ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 239 



I removed from the bank a piece of an iron pot. Afterward I discovered that 

 this thick layer of earth had been gradually washed down from the neighboring 

 hill. 



" Trees of three or four feet in diameter have grown on the tops of the 

 heaps. The contents of these accumulations, as may be imagined, are various ; 

 but one circumstance is peculiar, namely, that stone implements are exceedingly 

 rare. I have found on several occasions hearths composed of rounded pebbles ; 

 also, in one instance, wood-ashes amounting to a cart-load. Charcoal is quite 

 common. Pieces of pottery occur in all the heaps, and are often perforated with 

 holes, apparently for the purpose of mending the broken vessels. Sometimes, 

 but not commonly, this pottery exhibits rude decorations ; in color it varies from 

 white to black and red in all shades. It is invariably mixed with pounded 

 shells, and differs in this respect from that found a few miles inland, which 

 nearly always contains triturated quartz instead of shell. English clay pipes of 

 early date are often found in and near these heaps. 



" Fish-bones, so common in the New England shell-heaps, I never discovered 

 in those of Maryland ; but bones of birds and mammals and turtle-shells are 

 numerous, and such remains as I had identified are those of the duck, goose, 

 swan, wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, deer, black bear, and terrapin (diamond- 

 back)." 



West Virginia. Deposits of fresh-water shells on Blennerhassett's Island, 

 a locality familiar to the student of "North American history, have lately been 

 examined by Mr. J. P. MacLean, of Hamilton, Ohio, and a collection made by 

 him during his exploration is in the United States National Museum. It con- 

 sists of [7JM0-shells, human and animal bones, arrow-heads, celts, pestles, imple- 

 ments of shell and bone, and fragments of pottery. I am indebted to Mr. 

 MacLean for the following account of the locality and of the character of the 

 deposits : 



"Blennerhassett's Island is situated in the Ohio River, two miles below 

 Parkersburg, West Virginia, and less than two miles west of the mouth of the 

 Little Kanawha. It extends east and west, and is of peculiar form, being narrow 

 in the middle, broad near the centre of cither half, and coming to a point at the 

 lower extremity. The length of the island is over three miles, and it embraces 

 two hundred and ninety-seven acres. It contains five refuse-heaps princi- 

 pally composed of shells of the Unio which afford a fine field for the study of 

 the domestic life of the prehistoric aborigines. 



" The first impression that strikes the observer is the favorable situation 

 which the island offered for a safe and convenient home suited to the require- 

 ments of the savage. Its natural surroundings afforded him sufficient shelter 

 against the sudden incursions of enemies besides granting him the advantage 



