ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 221 



" The Eskimo throAvs bones, shells, fishes, skins which have become useless, 

 in short everything that is of no value to him for the moment, before his hut, 

 in consequence of which a rich vegetation springs up, noticeable from afar by its 

 fresh verdure. A short time suffices to discover in these kjcikkcnmoddings traces 

 of nearly all usable vertebi'ate animals of the Greenlandic coast, and in many 

 cases it would not be difficult to determine the season of the year in which these 

 layers were formed ; for sometimes the remains of birds predominate ; sometimes 

 those of fishes ; or there are strata almost exclusively composed of Mytilus- 

 shells."* 



Nova Scotia. — Mr. J. M. Jones, President of the Nova Scotian Institute of 

 Natural History, at Halifax, communicated in 1863 to the " London Athenj^um" 

 a brief report of the examination of a shell-heap on the shore of Saint Margaret's 

 Bay, distant about twenty-two miles from Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. 

 This account was reprinted in the Smithsonian Report for 1863. The shell- 

 deposit chiefly noticed lies, some twenty feet above high-water mark, on the 

 shore of one of the smaller bays or coves, that has a sandy beach, where canoes 

 could be hauled up without difficulty. The deposit, about fifty yards or more in 

 length, by eight yards in breadth, but only eighteen inches deep, forms part of a 

 farm, and is covered witli two or three inches of soil, producing grass and com- 

 mon field-plants. The shells themselves, perfect and broken, form a compact 

 layer, which was found to inclose bones of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, large 

 and small teeth, flint and quartz arrow and spear-heads, bone awls, and many 

 fragments of rudely-made pottery, dark-colored, and containin'g gi-ains of grani- 

 tic sand, and mica in quantity. Pebbles, about the size of a man's fist, and bear- 

 ing traces of having undergone the action of fire, occurred in the deposit, and also 

 charcoal. Rounded granitic boulders lying scattered on the heap are supposed 

 to have served as seats, and on digging around them, greater masses of shells 

 and more evident traces of fire were discovered. The deposit consisted chiefly 

 of shells of the quahaug or hard-shell clam ( Venus mercenaria) and soft-shell 

 clam {Mija arenaria). There were also found the shells of the scallop {Pecten 

 islandicus), boat-shell {Crepidula fornicata) , and mussel {Mytilus edulis), those of 

 the latter in a very friable state. Vertebrse of two or three species of fishes 

 came to light, and some well-preserved opercular spines of the Norway haddock 

 {Sebastes norvegicus) , which probably were used as pierqing-tools. The moose, 

 bear, beaver, and porcupine, represented by broken bones and teeth, constituted 

 the mammalian fauna ; and the presence of birds, belonging to several species, 

 could likewise be traced by their bones, which were partly broken, one in par- 

 ticular having been opened down the side by means of a cutting-instrument. 



No object betokening a connection with the whites occurred in this deposit.-|- 



* Bessels; Die Amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition ; Leipzig, 1879; p. 47. 

 f Smithsonian Eeport for 1863, p. 370, etc. 



