MOUNDS FULL OF HUMAN REMAINS. 681 



winkles ; there were also mussels, the large claws of crabs, the 

 hones of* vertebrate fishes and land animals, as well as some 

 hard slabs of pottery resembling the baking-pans used by the 

 wilder tribes at the present day. Among them, the labourers 

 were startled by coming upon human bones, in irregular posi- 

 tions and at unequal depths, huddled and jumbled together. 

 The skulls, some of which were of great thickness, were in 

 fragments. The long bones had all been cracked open, and 

 contained sand and dust. Each mass appeared to have been 

 deposited, without ceremony, in a common heap. Scarcely 

 any were found in natural juxtaposition. Having dug up 

 the bones of several adults, the labourers came upon the 

 remains of a little child ; one side of its head had been beaten 

 in, and other bones broken open. With these human relics 

 several stone axes or tomahawks, most of them broken, w r ere 

 dug up ; and a sharp-edged stone, which might have been used 

 as a knife. The Indians en^ao;ed in the work were verv 

 uneasy at having meddled with the human remains, or, as 

 they said, "troubled the bones of the old time people." 



Other mounds of similar appearance were opened, and found 

 filled with similar contents. Though some of the long bones 

 had been broken up, in several instances they had not been 

 severed from each other at the large joints, but merely 

 doubled or twisted one upon the other before they were cast 

 aside. 



Mr. Brett continues : " It was impossible to explain by any 

 supposition of respectful or decent interment the broken con- 

 dition of these relics, the violence with which they had been 

 treated, or the apparent contumely with which they had been 

 cast into the common receptacle for refuse matter. The great 

 depth at which many of these remains were found, seemed a 



