G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 329 



All around the wall was a mud bench, and in the centre was 

 a shallow pit containing ashes, with fire underneath. Just 

 behind the fire-place was an altar, shaped like the upper part 

 of a cross, and built of mud. The entrance to this curious 

 room is defended by a sort of stockade, open at one side, the 

 passage being just large enough to permit a person to pass. 

 When councils are held, this post is occupied by a sentinel 

 to prevent the entrance of the profane. Our friend, the war 

 chief, said he let us in because we were Americans, but that 

 no Mexican should ever enter. In all, we found five or six 

 of these estufas in the village, belonging to the different head 

 men, and used by them as council chambers." American 

 Sportsman, October 17,1874. 



ANCIENT MODES OF BURIAL AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH 



CAROLINA. 



Mr. Wilcox communicates to the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia the account of an unusual mode of 

 burial which was formerly practiced among the Indians of 

 North Carolina. He states that in numerous instances bur- 

 ial-places have been discovered where the bodies had been 

 laid with the face up, and covered with a coating of plastic 

 clay about an inch thick. A pile of wood was then placed 

 on top and fired, consuming the body and baking the clay, 

 which retained the impression of the body. This was then 

 lightly covered with earth. Pr. Acad. Nat. ScL, Philadel- 

 phia, 1874, 165. 



KITCHEN-MIDDING IN THE ISLAND OF ST. GEORGE, NEAR 



ATHENS. 



Dr. Von Diicker has lately announced the occurrence of a 

 kitchen-midding on the island of St. George, near Athens. 

 This, however, is shown by Gaillardot to be the remains of 

 an ancient manufactory of Tyrian dyes. Other shell heaps 

 of a similar character have been found. One of them, located 

 on the site of ancient Sidon, is a bank about four hundred 

 feet in length, consisting entirely of the remains of Murex 

 truncidus, and other species like it, furnishing a valuable dye. 

 The 31. trunculus is known to have yielded the most precious 

 coloring matter used in the Tyrian dye, but it is suggested 

 that the species was employed to produce the various other 



