Description of some Sepulchral Pits of Indian Origin. 89 



The second pit was opened on the 16th of September last; it is 

 about two miles from the last, or lot 18th, 17th Concession of Giny, 

 It was accidentally discovered by the owner of the land, who settled 

 on it last year, while searching in the bush for his cow. It is consi- 

 derably smaller in diameter than that just noticed, being only about 

 nine feet, and its depth, when dug out, the same. It is situate on 

 rising ground, in light sandy soil ; but there is nothing now remark- 

 able in its situation. A beech-tree, six inches thick, grew from its 

 centre. It probably contained nearly as many bones, as there were 

 no kettles to nari'ow the above space, which was entirely occupied by 

 them. The bones seemed to belong to persons of both sexes, and 

 all ages, though in this pit there were probably fewer of a smaller 

 size ; among them were a few foetal bones. On the skulls which were 

 found in the last pit, it was remarked that no signs of violence could 

 be detected ; and when any fractures existed, they appeared to be 

 easily accounted for by natural causes, as many of them were much 

 decomposed and brittle ; but in this the fractures and injuries found 

 on the skulls could hardly be explained in that way, and it is thought 

 must have been produced previous to death. It was remarked pretty 

 satisfactorily, that the injury was more common on the left side than 

 the right ; many were found with the left parietal bone quite broken 

 in, while a fracture of the right was comparatively rai'e ; in one skull 

 was a clean round hole, of the size of a musket ball, and in another 

 a circular depression of the same size, appearing to have been an old 

 gunshot wound. Besides those indistinctly fi'actured on the parietal 

 region, a great many others had quite collapsed, and become flattened ; 

 and, from the fact of their not appearing more decomposed than the 

 entire ones, and from the known strength of the uninjured skull, it is 

 perhaps not unreasonable to conclude that they had been previously 

 fractured. 



Besides the bones was a fragment of a brass vessel and a variety 

 of beads. This vessel, of which a small piece only of the rim re- 

 mained, must have been about a foot in diameter, and probably re- 

 sembled the brass kettles last noticed, as the rim had been neatly 

 turned over in a scroll which covered a small circular iron hoop 

 about a quarter of an inch in diameter. At one point a square 

 piece of the same metal is neatly folded over its edge, having an eye 

 in its centre for the attachment of the handle. This vessel could 

 hardly have been destroyed by time, as the pit was perfectly dry, 

 and apparently more adapted to preserve its contents than the last 

 one opened, and it would seem as if the piece had been buried in 

 the state in whicii it was found. It had evidently been packed in 

 furs. The beads or Whampum found in this pit were of several 

 kinds. The principal were chalky-looking bodies, varying in size 

 from a quarter to an inch and half in length, of irregular shape and 

 thickness, some being quite flat and oval, others nearly circular 

 wliilc a great many distinctly shewed, by their fluted and irregular 

 surface, their probable origin, namely, the convolution of a lanTo 



