82 E. W. Hilgard—Ceology of Lower Louisiana. 
Petite Anse, or Avery’s Island, 
The topography of the island, as well as the history of the ; 1 
mine, have been ably given by Dr. Chas. A. Gdssmann of Syra- 7 
Indian hatchets, arrrow-heads and rush baskets, but above all — 
an astonishing quantity of pottery fragments, have been eX- —— 
tracted from the pits. The pots doubtless subserved the pur- — 
pose of salt-boiling ; human handiwork has, however, been — 
found so close to the surface of the salt, as to render it likely — 
that its existence in mass was once known, before the time — 
when, in 1862, Mr. D. H. Avery struck the salt itself at the — 
‘bottom of a salt water well. 
The surface of the salt undulates considerably, so that bor- 
ings commenced at different levels have repeatedly struck salt 
depth of 38 feet, without any perceptible variation in quality; i ; 
ts 
pe ” being as yet unknown. Dr. Gissmann’s observations — 
