55 



acquainted with the use of the hand-hmce or spear, though they may have 

 had shngs and weapons resembling- a "shmg-shot". How low in the scale 

 of humanity must these creatures have been who were content to pick up 

 sea-eggs for a living! 



It may be asked, What is found in this layer to distinguish it from an 

 accumulated wash from the seal I may answer as follows: It miist be 

 noted that the Echinus layer always occurs under later deposits full of 

 implements, and unmistakably human in their origin. It usually is situ- 

 ated on some small knoll or other natural elevation of the original soil. It 

 extends usually over a less area than the subsequent shell-heaps, and is 

 thickest where they are thickest, i. e.', in the most central portion of the 

 remains of the settlement. These facts appear to prove conclusively that 

 no other agencies than those referred to above could have been concerned 

 in the formation of this layer, even if implements had been entirely absent. 

 But we do find hamfher-stones, roimd pebbles from the beach with an in- 

 dentation formed on either side for the finger and thumb, and bruises on the 

 periphery, wdiere the ancient had cracked his sea-eggs and shell-fish. We 

 find heavy sea-shells broken, evidently for extracting 

 the animal; and toward the top of the layer we begin 

 to find net-sinkers of very rude patterns. These, how- 

 ever, occur only near the uppei'most surface, where the 

 Echinus layer joins the stratum which I have termed 

 the Fishbone layer. 



And now we mark a sudden, sharp, and extraordi- 

 nary change in the whole character of the deposit. We 

 have seen that a people have existed here, which, so far .^^^^ i,,., |.,,i,_]ia„„„c.,, 

 as discovery of vestiges or relics informs us,Avere without ^;;i'^;™ It'iZ Amcbitu 

 houses, clothing, fire, lamps, ornaments, weapons (unless ^^^"'"'^' s^"'® * ''°'""'- 

 of the most primitive kind), implements of the chase, for fishing, or even 

 for cooking what they might have found upon the shore. If any of these 

 things were possessed by them, they must have been formed of such rude 

 or perishable material as to have, entirely passed away. It would appear 



* The larger mniibprs refer to the miuibor of the specimen in the Ethnological Catalogue of the United 

 States National Miiseuui, the smaller number to my own tield-catalogue, and the fractions to the relative 

 liucar size of the figure to the specimen. 



