 

 accumulations of many winters." 



The late President Harrison, in an address to the Historical 

 Society of Ohio, made some very interesting remarks on this 

 subject, which are quoted by Messrs. Squier and Davis.-)- 

 " The process," he says, " by which nature restores the forest 

 to its original state, after being once cleared, is extremely 

 slow. The rich lands of the west are, indeed, soon covered 

 again, but the character of the growth is entirely different, 

 and continues so for a long period. In several places upon 

 the Ohio, and upon the farm which I occupy, clearings were 

 made in the first settlement of the country, and subsequently 

 abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some of these new 

 forests are now of fifty years' growth, but they have made 

 so little progress towards attaining the appearance of the 

 * Wilson, 1. c. vol. i. p. 256. t 1. c. p. 306. 



