Page:Anthropology.djvu/150

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MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY.
149

found on the shore with what looks like letters engraved on it, but they have never been deciphered. The stone is in the possession of John K. Ryerson, of Yarmouth. Dr. Gilpin, of Halifax, has discovered a rock in Annapolis County with some engraving on it. In the history of the county of Pictou, published by me, on pages 29-31, will be found an account of the only genuine prehistoric cemetery with which I have met. I could see no plan of arrangement in the graves. They would be found at distances of from three to five feet apart, and over a space of about fifty feet square, lying to the west of a pit. I was not able to find any to the eastward, that is, farther away from the shore. The graves formed a layer of brown, velvety mold, two or three inches deep, and containing fragments of bones. The ground is gently sloping and facing southwestwardly. In only one instance could I detect the posture of the body. This one was lying on its side, and doubled up. In other instances there were plainly a number together, and the bones were so decayed and seemingly so mixed, that I could not trace any order. I did not particularly observe, but I think the body lay north and south with the face to the west. The graves were shallow, not more than from nine to twelve inches deep.

There was no evidence of desiccation. But there is in the possession of Dr. Wm. Doherty, of Kingston, Kent County, N. B., a perfect mummy of an Indian head. The face retains its features, and the hair adheres as completely as in life. It was found on a part of a bank of the river Richibenclo. Along with it was found a copper kettle, showing that the burial took place after the arrival of Europeans, and while they still retained the practice of burying the valuables of the deceased with him. The skin has a bluish discoloration, probably from the copper. I am informed that up the St. John's River a large copper kettle was found with the remains of a body, which had been squeezed into it.

There are no quarries. There is an island known in the Micmac language as Pipestone Island, to which they may have resorted for materials for their pipes, but I have not been able to find the place.

The only workshops that I have heard of in these maritime provinces is what is known as Bockman's Beach, Lunenburg County, N.S. It is a beach of sand and gravel, running east and west, perhaps 300 yards in length and connecting an island, known as Bookman's Island, with the main-land. On the north side the sea has heaped up the sand and gravel, but in the rear of this it is lower, and here, about midway between the shores, have been found large quantities of flakes and splinters of stone and arrow-heads in various states of preparation. Many of these have been carried away by collectors, but the sea washes over the spot, and after every storm more are exposed.

A small circular heap, about 6 feet in diameter, and from 15 to 18 inches high at the time of my visit, has been supposed by some to have been the seat of the ancient arrow-maker. But on close examination of the spot and from information received from those living in the