'Th9^!'] proceedings of the national museum. 697 



way. These vessels must luive served for cooking, as well as Ibi' lioldiiig- 

 water, as many are blackened from exposure to the fire. While it is 

 probable that these people cooked th(» greater part of their food by roast- 

 ing over the fire, yet the tiny Donax shells at least, which are ])resent 

 in immense numbers, must have been boiled in water to obtain a broth. 

 They are too small to bave been cooked in any other way. Tiie num- 

 ber and extent of the hearths and the amount of ashes proves that 

 the Indigenes usually cooked their food. 



The form of the mounds and collections of shells is of interest, and 

 some of the larger ones may enable us to determine the form of the pre- 

 historic habitation. When individual families dwelt by themselves 

 there would be one slowly growing heap for each, which after a time 

 might be abandoned. When a comparatively wide extent was occupied 

 the remains would take the form of what we now call Shell Fields — 

 places where the ground for many acres appears to be full of shells, 

 but without elevations rising above the general level. A form com- 

 mon among the hea])S is that of a long bank or mound, from 2 to 

 10 or more feet in thickness, and covering from one to several acres, 

 always near the water and usually in proximity to an inlet of the sea. 

 Scattered thrcmgh these heaps, from the surface of the soil beneath to 

 their summits, are found implements, utensils, and fragments, of pottery. 

 A. hearth, with a foot or more of ashes and feet or even more across, 

 may be found, with 5 or (I feet of shells above it. This disposition of 

 remains gives a clew to the manner of formation of the mounds and is 

 well shown in the large mound below Matanzas Inlet, Avhich covers more 

 than 30 acres (PI. Lxxxiv). The side facing the ocean is from 10 to 12 feet 

 in deiDth, but has suffered from the encroachment of the sea to an ex- 

 tent which can not be determined (PI. lxxxiii). The highest partof the 

 mound covers about 2 acres, and back of this, extending to the INIatanzas 

 liiver, lies the remainder, disposed in circles of greater or less extent 

 and covered with forest. These circles adjoin each other over a large 

 part of the territory. They are from 4 to 8 feet in depth and from 12 

 to 15 feet across at the bottom. This was a dwelling place, and the 

 daily refuse was thrown out on all sides, and so the circles of shells, 

 bones, etc., gradually grew higher and higher, surrounding the rude 

 dwelling like a wall. This wall would also serve for protection from 

 the winds of winter and likewise as a pit for defense in case of attack. 

 When this hollow had become too deep, or the wall about it too high, 

 it Avould be abandoned, and the owner, pitching his tent on the top of 

 surrounding ridges, would use the hollow as a pit in which to throw 

 refuse. 



The mound of which I am now speaking would appear to have been in 

 some sort a center of population for many miles around. A spring of 

 Avater lies in the midst of it, and the waterway was kept open to the 

 river. Smaller mounds are found scattered up and down the river for 

 several miles in the vicinity. One of these, some 2 miles north and 



