AN INDIAN CAMP-GROUND. 23 



same characteristics as our ancestors, we cannot deter- 

 mine. The soil is strongly impregnated with iron, which 

 in its oxidized condition gives a reddish-yellow color, and 

 considerable masses of bog-iron ore, one of which was ex- 

 hibited at the station, have been taken out from time 

 to time, especially when, for lack of better, this crude 

 deposit was roasted in kilns at works in Lynn and else- 

 where, and made to yield up its slight percentage of the 

 useful metal by burning out the clay and vegetable impur- 

 ities united with it. If the Indians had advanced thus far 

 in their knowledge of iron-working they might have sought 

 the plain at Montserrat for the sake of its bog-iron. Or 

 they may have been sagacious enough to perceive, with 

 that keen instinct for natural remedies which marks their 

 therapeutic practice, that the waters of the little chalybeate 

 spring, still bubbling out of the soil here as it has done for 

 ao-es, had medicinal values not to be neglected. In this 

 judgment they have the endorsement of modern science ; 

 for the spring water, upon examination, is found to r(^sp(md 

 promptly to the common tests for iron, producing that 

 splendid Prussian blue with ferro-cyanuret of potassium, 

 and that royal purple with salicylic acid, which delight the 

 eye of the analytic chemist and indicate the presence of 

 the mineral in sufficient force to impart curative qualities. 

 Early in the century when railroads were not, and only 

 a way or two crossed this extended plain. May trainings 

 and autumnal musters were often held here, with all the 

 accessories and abuses which marked at the time the deca- 

 dence of our state militia system. Here Joseph Gardner 

 from March street, Salem, the famous baker and purveyor 

 of " cakes and ale," and various entertainment, the "striped 

 pig" included, set up his flying-horses and merry-go- 

 rounds, his refreshment booths and tents for games and 

 shows ; and the two large, scrawny-looking, white pines, 

 now standing together quite by themselves, near the min- 



