132 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



NOTES ON AN INDIAN OSSUARY AT THE BEACH, 

 HAMILTON, ONT. 



Read before the Geological Section, Nov. 28th, i8go. 



BY COL. C. C. GRANT. 



I recently learned from a young friend of mine that an Indian 

 ossuary or bone pit had been exposed in excavating sand and 

 gravel on the spur of the new Grand Trunk Railway line at the 

 Beach. Unfortunately I discovered others previously had an inkling 

 of the matter, and it was only after several days spent in excavating 

 the fine sand that I obtained clear proof that the part I had selected 

 for my antiquarian researches had most undoubtedly been recently 

 disturbed. However, as I noticed that some exceedingly small 

 " wampum " appeared to have escaped the observation of the 

 previous searchers, I came to the conclusion that it might be as well 

 to work on and endeavor to ascertain the dimensions of the 

 ossuary, and also if any part had, by chance, been unnoted by the 

 earlier explorers. 



The work of removing the sand itself is very tedious. When 

 you get down about two and a-half or three feet, the water from the 

 swamps and lake close by percolates through the former Beach, so 

 you are compelled to excavate nearly knee deep in water, and the 

 bones, wampum and relics are chiefly found about a foot below the 

 surface of the water. 



It strikes one as very strange that the Red Men should have 

 selected such a low, swampy burial place. It was mentioned, I 

 think, by one of the members of our Association, recently, that Lake 

 Ontario was some two feet higher than usual this year. The cir- 

 cumstance may afford us some explanation of what at first sight 

 seems difficult to understand. On the other hand, several old 

 residents of this city have assured me that the water of the bay is 

 considerably lower now than it was thirty years ago. 



In the first circular pit I discovered, in addition to the wampum 

 beads, a Spanish silver coin of Charles III., dated 1776. On exca- 



