84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



shells, I must be in search of Captain Kydd's treasure. They then generously re- 

 solved that I be permitted to open these mounds, but at my own expense ; and they 

 further resolved, that while they would help me to find the treasure, they would 

 never allow me to carry oflf a penny. Anxious to have a hand in the " find," they 

 flew upon the shell mounds like demons ; but I did not wish to pay all the people 

 of the island, and therefore selected three or four, who opened half a dozen shell 

 mounds, watched with intense anxiety by the rest of the people. We found only 

 shells and ashes, nothing of interest, and, sad to say, no vestige of Captain Kydd 

 and his hoards. 



I encouraged that idea about Captain Kydd by looking very mysterious, con- 

 sulting my notebook, pacing ofif the distance between certain objects, and behaving 

 generally like a truant land-surveyor. My benevolent object was, I subsequently 

 learned, most fully accomplished, for the people there are now the highest Hving 

 authorities on the subject of Carib shell mounds. For a fortnifj^ht after I left, the 

 whole population turned out, and overhauled all the numerous shell mounds in the 

 island ; but, unfortunately, they found nothing. They then concluded that I had 

 inherited some invaluable notebooks and maps from my worthy ancestor, Captain 

 Kydd, and that I had slipped ashore in the night, and had carried ofif millions 

 of " pieces of eight" and " Spanish Joes." 



A friend, 'Chief Justice Semper of St. Kitts, warned me never to venture nea" 

 that island again, and I have taken his advice. It was the cheapest bit of archaeo- 

 logies,! exploration on record. 



This fish diet must have greatly contributed to the vitality and vigor of the 

 Indians. The prevalent idea that fish is so little nutritious that, to dine on fish is 

 equivalent to fasting, was a little shaken by the fact, that communities that live on 

 fish are very prolific. A gentleman, whom I met recently at the Toronto Club, and 

 who had spent some winters at Hudson's Bay, told me that it was a favorite amuse- 

 ment there to pit the fish-eating against the flesh-eating Indians in trials of strength, 

 and that in every case the former came oflf victorious. 



