416 ON SOME ANCIENT MOUNDS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE. 
or by the intertwiming roots of the overgrowing trees ; and this may 
also to some extent account for the position of the crania. From all 
the circumstances connected with these three skeletons, I am led to 
believe that they were originally entombed in a sitting posture, back 
to back, having their heads merely surrounded by flat stones, which 
rested upon their breasts or folded arms, whilst the remainder of the 
bodies were covered or built up in the general material of the work. 
Figure 6, marks the position of a skeleton, by the side of which 
was found what appeared to be the contents of a magician’s or con- 
jurer’s bag. The objects of art contaimed in it are represented in 
Plate IT. 
Figure 8, portion of wall exposed, formed of layers of limestone 
rudely laid up, and which appeared from examination made at different 
points of the circle of excavation, to be built around the edge of the 
enclosure containing the relics. The wall did not form a perfect circle, 
but the sides of it were about seven feet asunder. This work did 
not contain the same proportion of gneiss as the works previously | 
described, the flat limestones, before mentioned, and soil assisting to 
make up the pile. 
Figure 1, Plate II., is an exact representation of the back of a 
comb elaborately ornamented by lines. scratched upon the smooth 
surface of a flat piece of bone. Figure 2, fragment of a bone in- 
strument, polished perhaps by use. Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, are either the 
teeth of the comb (fig. 1) or awl-shaped instruments, commonly found 
with Indian remains. Figure 8, is a barbed arrow-blade (Schoolcraft) 
or the point of a fish-spear (Squier). It is made of bone and polished. 
Figures 9 and 10, represented half-size, are waterworn limestones, 
somewhat resembling the Indian foot covered with a moccasin. 
The three cylindrical vurnaments, at the bottom of plate II., are 
what Mr. Schoolcraft calls baldrics, specimens of which he found in the 
Indian ossuaries at Beverly, Canada West; and he remarks that “the 
ancient Indians formed baldrics for the body, from the hollow bones 
of the swan and other large birds or deers’ bones, in lmks of two or 
three inches long. These were strung on a belt or string of sinew 
or leather.” Those here represented are made of the thick parts of 
shells, and bear upon their outside surface a spiral groove. In some 
specimens the groove is not distinct, and perhaps its presence, in any 
case, is more attributable to necessity than design, the groove being a 
