CANNIBALISM IN AMERICA. 407 
several instances the cranial bones were broken into small frag- 
ments and were irregularly cemented together by the deposit of 
lime. 
9. A large block of consolidated shells split from the front of 
Osceola Mound left exposed a portion of a human skull. In de- 
taching this, other bones were brought to view and excavations 
were continued until no further traces could be discovered. 
chief part of the bones were removed in a mass of conglomerate 
and subsequently exposed by chiselling away the matrix, but from 
which they have not been wholly detached. The organic matter 
has entirely disappeared and the matrix adheres so firmly to the 
bones, that it is very difficult to separate it without at the same 
time breaking off pieces of bony structure. 
Of all the human remains we have met with in the shell mounds 
these last are the most interesting, both on account of their greater 
age and of their being almost the only ones which can, with any 
certainty, be referred to the earliest period of the mounds. Osce- 
ola mound is one of the series in which pottery is not found, and 
its materials, as well as the mound as a whole, have undergone 
great changes. 
There are certainly bones from two individuals, mingled. Two 
thigh bones, which are mates, lie side by side, but in reversed 
positions, the upper part of one corresponding with the lower of 
the other. The articular portions are gone. Parts of at least two 
others were found, one of which was removed nearly whole. Of 
the other there are two cylindrical portions, one 55 and the other 
90™" long. The exposed ends of the shorter one show the inter- 
esting fact that the bone had been artificially divided, by cutting 
a groove around the circumference of the bone and thus weakening 
it and then breaking the remainder. This is a common method of 
dividing bones used by Indians. The broken surface and the 
marks of the cutting instrument are quite obvious. In the longer 
piece these marks are present but less distinct. As further evi- 
dence of the presence of bones from two individuals, may be men- 
tioned the lower ends of two upper arm bones, both from the right 
side and of different sizes, and both cemented together. There 
are three tibiæ, two of which are decidedly flattened and belonged 
to the same individual, the third having more nearly the triangular 
section, but only slightly flattened. 
Besides the above there are fragments of a scapula, pelvis, 
