Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-04-14

heads found in this burial place were
made of stone different from any, so far
as am aware, occurring in this region.
1t is of fine grain, and very compact,
and might be wrought by the lapidary.
A few ornamental pieces, also discovered
in the same place, were made from a
limestone closely resembling the Rntland
marble. The human bones exhumed from
these old graves are, in most cases, more
than thoss which are with considerable
certainty regarded as the remains of the
st. Francis tribe. Paints are frequently
discovered in connection with the other
relics, and what appear to be pieces of an
tique cloth are occasionally met with.
Shell beads and short tubes of copper,
which were probably once strung together
and formed either wampum, species of
necklace, or some other such ornament,
are of very ordinary occurrence while no
beads like those used by the St. Francis
tribe, at much later day, are ever met
with in this more ancient repository of
the dead. 1t is accordingly my impress
sion-1 may say, indeed, that an exami-
nation of many of these relics has awak-
ened in me the conviction-that this
ancient people, though more aboriginal,
were in many respects, especially In cultl-
walton and refinement, much further ad-
vanced than the later inhabitants of the
forest. The utensils found in their graves
are usually of finer finish, evincing far
greater skill in the execution, and much
higher degree of artistic taste than have
usually appeared among the more recent
Indians.
But at various other points in the imme-
diate vicinity, in many localities besides
the two places of interment Just men,
toned, Indian relics have been found.
! Hatchets, arrow-heads, chIsels and divers
other instruments have been picked up on
the surface of the soil, and often brought
to light by the plow. Chips of ebert, or
! flint, as / we'll remember, occur in one
! locality in considerable abundance, al
though the only rock of like kind, in its
natural position, known to occur in the
whole region, is several miles away.
! These fragments / have been inclined to
consider as the refuse material left by the
Indians in making their spear and arrow
| heads. In several places, also, urns or
vases of different kinds have been discov-
cred. So vessels made of steatite or soap
stone, and suited TO be used over fire, as
pot or kettle, are frequently met with.
These 1 have been disposed to regard, on
account of their superior finish, as the
workmanship of the more ancient inhabi.
tants of the country. An old citizen in
formed me that about forty years ago
while he and two of his neighbors were
at work constructing or repairing a road
near what is called the Rolling Bank In
Swanton, they found human skeleton
of gigantic size. 1t was uncovered by the
scraper with which they were removing
the soil The skull was of such dimen-
sions that one of the men, although him
self of large proportions, readily placed
his head within its cavity. The bones, OF
portion of them, were examined by a
physician, and, according to his estimate,
were such as to indicate that the individ'
ual to whom they belonged must have
been from seven and half to eight feet
in height These, perhaps, were likewise
the remains of one of those ancient peo-
pie who once inhabited the region, and OF
whom it may be ftly said, there We're
giants in the land in those days"