1 6 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



also the loth and 13th concession of East Flamboro, and the 7th 

 concession of Beverly. In all these localities ossuaries have been 

 discovered in connection with the ash-pits, except those in the 13th 

 concession of East Flamboro. The ash-pits here are so different 

 from the others I have mentioned as to merit special attention. 



In the first place they are very old, being covered with soil and 

 vegetable matter to the depth of two feet, and the ash-pits themselves 

 are four feet or more in depth. In the first foot of the ash-bed 

 pottery of different patterns was found ; in the next two feet bones 

 and bone implements, while near the bottom were broken and 

 charred human bones mingled with the bones of the deer, the bear 

 and other animals. This last circumstance proves that anciently the 

 Indians of this village were cannibals. 



As no articles of European manufacture are found in these ash- 

 pits, we must conclude that the village ceased to exist before the 

 beginning of the i6th century. It was in one of these ash-pits that 

 I found my most valued ceremonial stone. In shape it is the seg- 

 ment of a circle's circumference, and nearly round ; in size it is 

 about 10 inches long and i inch thick; in color a reddish brown. 

 There is a hole in the centre like that of a pick-axe ready to receive 

 its handle. 



The large univalve shells found occasionally in the ossuaries are 

 interesting from several points of view. They are all of one type, 

 being inversely spiral, or what is known as cone shells, and are said 

 to be peculiar to the Gulf of Mexico. If so, we need not wonder 

 that these Indians could tell LaSalle and other white men of the 

 great river Ohio (which was identical with the Mississippi) and of the 

 immense gulf into which it emptied. 



Moreover, the Indians of Otinawatawa must have been either 

 great travellers or enterprising traders, and very rich, as proved by 

 the vast number of precious things made from these shells. From 

 these precious shells were made wampum (or Indian money), beads, 

 amulets and other ornaments of the highest character. Of the three 

 cone shells in my collection, two came from the ossuary at 

 Otinawatawa. 



The Kwin-Ni-Bi-Nah collection includes about a peck of wam- 

 pum, a magnificent necklace, two feet long, made of cone shell and 

 stone beads, ranging in size from peas to acorns, and arranged so as 



