io Bulletin of the Natural History Society. 
swale to the east of the village site, now cleared, but then probably 
wooded, a further supply of water was available. 
Such was the general relation of the village of Phil’s Beach to 
the surrounding country. A few words may be added as to the 
arrangement of the dwellings of which it was composed. On first 
surveying the ground, it was observed that the north side of the 
village site was comparatively smooth, having been under cultiva- 
tion since the arrival of the English, and no inequalities remained 
that would indicate where the dwellings of the ancient inhabitants 
had been. On this smooth ground we pitched our tents, and found 
it admirably adapted to our purpose, being well drained by the 
layers of shells beneath. Fully one half of the site of the village, 
however, including the part on whicji the shells of the kitchen - 
midden were heaped together in the greatest quantities, had never 
been disturbed by the plow. Here the ground was covered with 
a growth of the. Cow Parsnip ( Heracleum lanatum ) intermingled 
with other coarse weeds and grasses. This herbage extended to 
the extreme limits of the village site except on the north, where 
the land had been brought under the plow. In the western part of 
the shell-covered area, where the heaps of shells were most con- 
spicuous, the presence of numerous saucer-shaped depressions indi- 
cated the positions of the huts of the aboriginal settlement. Over 
the greater portion of this uneven area no order or arrangement 
into regular streets could be observed. But near the sea beach, 
on the southern side of the village site, there was an approach to 
regularity in the position of the hut bottoms. The front row of 
huts appears to have been the favourite section for dwellings. 
Not only were the foundations of the huts more closely set in this 
row, but the refuse heaps both before and behind them are larger 
than elsewhere. The huts of this row were very closely set, with 
alley- ways between, in some cases only four feet wide ; but the 
spaces between the huts further back were greater. Such at least 
was the arrangement of the huts in the later years during which 
this community existed. Not only were the huts more scattered 
in the rear part of the village, but anything like a systematic 
arrangement in rows entirely disappears after passing the third 
row from the front of the village. 
