An Indian Trail 151 



gather supplies of oysters, clams, and other 

 " sea food," which were dried by smoking 

 and then " strung as beads and carried as 

 great coils of rope" back to the hills to be 

 consumed during the winter. 



Many small colonies, too, passed the win- 

 ters on the coast in the shelter of the great 

 pine forests that extended to the very ocean 

 beach. It was no hap-hazard threading of a 

 wilderness to reach these distant points. The 

 paths were well defined, well used. For how 

 long we can only conjefture, but the vast ac- 

 cumulations of shells on the coast, often now 

 beneath the water, point to a time so distant 

 that the country wore a diiferent aspeft from 

 what it now does ; a time when the land rose 

 far higher above the tide and extended sea- 

 ward where now the ocean rolls resistlessly. 



Returning inland, let us trace another of 

 these old-time paths from the river-shore 

 whereon the Indians had long dwelt, over 

 hill and dale until we reach a valley hemmed 

 in by low, rolling hills. 



It is a pretty spot still, although marred by 

 the white man's work ; but why was it the 

 goal of many a weary journey ? 



Here is found the coveted jasper, varied in 



