22. INDIAN HISTORY. 
ician of this town, who visited the locality twenty years ago, and 
who has some of the bones still in his possession, in a good state 
of preservation, did not find any that were of an unusual size. 
Quite a number ot interesting Indian relics have been found, 
consisting of stone hatchets, flint and bone arrow heads, some of 
a very large size, bone needles, supposed to be used in making 
fish nets, and stone pipes. 
That at one time, a system of exchange, embracing an exten- 
sive trade between the different tribes of the aborigines of this 
country was carried on, there is not the slightest doubt. Wampum 
was the money used by them, and consisted of various kinds of 
shells, portions of which were strung like beads, or worked into 
belts, and other ornaments. Each of these shells had a determin- 
ed value, and was the medium by which things were bought and 
sold. Shells that were indigenous to the Pacific coast, have been 
frequently found among the relics of the Atlantic tribes, as also 
have a number of the calumets, or stone pipes, made from a pecu- 
liar kind of the red rock, easily worked, of a very fine texture, 
and I believe only found in the vicinity of Nipigon, Lake Super- 
ior, and the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers ; the Cape Diamond, 
which is only found near Quebec, has been found in the posses- 
sion of the far western tribes. 
Of all these transactions, the present race of Indians appear to 
have no satisfactory record, or have they any well founded tradi- 
tion respecting their past history. An idea prevails among them 
that at one time they were a powerful and numerous race, but all 
beyond this is obscured and conjectured. They are aware that 
they are diminishing, year by year, to make room fo1 the white 
man. He sees this with apparent stolid indifference, as he can 
find no way to avoid his fate. 
Their institutions are also being changed, or entirely done away 
with. The grand Pow-wow, or yearly feast, which lasted for sev- 
eral days,and for which they were always arrayed in war costume, 
is now only observed among the remote tribes of the North 
West, nor have those of the Dominion any further use for either 
the costume or implements of war, as it is many years since they 
fought their last battle, which, I believe, occurred at Point Troq- 
uois, Lake Superior, where the Ogebways protected the retreating 
