292 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



NOTES OIV €EKTAIIV ABORIGIIVAl. SHEI.l, MOIJIVUS ON THE COAST 

 OF NEW BRUNSWICK AND OF NEW ENCJIiAND. 



B\ S. F. BAIRD. 



During several successive visits made to New England and the Prov- 

 inces, I embraced the opportunity of examining a number of interesting 

 shell moun<ls, intending to continue the research and to prepare a de- 

 tailed account of them. Subsequent events, however, have prevented 

 my doing this, and I now i^ublish some fragmentary notes on the subject^ 

 for the purpose of calling attention to the localities and inviting further 

 examination. 



In general, it is possible to determine beforehand the existence of shell 

 heaps by the physical surroundings. Thus, whenever on the sea-coast 

 the shore sloped gently to the south, with fresh water in the neighbor- 

 hood, shell mounds or beds could always be inferred, especially if in the 

 vicinity of flats where clams could be obtained. Here were generally 

 established the sites of villages or of temporary encampments. 



Prof. F. W. Putnam, in one of his papers upon shell mounds in New 

 England, has remarked upon the comparative absence of stone imple- 

 ments therein. This I did not fiud to be the case in Maine and New 

 Brunswick; indeed, in some cases, the abundance was quite remarkable. 



The examinations of the shell beds in New Brunswick and Eastern 

 Maine were mostly made in the summer of 18G9; of those on Cape Cod^ 

 in 1S70 and 1871; and of those on Casco Bay, in 1873. All the speci- 

 mens collected are in the National Museum at Washington. 



Xo. 1. — OaA' Bay, ISL Croix River, St. JJavi(Vs Parish, New BrumicicTi. — 

 Tbis locality is on the eastern side of Oak Bay, and is about eiglit miles 

 from Calais, on the farm of Josiah Simpson. This is the most extensive 

 and in fact one of the richest mounds I have ever examhied. The total 

 thickness of the bed is about 5 feet, and tbe different layers occur in a 

 succession indicated in the accompanying diagram. 



A striking feature in this mound is the abundance of spines and shells 

 of Echini, which evidently constituted a large portion of the food of the 

 aborigines. A careful examination of the ashes indicated that they were 

 derived, for the most part, from eel-grass [Zoster a marina), and it is sug- 

 gested that the cooking of the shells was done by wrapping them up 

 in dry eel-grass and setting fire to it. This would probably cook the 

 animals sufficiently to enable them to be readily withdrawn from the 

 shell. 



Oak Bay is a narrow fjord, extending northward from Passamaquoddy 

 Bay, the water being entirely salt. The tides are very high, and a vast 

 extent of Hats is exposed, at low water, still abounding in the soft clam. 



