
460 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS 
tions form an uncertain basis for history. If, therefore, on 
the one hand there is no proof of great antiquity, it may still 
be claimed that there is nothing inconsistent with it, and 
that the appearances of the mounds, and facts connected 
with them, largely favor it. 
IV. ST. JOHNS BLUFF. 
It was the special object of this paper to describe only 
fresh-water shell-heaps, but as we have visited two deposits 
consisting of marine species, chiefly oysters, we will add a 
few words with regard to them, especially the above-men- 
tioned locality. The one at Fernandina, on the northerly 
end of Amelia Island, has already been described by Dr. 
Brinton,* who has given the most satisfactory proof of its 
human origin, and of other similar deposits on the Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts of Florida. The result of our own observa- 
tions at Fernandina are confirmatory of what Dr. Brinton 
has recorded, and afford some additional evidence from the 
earthworks thrown up during the rebellion, and the mounds 
over the soldiers’ graves in the rear of Old Fernandina, 
in making both of which, portions of the shell-heaps were 
uncovered, and the contents, similar to those previously 
noticed, exposed. | 
St. Johns Bluff has a twofold interest, for it was not only 
a favorite resort for the Indians, but was the scene of two g 
the most tragic events in the early history of the continent. t 
It is situated on the right bank of the river, and about five 
‘miles from the mouth. Like all the adjoining shores, it R 
composed of a fine yellowish silicious-sand. It is about fory : 
feet high on the front, and at the eastern end rises quite 

* Floridian Peninsula, p. 177. ine with & 
t It was here that the French, under Jean Ribault, in 1564, puilt Fort Caroline r ahs 
view to establish a Huguenot colony, which in less than eighteen ee i gat 
with the purpose of impeding the progress of Protestantism captured, put utherans” 
to the sword, and set up the inscription, “not as to Frenchmen 
niqt 
killing the captives, leaving behind attached to a tree another inse 
Spaniards or mariners, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers 
Pioneers of France in the New World. Boston, 1865, p. 157. 


