An Indian Trail 151 



gather supplies of oysters, clams, and other 

 " sea food," which were dried by smoking 

 and then "strung as beads and carried as 

 great coils of rope" back to the hills to be 

 consumed during the winter. 



Many small colonies, too, passed the win- 

 ters on the coast in the shelter of the great 

 pine forests that extended to the very ocean 

 beach. It was no hap-hazard threading of a 

 wilderness to reach these distant points. The 

 paths were well defined, well used. For how 

 long we can only conjecture, but the vast ac- 

 cumulations of shells on the coast, often now 

 beneath the water, point to a time so distant 

 that the country wore a different aspecl: from 

 what it now does ; a time when the land rose 

 far higher above the tide and extended sea- 

 ward where now the ocean rolls resistlessly. 



Returning inland, let us trace another of 

 these old-time paths from the river-shore 

 whereon the Indians had long dwelt, over 

 hill and dale until we reach a valley hemmed 

 in by low, rolling hills. 



It is a pretty spot still, although marred by 

 the white man's work ; but why was it the 

 goal of many a weary journey ? 



Here is found the coveted jasper, varied in 



