CALKIXS ON FLORIDA SHELL MOUNDS. 229 



clams and scallops that made up so large a part of their living. The 

 relics found prove this. I made several excavations on the surface 

 twenty rods back from the cove, in the midst of a jungle of Saw Pal- 

 metto, water oak, yuccas, smilax, etc. Near by w\as an oak tree [Quer- 

 cus virens), of large size, and which could not be less than 600 years old. 

 The first two feet was all sand, except the space occupied by the roots, 

 and to get through the tangled mass required much labor and patience. 

 After this I struck a deposit of shells, and mixed with them was an 

 abundance of broken pottery, human bones and skulls ; the latter were 

 badly cracked by the roots running through them, and the pieces were 

 detached. Throwing these aside, I continued to dig to a depth of seven 

 feet, finding all the time more bones and pottery. I obtained as many as 

 twenty varieties of the latter. The ornamented kinds were more abund- 

 ant than plain pieces, and some showed a high degree of skill and syste- 

 matic workmanship. Some were covered with figures of squares or 

 diamonds. Others with straight or curved lines, and indented with 

 little holes. Judging from the pieces, the vessels would hold from two 

 to four gallons, but many may have been larger. The same patterns 

 occur in the St. Johns mounds, and, as I believe, in those of the Xorth. 

 Below seven feet I did not go. It requires a good deal of enthusiasm to 

 dig in these jungles on a hot day. At that depth the bodies were evi- 

 dently buried with heads toward the east, but their positions had become 

 changed, and many of the bones either entirely decayed or dislocated. 

 I found no ornaments with the bones. Pottery seems to have been the 

 only thing buried with them, unless it be shells. "No metals of any kind 

 have been found here or elsewhere in the Florida mounds. 



My operations occupied parts of many days, and while carrying them 

 on, I took occasion to interview the " oldest inhabitants," of which there 

 are a number hereabouts, but with little satisfaction. Some referred the 

 mound to a period anterior to the flood. Others to a " time whereof the 

 memory of man runneth not to the contrary," while all agreed that it 

 was very ancient, in which view I concurred. Mr. Henry Clark, who 

 lives on Goose Cove, informed me that his father had spent a great deal 

 of time in searching the mound, but had never taken out more than two 

 pieces of pottery entire, all the rest being broken. After months of 

 labor he had also secured a number of skulls, but all badly cracked. 

 These were sent to Europe. The quantity of pottery is simply immense. 

 Future research may bring to light perfect specimens. 



As to evidence of cannibalism, I found none here, but it may exist. 

 and probably does. Lieut. Vogdes, in a systematic exploration of the 

 same kind of moimds at Tampa, further down the coast, discovered sat- 

 isfactory proofs of it. As to the age of this mound, no positive date 

 can, of course, be given. Any one standing at a little distance would be 

 impressed with its aged appearance— not less than 600 years- and closer 

 examinations of the stupendous deposits of shells w^ith the overlaying 

 material and vegetation, would rather increase than lessen this estimate. 



[Proc. D. A. N. S. Vol. II. j 31 [May, 1878.; 



