Cavj-Uns and Rock Shelters. 85 



The long- promised burial place I found was this rock shelter. 

 The debris at the base of this rock shelter is composed of rock 

 fallen from the cliff overhead and ashes and refuse from human 

 occupancy. It has a depth of at least thirty feet. I was able to 

 explore to a depth of only about five feet. You see the excava- 

 tion as I left it about twenty years ago. It shows how slowly the 

 rocks fall. Practically no rocks have fallen during this time. 



The ashes contained the usual kitchen refuse of Indians and 

 showed they ate practically everything that flew in the air, or ran 

 on land, or swam in the water. Turkey and turkey buzzard, fish 

 and periwinkle, deer and snake, were all grist for his hungry 

 maw. 



A strange custom (if any custom can be called strange, for all 

 customs are strange to those who do not have them), was that of 

 burying the bodies of little children under the hearth fire, and 

 then continuing to use the hearth as before. When I came to this 

 I was much puzzled until, by further research, I found that it 

 was a custom of many Indians to do this. Professor Putnam 

 found many such burials under the old wigwam sites of the old 

 Indian town on Greenwood farm, about 20 miles from this rock 

 shelter. I have since then discovered many other similar burials. 

 Some day, when my ship comes home, or some rich man fur- 

 rishes the $1,000.00 required, I want to explore this shelter to its 

 base. I believe that at the base will be found traces of the earliest 

 man this section ever saw. 



Here is a view of a large cave nearly opposite the town of Car- 

 thage. This was never used for burial, nor, as far as I can dis- 

 cover, as a dwelling place. It is interesting as showing the possi- 

 bilities of cave exploration. On the solid rock floor of this cave 

 is about eighteen inches of earth. From a hole, about twenty-four 

 inches square and extending down to the original rock floor, I 

 obtained the partial remains of many of the wild things which, 

 living or dead, find their way into lonely caverns. 



The strange part is, that in this small hole, I was rewarded by 

 finding the remains of a bat of South American type that was 

 new to North America. 



It is remarkable what can be discovered by keeping your eyes 

 wide open. In the rough box house of a saw mill man at Car- 

 thage I found a queer jaw bone. I learned he had found it in 



