104 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 



through these mounds, a complete history of their growth was exhibited. Layers 

 of yellow ashes, mixed with small pieces of charred wood, alternated with the 

 earthy debris of the old dwellings ; and the numerous saucer-shaped, ashy hollows 

 in the strata of the mounds showed where the fires had been. No stones larger 

 than a walnut were found ; which is another proof that the fireplaces were never 

 used as ovens. Several mounds, not more than a foot high, on being intersected 

 in every direction, showed the remains of only one fireplace, and that alwaj's on 

 the eastern side of the mound. In every large mound, and in some of the smaller 

 ones, human skeletons were found about eighteen inches below the surface, lyinw 

 on the side, with the head to the west, and the knees drawn up to the chest — a 

 mode of sepulture not uncommon among the aboriginal inhabitants of England. 



