202 ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 



arranged around them, their feet pointing to the spot where they were placed. 

 The bones crumbled upon exposure to the air. A few yards from this place, and 

 at about the same depth from the surface, another circular space was exposed to 

 view ; but strange to say, here the organic remains had been subjected to the 

 action of fire, and the half-burned bones with the charcoal and ashes, evinced the 

 fact that natural decomposition had been anticipated by the hand of man. 



" Numbers 1 and 2 were evidently designed for spears, and intended to fit into 

 handles. The blades are of considerable thickness, not much corroded, but of rude 

 proportions. They are pointed, and have a double cutting edge, and were undoubt- 

 edly weapons of some service. No. 1 is a foot in length. No. 3 is a copper knife, 

 enorraved of half size. One edge is sharp, and has marks of considerable use. 

 The point is broken off. No. 5 is also a knife, less in size, and has a hooked 

 extremity, as shown in the engraving. It was probably designed to be used without 

 a handle. No. 4 is an implement ten inches in length. It has a hollow or socket 

 for the reception of a handle, with a corresponding convexity on the back. The 

 chisel-shaped extremity is blunt, but capable of receiving a sharp edge. It may 

 have been used as a chisel, or gouge, — perhaps as a sort of spade. 



" With respect to the question whether these remains are of European origin or 

 manufacture, I have merely to remark that their workmanship is very rude ; that no 

 traces of iron or of European implements were found with them, and that the copper 

 corresponds exactly with the specimens of native metal obtained from Lake 

 Superior. The nature of the soil at this spot is favorable for the preservation of 

 organic remains ; the fact, therefore, that the bones found with these relics were 

 in so advanced a stage of decomposition, induces me to believe that they were 

 deposited long before the discovery and occupation of Canada by Europeans. 

 We might expect here to find relics bearing the stamp of French manufacture ; but 

 there is nothing in the form or composition of these which would lead one to 

 suppose them to be of French origin. This spot was not the usual burying-place 

 of the Indians. Their cemetery seems to have been some distance back from the 

 river, upon a high sandy ridge, where their remains, apparently of very ancient 

 deposit, are now found in abundance." 



From what has been presented, it appears that the mound-builders were very 

 well acquainted with the use of copper. They do not, however, seem to have 

 possessed the secret of giving it any extraordinary degree of hardness. The axes 

 above described were found, upon analysis, to be pure copper, — unalloyed, to any 

 perceptible extent, by other metals. The hardness which they seem to possess, 

 beyond the copper of commerce, is no doubt due to the hammering to which they 

 were subjected in their manufacture. As already observed, the metal appears to 

 have been worked, in all cases, in a cold state. This is somewhat remarkable, as 

 the fires upon the altars were sufficiently strong, in some instances, to melt down 

 the copper implements and ornaments deposited upon them, and the fact that the 

 metal is fusible could hardly have escaped notice. 



It has already been suggested, upon the strength of the fact that some of the 

 specimens of copper obtained from the mounds have crystals of silver attached 

 to them, that a part of the suj)ply of the ancient people was obtained from the 



