Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-29
HUNDRED YEARS AGO.


 CT in Charles County, Maryland.
 The oyster business, now so important | an interest in Fair Haven and in Baltimore, dates back not much more than fifty years. Rnt the Indians in the oyster producing regions were acquainted with the edibility and Iusciousness of fine oysters long before this county was settled, and their bill of fare included oysters in their season. MT. H. W. Hitchcock, oyster planter and packer of Baltimore Md, and dealer in fruits and canned goods, formerly in the oyster busi- ness in Fair Haven, and we'll known here, showed US yesterday samples of oyster shells and Indian pottery, also an Indian hatchet head which he unearthed in Maryland near the Potomac river and which are evidences of the thrift and industry of the Piscataway tribe of Indians who once fourished in that section These relics were found in an i'm mense bed of shells far below the surface and are undoubtedly from three to four hundred years old. Various other samples obtained by Mr. Hitchcock are deposited by him with the Maryland Historical society. We ap- pend an article on the subject from the pen of Mr. Hitchcock which is of much historical as well as local interest.
 On a high bluff on the west side of Pope's
 
 longing to the Pope's Greek Railroad com pany, Mr. Stone and others, lies this great deposit of shells, no doubt the largest of the kind in the world, covering as it does over ten acres of ground and the same being from six to twelve feet deep, covered with earth from five to eight inches in depth in which have grown over parts of it thickets of cedar, beach and oak trees some of which are very large: the soil being caused by the accumu- 1ation of dust, after which vegetation set in until the whole was covered up, taking as 1t did over or fully 200 years. This was once the place where the Piscat
 away tribe of Indians obtained their supply of oysters and no one can tell how long the accumulation was going on. It was discov- cred when the Pope's Creek road was cut through to the Potomac river as it ran along the edge of this bank, and they now have six large kilns built, burning these shells into lime which is used for fertilizing purposes, and transported by the Pope's Creek railroad up through the country, and it is estimated that they have supply of shells for ten years.
 Among these shells were found number of large pieces of Indian pottery and proba- bly, the best collection of the same in the State-superior to that at the Historical society room-besides specimens of their hatchets, etc.
 This pottery shows that some of it, espe- COOk1QR the oysters in and the other, being thin as it is, was used for carrying the oysters away to the interior for other portions of the tribe No doubt the cause of this place being se- 1ected was owing to the fine harbor when bad
 weather came on in the river that Popes Creek then afforded for the many birch bark canoes used by the Indians in taking these oysters at that time, and no one has any idea { to what extent the oyster business might have been carried on. There is certainly one thing evident from the size ] of the shells found there in a per s feet state of preservation, that they grew no larger if as large then as they do now, | when there tongmen to work at them and the piratica1 -dredgers to scatter them and make thousands of acres of ground where f oysters now grow that years ago was mud g flats and unsuitable ground for their growth. E The shells on the lower end of this great de- posit resemble and indicate that they came from opposite and below in the river and ! those on the upper end indicate that they | came from above, as far as what was then I called Potopaco, now Port Tobacco, and it \ is evident that this was then to that tribe | what Canton Hollow now is to Baltimore E and the millions of bushels of shells there show that it must have been carried on to a ! great extent
 Patawomeke or Potomeack, now Potomac river, was discovered June 18th, 1908. The principal Indian settlement in Mary | land and on that river found by Capt. John ! Smith was that of the Patuxent tribe, the ! Secowacomoco and farther up the river was the Piscatawa tribe, all members of the Powhatanic confederacy, and this was the tribe who conducted this oyster business at this place and who with the Patuxents exer- cised sovereignty over all southern and cen tral Maryland.
 E The Piscataways called in Father Whites ' journal was the most extensive and power \ ful tribe found in the State. Kittamaquinda E was their capital and situated about fifteen ! miles below the present city of Washington and extended back for 145 miles, occupying k the greater part of Maryland and Pope's Creek near this great shell deposit was nam ed after and belonged to Nathaniel Pope, who < was exempted from doing militia duty April 11th, 1643, by Ceci1ius Calvert, eldest son of Lord Baltimore and afterwards second Lord Baltimore.
 The chief of these Indians, while his name was Clitomachen, was called Tayac, title of honor and station, and obtained his power in the tribe by putting his brother, the for mer chief, to death.
 On the 9th of July, 164O, in chapel built of bark for the occasion at his capital at Kit tamaquindi in the presence of the first gov ernor, Leonard Calvert who was elected in 1632, his secretary, MT. Lewger, and many others of the principal inhabitants of the place, with great pomp and display, Tayac the chief or king of this tribe, his queen
 their little child, son and many others of the chief men of his council were baptized by Father Andrew White. Tayac assumed the name of Charles, in honor of the Eng
 fish sovereign and after which Charles county was named, founded in 1858, and Annapolis was then called Providence; his queen that of Mary-St. Marys, founded in 1884 In the afternoon the king and queen were mar ried according to the rites of the church. and this being the first marriage among the Indi- ans of this State, in commemoration of this great event a cross of great size was erected with religious ceremony, in which the gov ernor, the secretary and other distinguished colonists took part.
 Tayac, the chief or king, soon after sent his little daughter to St. Mary's to receive Christian education.
 Tayac died the year following, in 1641 and this young daughter became queen of the Pistcataways and was not long after bapized at St. Mary's after having learned the English language.
 The pottery and pieces of vessels found at this shell deposit were made of clay and we find by or in the antiquities of southern In dians that the clay used in manufacturing this pottery for cooking oysters in, transporting them to the interior and domestic purposes was of tough quality, beat into powder and tempered with water, then spread inside of a network or rush basket, made of twigs or split cane and pressed against the sides of the enclosing basket or frame work and when dry, with a sharp flint flake or bone, would carve the straight, curved or zig gag lines which these ancient vessels show with greater or less uniformity accor- ding to the care, patience and skill of the artifeer, and were then baked in their rude kilns, the inside being filled with coals and over which was piled hard wood such as oak, l hickory, etc.
 The hatchet found-which is a fine speci- 1 men-is one made of the usual hard stone used by them. They were bound to the end ] of stick and glued in with turpentine, and l sometimes they selected young tree, of 1 which they made handle without cutting 1 it. They split one end and inserted the | stone, covering it with turpentine obtained 1 from the pine trees. The tree grew and | frightened around it and enclosed it so firmly | that it could hardly be torn out, afterwards l they cut off the tree at the proper length so IS to have a handle of convenient form. These hatchets were sharpened by the pro- cess of grinding on sand stone and it re- luired much time and labor to fit them for 1se and in all the plates, ninety-six in num- per, which illustrate the lake dwellings of Switzerland and other parts of Europe, they eek in vain for an axe of this description