ETHNOLOGY. 389 



cobble-stones; needles, one of stone, 1^ inches long, ^ inch wide, jL- 

 iuch thick, with hole and notch in one end ; another, of horn, 7 inches 

 long, t} inch wide, very thin; a third, of bone, an inch long, of cylin- 

 drical form, constructed from the rib of some very small animal. 



• Wampum. — There are in my collection ten pieces of a bead, nine of 

 shells, one of stone ; another of shell, 4 inches long, ^ inch thick. This 

 last shows that the Indians must have had some communication with 

 the ocean, as no shell now found in the river or bay would make such a 

 bead. These wampum were taken from an Indian grave upon Piscata- 

 way Creek. There are doubtless graves in this neighborhood, but as 

 yet I have not been able to find them. I heard, a few days ago, of some 

 graves washed out, about fifteen miles below me, which I shall visit. 



We have near my place several small " shell- heaps " of muscle-shells, 

 CompUnatus, nearly all 'weathered out, from which I have obtained 

 specimens of pottery and bones of such animals as the ancient people 

 ate. One remarkable bone was submitted to Professor Cope, which 

 was pronounced by him to be the tarsus metatarsus of some large 

 water-fowl, but I have examined all the skeletons of that class in the 

 Smithsonian museum without finding anything like it. It might seem 

 at first that the Indians here were driven from necessity to eat muscles, 

 but from experiment I think otherwise. I have tried this mollusk, and 

 find it, when well cooked, quite a savory dish, as good, to my taste, as 

 common oysters. 



We have also in this region and also in Saint Mary's the true oyster- 

 shell heaps ; one at Pope's Creek, covering thirty acres from one to six 

 feet deep. Oyster-shell heaps abound upon the Wycomico Eiver, and 

 there are several in Saint Mary's County, upon the Potomac, the Wy- 

 comico, and Patuxent Rivers, and upon the bay. No ethnologist, so 

 far as I know, has ever visited these localities. Although, near as they 

 are to me, I have not yet visited them, intending to do so, I have been 

 prevented by the constant recurring duties of the farm. 



ANTIQUITIES OF STANLY AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA. 



By F. J. KuoN, of Alhcmarle, N. C. 



I forward to the Institution, from Salisbury, N. C, by express, a 

 small box containing some antiquities collected in this part of North 

 Carolina, (the counties of Stanly and Montgomery,) on both sides of 

 the river called Yadkin above and Pedee below the mouth of the 

 Uharree River, on an area which, may be embraced at a glance from 

 the accompanying sketch, rough to be sure, but the bearings and dis- 

 tances of which are very nearly true. 



From the vestiges left here by the Indians it must have been 

 a place much frequented by them. ^ They have now all disappeared 



