380 CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF THE FLORIDA WEST-COAST. 



where we found, among other objects, a sinker made from a clam-shell (Fig. 29). 

 It is interesting to recall that Mr. Cushing found in the muck at Marco " chipped 

 and notched fragments of heavy clam shells " in place on fishing nets. 



Watson's, Monroe County. 

 About four miles up Chatham river is a series of shell fields owned by Mr. 

 Watson who resides on the place. 



Conclusions. 



It is our belief, judging from the results of our work along the Florida west- 

 coast, that archaeological opportunities offered there are more for the surveyor than 

 for the excavator. And the surveyor must have a care, while introducing into his 

 plans all visible remains of the aborigines, not to idealize, and thus on his plans 

 show more than is present on the various sites. 



We believe Mr. Cushing' s discoveries at Marco were an isolated case, and in 

 fact, Mr. Cushing has so expressed himself to us. Perhaps a hurricane crushed in, 

 at that particular spot, a group of dwellings, including a temple or sacerdotal house. 

 Continuous digging in the muck of keys might reveal scattered objects, accidental 

 losses, whose specific gravity caused them to sink when falling into the water. 

 This would not be the case with objects wholly of wood as were the majority 

 of those found by Mr. Cushing at Marco. 



We are not prepared to believe that aboriginal objects of wood, some artisti- 

 cally carved, were confined, as to their use in Florida, to the keys of the southwest 

 coast. The kitchen-middens of Europe show the preservative quality of mud for 

 wood, and we, therefore, think that wooden objects were found at Marco, because 

 they lay in a better medium for preservation, and not because they were in use only 

 along the southwest coast. We know the Florida Indians of other parts of the 

 State used wood. Ribault's French Huguenots (1564) saw in use "a little vessel 

 of wood" x near the mouth of the St. Johns, where we opened two great Indian 

 mounds. In the famous mound at Mt.. Royal, farther up the river, which we believe 

 to be the place near the lake visited by some of the Frenchmen, where lived a 

 great king, we found a long pin, or skewer, of wood, parts of which, preserved by 

 a coating of sheet copper, were beautifully carved. 2 



We think, therefore, it not unlikely that the sand mounds of Florida contained 

 a store of objects carved in wood, which have long since disappeared through decay. 



Certain Shell Implements of the Southwest Coast of Florida. 

 Florida may be called the home of the shell implement in this country, for no 

 other State has such an extent of sub-tropical sea coast where shells abound, and in 

 no other State is such a need created through absence of stone. 



1 "Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida," p. 229. 



2 "Certain Sand Mounds of the St. Johns river." Part II, Fig. 15, p. 142, Journ. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Phila., Vol. X. 



