PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 799 



eral large mouuds. On the same farm is a large cave, which has beeu 

 explored about 50 feet ; it coutains several rooms. In oue of the rooms 

 there were discovered bones and some arrow-heads. Tradition informs 

 us that this was one of the dwellings of the aborigines, which seems 

 plausible, from the numerous flint chippings which are scattered around. 



On the farm of Mr. B. F. Harrison, adjoining the farm of Mr. Mc- 

 Quilkin, are numerous stone mounds and some earth- works, which have 

 all been opened. These mounds, like all the rest described, are located 

 on the high cliff land overlooking the Potomac Eiver. 



The dead were all buried with their heads towards the east, on a high 

 point of land, and, in almost every instance, near a stream of -water. 

 Their burial places were in some romantic spot commanding a fine view 

 of the surrounding country. All the mounds excavated by the writer 

 have been found in just such sijots. 



SHELL HEAPS NEAR PROVINCETOWN, MASS. 



By H.E.Chase, of BroolcUne, Mass. 



In the report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1880, p. 441, it is 

 stated that it is the desire of those engaged in collecting material for 

 publishing a permanent work on archteology to learn the location and 

 characteristics of all shell heaps, mounds, pueblos, etc., in the country. 



Thinking it possible that some of the shell heaps which were visited 

 by the author last summer may not be known to these i)ersons, the fol- 

 lowing descrijition is given of the Indian shell heaps, burying grounds, 

 etc., in a stretch of country about 50 miles long, from Provincetown, 

 Cape Cod, to Hyannis Port. 



If attention had been solely given to shell heaps and the collection of 

 Indian implements, no doubt a much better account could be given, for 

 only a small portion of tlie route lay along the shore where Indian en- 

 cami^ments were usually made. On the return from Provincetown^ 

 short excursions were made by small boats east and west from Hyan- 

 nis Port along the southern shore, and later, a trip to Martha's Vine- 

 yard, where a few more places were located about Buzzard's Bay sta- 

 tion. After leaving Provincetown, in crossing the fields about a mile 

 and a half northwest of the Highland light, in North Truro, a chipped 

 piece of quartz, the size of one's fist, was picked up with a half dozen 

 splinters of the quartz lying near it. These were the first Indian chip- 

 pings the writer had ever found, but the keeper of the signal station 

 stated that not far from the spot where the chips were found, close by 

 High Head, at the east end of East Harbor, there were large Indian 

 shell heaps. 



This spot, mentioned by Thoreau, is well known to collectors, and 

 many implements of stone have been found there. In the railroad cuts, 



