THE TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS 67 



also great numbers of the big clam, Venus mor- 

 toni, several species of the Macrocallistas, Telli- 

 nas, Lucinas, Dosinias, and other bivalve mol- 

 lusk genera. Without doubt the flesh of all these 

 were used for food by the aborigines formerly 

 living here. 



Who built these mounds; what kind of people 

 were they; whence came they; how long did they 

 remain; what has become of them? Were they 

 of the same race that built the fresh-water shell 

 mounds along the St. John's River in northern 

 and central Florida and elsewhere north to New 

 England? Did they drive out some still older 

 race when they occupied this territory and has 

 some later tribe conquered and exterminated 

 them? What of their lives, their habits, and 

 customs? The archaeologist has examined their 

 shell heaps and found where they made their fires, 

 he has unearthed broken human bones, — were 

 they cannibals? He has found entire human 

 bones, sometimes laid out as if for burial. He 

 has gathered many fragments of coarse pottery, 

 sometimes plain, sometimes decorated, and he 

 has compared them with pottery from distant 

 mounds. He has taken from the shell heaps what 



