Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-04-30
THE GAZETTE: FORT WORTH TEXAS THURSDAY APRIL 80

the skulls sooner than I, ana In his
eagerness to extract them from the
he broke two Of the rotten
ones In pieces, but the third one, being
in better state of preservation, re-
ceived no damage from his rather vio-
lent handling. This skull was Of
medium size and remarkably round,
The others seemed similar In size and
type. The teeth OF all were well pre-
served and did not exhibit any APP
pearance OF having been faulty
during the lifetime OF the owners.
None OF the bones seemed 10 have
belonged to persons above the
ave. size, with the exception of
one femur. Neither the vertebral nor
plevic bones, the Tbs. the omoplstes,
nor the bones Of the haSas and feet
were preserved, These human re-
half feet beneath the surface OF the
ground and ten or twelve feet above
the level OF the bay
After an interval OF six weeka this
gentleman again visited the spot.
away since my first VISIT says Mr..
my hOiNAhit 0ul WIG UUut uGDOHll
was still unexhausted, for / found
bones, all of which broke into frag-
ments in extracting them from the
compact sand. Aware of custom
among many Indian tribes TO bury the
arms Of the dead with them, was dis
appointed in not finding stone arrow
heads In the caved sand. But my
aaa rob for fhatNn - il,ArA,..k
There is no reason, however, to doubt
that these are aboriginal remains and
very ancient ones too. Their imper-
feet state OF preservation In a kind OF
earth very conservative OF organic
substances alone warrants this conclu-
zion, which Ia reinforced by an argtl-
ment which | will have to state. These
remains are found at the southern ex.
tremity of sand ridge or dune about
two miles In length from north to
south and varying in height from twen-
ty to forty or fifty feet. and which was
evidently formed while the gulf beat
directly upon the shore OF the
long sandy islands extending
parallel with our coast were heaped up
by the action OF the waves and cur.
ltbl6 vi VIC StAt ltit OhlN
ton between the interior bays, or
lagoons, has been through few mar
row channels called "bayous.n The
consequence is that the sandy materi.
ais of which the dunes are formed.
instead OF reaching the shore OF the
mainland as in former ages, are now
deposited on the outside Of the islands
and blown up by the east and south
| OF NIL, ftf. htllAnIva IL, h,,k
generally less elevated, than those
which were formerly heaped by the
same agency upon the mainland
Now, on the assumption that these
human remains, in accordance with
the universal custom of North
American savages, were only
inferred to the depth of two
feet at most, several feet Of sand must
subsequently have been blown over
them To account for the depth at which
they were found, and the sand for this
purpose must have been transported to
the adjacent beach by the currents Of
the gulf. Hence we conclude that
these remains were deposited in the
dune before the gulf was cut OIL from
the tmainland by the formation Of tn,
chain or island barriers above men
| Nluueu, Inc leuRbu VI tune IHhl Hhs
elapsed since that event occurred car
only be coDjectured, but 1t doubtless
amounts to centuries. The sand ridg,
containing the osseous relics has beer
preserved from the wasting effects o
the winds by the thickets of dwar
oak and sweet bay with which
1t is overgrown. Some Of tn,
live oaks at IFS eastern has,
are Of sufficient girth tn indicate an
age OF two centuries. Other oaks o
the same species, short distance soutl
OF the dunes" and very near the bay
are Of much greater antiquity. Al
these trees must have grown up sine
the gulf retreated behind Matagordi
island, which at this point Is abou
eight miles distant from the mainland
From all of which it follows as highl.
probable that the human remain
above described were inhumed at
period when the broad waves of tn
sea resounded along the shores OF tn
mainland, and before the sail OF
ship had cleaned ON the Gulf Of Mex
leo or the foot OF civilized man ha,
pressed the shores of the new world,