156 



OBSKKVATlOxXS ON GONOHOLOGIOAL RELICS OF THE RED INDIANS OE 0. W 



[1855. 



Two of these troisical American sliells, both of them 

 specimens of the pyrida perversa, the native habitats of which 

 are the Antilles, and the Ray of Carapeachy, on the main land, 

 have been recently presented to the Canadian Institute ; not as 

 additions to our specimens of native conchology of the tropics, 

 but as Indian relics pertaining to the great northern chain of 

 fresh water lakes. The first of these, presented by Dr. 

 Richardson at a meeting of the Institute in January last, was 

 discovered on opening an Indian grave-mound, at Nottawasaga, 

 • on the Georgian Bay, and along with it a gorget made from 

 the same kind of shell. The second example, presented by 

 Sandford Fleming, Esq., was brought by him from the Fishing 

 Islands, near Cape Hurd, on Lake Huron ; while a third 

 specimen now exhibited, the property of James Beaty, Esq., 

 constituted one of the contents of a large sepulchral depository 

 in the same Northern Lake district. It was found lying at the 

 head of one of a group of Indian graves, along with a copper 

 kettle, and other relies ; and the graves are reported to have 

 contained additional specimens of the pyrula. 



About the year 1837, one of those extensive Indian Ossua- 

 ries, which have furnished so many relics pertaining to the 

 period of ancient Indian occupation of the Canadian clearings, 

 was accidentally discovered in the township of Beverly, twelve 

 miles from Dunda.s. Here an elevated ridge, running from 

 north to south, was covered by an old growth of full-grown 

 beech trees, standing somewhat widely apart ; and across this, 

 and consequently running from east to west, a series of deposits 

 of human bones were exposed, ten or eleven of which were 

 opened. They contained an immense number of bones, of 

 both sexes and of all ages, promiscuously heaped together, and 

 interspersed with many Indian relics, which furnished the 

 chief temptation to their exploration. These depositories of 

 human bones are referred to by Dr. School:- raft, as specially 

 characteristic of the ancient period of occupancy of the Upper 

 Lakes, and are described as consisting of " sepulchral trenches 

 or ossuaries, in which the bones of entire villages would seem 

 to have been carefully deposited, after the bodies had been 

 previously scafiblded or otherwise disposed of, till the fleshy 

 parts were entirely dissipated, and nothing left but the osteo- 

 logical frame." In commenting on this Indian sepulchral 

 rite, he further observes : " A custom of this kind may be 

 supposed to intervene, in the history of nations, between that of 

 burning the body, — which is still practised, we are told, among 

 the Tacullies of British Oregon, or New Caledonia, — ^and that 

 of immediate interment, which is so generally practised."* On 

 enquiring, however, of Mr. Paul Kane, whose practical know- 

 ledge of Indian rites and customs is so extensive, he informs 

 me that in the above remarks this American ethnologist con- 

 founds the customs and sepulchral rites of two entirely distinct 

 classes of the Indian tribes of North America. Among the 

 Chippeways, the Pottowatamays, the Blenamonies, the Ottawas, 

 and the Indians of the Six Nations, the practice prevailed of 

 interring their dead in large sepulchral depositories, into 

 which the bones were promiscuously gathered, after the final 

 honours and sacrifices had been ofiered to the deceased. This 

 custom fully accounts for the large Ossuaries brought to light 

 within the original localities of these tribes. The other practice 

 of depositing the corpse on a scaifold or raised platform above 

 ground, constitutes the entirely distinct and final sepulchral 

 rite of other tribes lying to the north and west of the former, 

 including the Chinouks, Kliketats, Coulitz, and all the Indians 



* History, Condition, and Prospects of Indians of the United 

 States," vol. 1, pp. G8, 102. 



of the Columbia River. The most common and characteristic 

 elevated bier of those western tribes is the canoe, raised on 

 poles, and decorated with relics pertaining to the deceased; 

 and with the offerings of his friends. These Indian biers are 

 invariably erected on an isolated rock or island, inaccessible to 

 beasts of prey, and are regarded as the final resting-places of 

 the dead.* With reference to the ossuaries of the eastern 

 tribes, such as those now more especially referred to, discovered 

 at Beverly, it may be noted that they indicate a permanent 

 location of the tribe, and may afford some clue to the duration 

 of their occupation of the region of country where such are 

 brought to light. 



One of the depositories of bones opened at Beverly, and 

 carefully explored, was found to measure forty feet in length, 

 with a breadth of eight feet ; and throughout this entire area it 

 consisted, to a depth of six feet, of a solid mass of human crania 

 and bones. 



Along with numerous specimens of clay jaipes, beads, amu- 

 lets of red pipe-stone, copper bracelets, and personal ornaments 

 of different kinds, obtained from the Beverly ossuaries, there 

 were found various shell-beads, a worked gorget made from a 

 large sea-shell, with the original nacre of red not entirely gone, 

 and two entire specimens of the large trojiical sea-shells already 

 referred to. One of these furnishes another specimen of the 

 j)^n(?npe?-i;ersa.,andtheother is described as ihe pyrula spirata, 

 a shell, if I mistake not, peculiar to the western coasts of 

 Central and South America. The shell beads, it may be added, 

 appear to be of precisely the same kind as some described in 

 the transactions of the American Ethnological Society, (Vol. 

 1, 1835) which were discovered far south, in the Grave creek 

 mound, Virginia. 



The interest which pei-tains to these conchological Indian 

 relics, manifestly depends on the fact of our thus discovering 

 along the shores of our great inland chain of fresh-water lakes 

 specimens of the large tropical sea-shells of the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Coasts of Central America, and of the West Indian Isles. 

 The attractions offered by this and other allied species of the 

 large and beautiful tropical shells are sufficiently apparent, and 

 are by no means limited to the untutored tastes of the Red 

 Indian, nor to the products of the Mexican coasts. 



The P(/rum, and others of the large and beautiful shells of the 

 East Indian seas, of the species Turhinella, are highly prized by 

 the natives of the neighbouring districts ; and this is especially 

 the case with a sinistrorsal variety which inhabits the coasts of 

 Tranquebar and Ceylon, and is made use of by the Cingalese 

 in some of their most sacred rites. The greater number of the 

 genus Pijrula, are dextrorsal, or rise in a spiral line from 

 right to left, so as to present the mouth on the right side when 

 held with the elongated canal or tube downward. Such is not 

 the case, however, with the two species referred to as belonging 

 to this continent, and hence apparently the origin of the name 

 given to the more abundant of these, the Pyrula Perversa. 



In the East Indian Seas, however, examples of sinistrorsal 

 monstrosities of the native species are occasionally met with, 

 and are highly prized. Such reversed shells of the species 

 Turhinella, are held in special veneration in China, where 

 great prices are given for them. They are kept in the pagodas 

 by the priests, and are not only employed by them on certain 



* Mr. Paul Kane exhibited at the meeting an oil painting executed 

 by him from sketches taken on the Coulitz River, of a group of the 

 canoe biers of the Coulitz Indians, among whom he resided for some 

 time. 



