278 BEACH GRASS 



much is said of the Indians, of their hunting and 

 fishing, and of their cornfields planted on the 

 hillsides, cleared by fire of the forest. Without 

 recourse to historical documents one can still read 

 the record of their activities here. In the dunes, 

 in the marsh islands and on many a hillside close 

 to the sea or to an estuary, deposits of clam 

 shells are exposed by the blowing of the sand, 

 the cutting of streams or the turn of the plough- 

 share. 



The study of these deposits, or kitchen mid- 

 dens, is a long one and full of interest. I can 

 imagine that an independent gold or diamond 

 miner might be loath to stop work, thinking that 

 the next turn of the pick would reveal a price- 

 less nugget or gem. In the same way one who 

 digs in a shell heap has always the vision before 

 him of a prize. These prizes would appear very 

 trivial to a gold miner, but may cause a great 

 thrill of satisfaction to a naturalist. They con- 

 sist largely in bones and fragments of bones, and 

 even by a very small piece of bone one may re- 

 construct in imagination some most interesting 

 creature. I have found, for example, in shell 



