









_OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 397 
chief of the Geological Survey of California, and Dr. William 
H. Brewer, botanist to the same survey, that vast numbers 
of fresh-water shell-heaps exist there. Indeed there is an 
abundance of evidence for the belief that they are widely 
scattered throughout the United States. 
I. SHELL-HEAPS. 
King Philip’s Town. This place was in a wild state until 
quite recently, and derives its name from a Seminole chief, 
who, it is said, once occupied it. The shell-heap, now con- 
verted into an orange grove, is on the left bank of the river, 
about a mile below the outlet of Lake Harney. Its situation 
is favorable both for hunting and fishing; the river is here 
sixty or seventy yards wide; opposite is the mouth of Deep 
Creek,* rising far to the eastward, and pouring into the St. 
Johns an excellent quality of water; to the rear and west- 
ward are open prairies and pine lands, and in the distance, 
to the north, is a large lake. The river contains an abun- 
dance of fish, but generally of a poor quality, except in the 
month of February, when vast numbers of shad pass on their 
way to Lake Harney, two hundred miles from the mouth, 
tospawn. While we were encamped here, the splashing of 
the water by shoals of these fish could be heard at all hours, 
from evening twilight to early dawn. 
The shell-mound is about four hundred and fifty feet in 
; length, and from a hundred to a hundred and twenty in 
breadth. It stretches at right angles to the river, borders a 
lagoon on the south, and on the north merges into cultivated 
fields, over which its materials have become somewhat scat- 
tered. Its greatest height is about eight feet. Fragments 
of pots may be picked up anywhere on the surface, and, with 
these, bones of various edible animals. As all such remains 
_ May have been deposited on the mound after its completion, 
*Xcavations were made at many points 
from a few inches to 
* z . 
There is another creek of the same 
tw: I nte ‘ohns on 2 ri t 
bet name which e rs the St. J p the righi 
een Pilatka and Picolata. 

