538 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. Ko. 224. 



Judging from the customs of the present 

 natives, the water route would be used. 

 But they prefer to live near the shell-beds. 

 It is hard to believe that any of them would 

 carry shell-fish from the present seashore to 

 the shell-heaps at Port Hammond. The 

 distance that the delta is built out into the 

 sea, and the time required for this deposi- 

 tion, majr furnish us some information as to 

 the age of the Port Hammond shell-heaps. 



There is no apparent difi'erence in the 

 character of the specimens found in the re- 

 cent and in the older layers. The general 

 style of the objects is similar to those made 

 by the present tribes of the coast. Several 

 exquisite specimens of stone and bone carv- 

 ings were discovered, which rival in artistic 

 merit the' best sculpture of the existing 

 natives. 



Two types of skeletons were found which 

 belonged apparently to coexistent people, 

 as they were excavated from the same 

 layers. If one of these types consisted of 

 captives or slaves, there was nothing in the 

 manner of burial to indicate it. Probably 

 one type succeeded the other in occupation 

 of the area. The fact that bodies were 

 found in shell-heaps indicates that the cus- 

 toms of this people must have differed from 

 those of the people who formed the shell- 

 heaps on northern Vancouver Island, or 

 that the former people was subjected to 

 other influence. 



The skeletons found were deposited at 

 the time of the layers, and were not intru- 

 sive burials, as was clearly shown by the 

 numerous unbroken strata extending over 

 them. The bodies were usually lying upon 

 the side, with the knees close to the chest. 

 Unlike the skeletons in the interior, these 

 have but few, if any, objects accompanying 

 them, except, in rare instances, a few shell 

 beads, copper objects, and chipped and 

 ground stone points for arrows, spears, etc. 

 Such specimens, and even more interesting 

 objects, were frequently found in the layers. 



There has been an apparent movement in 

 prehistoric times of the Salish of the upper 

 Fraser toward the coast. The skulls found 

 in the old shell-heaps of the delta diiier 

 from those of the present coast Salish. The 

 modern coast Salish has a skull apparently 

 modified from this by admixture since com- 

 ing to the coast. This is only additional 

 evidence to what has already been suggested 

 by linguistic research. A movement of 

 such importance, and its attendant influ- 

 ences, may account for certain changes in 

 ethnological customs, such as the rapid 

 modification of the method of burial on the 

 southeastern part of Vancouver Island. The 

 earliest known kind of burial, and the one 

 that is known to have antedated contact 

 with the whites by a considerable period, 

 was in stone cairns. Later, and even since 

 contact with the whites, the bodies were 

 placed in wooden chests, which were de- 

 posited on platforms in the branches of 

 trees. This method was changed to de- 

 positing the boxes in caves or on little 

 islands. In such cases a canoe was some- 

 times used instead of a box. Now, under 

 missionary influence and legal restraint, 

 these people bury as do the whites of the 

 region . 



The cairns come within the field of ar- 

 chaeological investigation. They consist of 

 irregular piles of bowlders, from twelve to 

 twenty feet in diameter, thrown over the 

 body, which was placed in the usual flexed 

 position. In most cases it was surrounded 

 by a rectangular vault formed by placing 

 the straight sides of four or five bowlders 

 toward the body, and covering the cyst 

 thus made with one or two slab- shaped 

 rocks. Over this the rough pile of the cairn 

 would be reared. A few copper ornaments 

 have been found buried in cairns. The 

 skeletons are usually much decayed, and 

 complete skulls from the cairns are rarely 

 obtained. In excavating twenty- one cairns 

 in 1897 no entire bones were secured. In 



