ETHNOLOGY. 447 



tbat tbe debris of wood cropping from the clay might be of other than 

 modern growth, one trunk of a tree, which projected over the water at 

 a low angle, just above the water-line, attracted, by its peculiar form, a 

 passing glance. It produced a quick transient impression of having 

 been artificially wrought for some purpose. Being in quest of game at 

 the time, I gave it no thought as to what it was or how it came there. 

 Afterwards I returned to it with awakened interest, and made a careful 

 examination. It projected from the frozen clay, a straight trunk, about 

 5 feet long and 14 inches in diameter. Its outer end was irregularly 

 broken and splintered. The lower side of the log was of natural cylin- 

 drical form, but destitute of bark. The upper side was flattened into a 

 shallow trough, about 10 inches wide, and 3 to 4 inches deep, with flat 

 bottom and flat sides. Take a common wooden lead-pencil and split it 

 along the glued seam ; pry out the slip of black lead, and the piece of 

 wood which contained it will resemble the log described. The log would 

 be difierent in these respects, that the groove would be wider in propor- 

 tion to its depth, and the edges would be rounded and not sharp. The 

 wood was sound and smooth, and on being chipped presjeuted a grain 

 like pine. If this tree was a windfall and came to its present form and 

 position by natural causes, this smooth, true groove is an anomaly to 

 be accounted for. Tim ber naturally splits into longitudinal flat sections ; 

 not accurately, of course, but approximately. Sometimes, however, a 

 cleft will follow one of the annual rings, in which case a gouge-shaped 

 shell is produced. But a natural cleft that would form a groove with 

 flat bottom and sides, smooth, and free from splinters, would be very 

 rare. A groove formed by decay would present a rough and unsound 

 surface. If, on the other hand, we assume that this groove could not 

 have been fashioned thus shapely by natural cleavage, the theory of 

 human workmanship is not substantiated by any manifest design. 



The log being only about 14 inches in diameter, does not contain the 

 necessary timber for a dugout canoe. It offers some show of human 

 handiwork, and yet the evidence is unsatisfactory. There is no such 

 obscurity about the mallet, whereof the age and origin are uncertain, 

 but not the artificial fashion and design. It is a mallet. Whatever its 

 age may be, it is difficult to evade the evidence that it had a burial 

 coincident with that of the forest growth with which it was associated, 

 and that that forest growth Is ancient. At first view, the evidence 

 might appear to be all the other way. What is there along the alluvial 

 banks of this portion of Connecticut River that can tarry long enough 

 to become ancient ? Everything within reach of the stream is traveling 

 southward. Any castaway of the farm or factory, if it can float, is lia- 

 ble to come from Vermont or Massachusetts to our shores, to be lodged 



inent, when a good view of tbe locality could be bad. The melting of the snow was 

 followed by a rise in the river, and the clay is now below the water-line. In a view, 

 photographically correct, the geological features of the place would be more masked 

 by grass, shrubs, and stumps of modern trees, adhering to sods fallen from the top of 

 the bank.— (March 27, 1877.) 



