ETHNOLOGY AND ARCHEOLOGY. 555 



and the remains of some of their fur wrappings indicated a much shorter interval 

 since their deposition. 



The writer in the Globe, while hesitating to offer any very decided opinion, is 

 inclined to believe that the remains are those of warriors, slain in battle. The 

 chief grounds for this view are stated as follows : — 



1. ''In the spring, a skeleton was found at a short distance from the burrow, 

 with every evidence of having been struck down by a tomahawk. 



2. The height, where the remains were found, is one admirably fitted for a 

 battle field. 



3. The bodies seem to have been hastily interred. Most of them had on their 

 ordinary dresses. A few remains of these were found with the fur yet perfect, 

 the skins neatly sewn, and the fringe-like ornaments peculiar to Indian dresses, 

 still distinct and uudecayed. The corpses appear to have been hastily thrown in, 

 and little or no earth thrown over them, as the only covering found over them 

 was that formed by the accumulation of leaves that have fallen since their 

 interment." 



The relics, however, with which these human remains were accompanied seem 

 irreconeileable with this view of the case. There was not only an absence of 

 weapons of war, — which we cannot suppose would have been entirely removed 

 when such objects as copper kettles, and the cumbrous tropical shells were left ; 

 but the latter are not objects with which a war party would be likely to burden 

 themselves. The so-called burrow was more probably an Ossuary, into which the 

 remains of the dead were promiscuously heaped, in accordance with known Indian 

 customs, after the final honors and sacrifices had been rendered to the deceased. 

 One of these Ossuaries, in the Township of Beverly, from which specimens of the 

 same class of tropical shells were procured, lias been noticed in this Journal, 

 (Old Series, vol. Ill, p. 156.) The depression by which the locality of these 

 recently discoved relics was indicated, is no doubt mainly ascribable to the decay 

 of the human remains interred there. Dr. Schoolcraft speaks of some of these 

 cemeteries as " Sepulchral trenches or Ossuaries, in which the bones of entire 

 villages would seem to have been deposited ;" and the appearance of hasty and 

 partial inhumation described above has been noted in other examples. 



The locality where these relics have been found appears to present a rich field 

 for investigation ; and it is gratifying to find such discoveries meeting with the 

 attention evinced on this occasion. The narrator of the above facts observes : 

 " The elevated ground that lies between Lakes Simcoe and Huron, seems to have 

 been, in former ages, a favorite home of the Red Man. Abounding with numerous 

 valleys, and studded with hills of various sizes, it has formed au admirable field 

 for those sudden surprises and those stealthy attacks that distinguish Indian war- 

 fare. From its central position, it was probably a battle field for the hostile 

 tribes residing in Canada, on the one hand, and the north-western nations on the 

 other. This advantageous position of the district was discerned by the military 

 genius of Sir John Col borne, who, with his wonted sagacity, foresaw that only 

 amid those glens and wooded heights could a successful resistance be made to an 

 invasion from the neighboring States. He accordingly matured a scheme for 

 settling the district with military colonists, and establishing a chain of Indian 

 settlements along the line of portage that connects Lake Couchiching and Georgian 

 Bay. Various circumstances, however, prevented his plan from being successfullv 



