which were representatives of all the Six Nations as well as of the Chippewas and Missisaugas of New Credit and that he frequently heard these Missisaugas in conversations with each other refer to the Mohawks as "snakes", with bitter emphasis. I think that they or any Algonquin people may be safely eliminated and that this ossuary was dug by Neuters or Wenros at some time before white influence had reached them.

Report on an Ossuary (Number two)

AT ORANGEPORT, NIAGARA COUNTY, N. Y.

BY FREDERICK HOUGHTON, M. S.

In 1909 an ossuary was discovered by accident on the farm of Sweeney Brothers at Orangeport. This was visited by Mr. Bryant who has reported upon it.

On July 14th, 1910 I visited the site of this ossuary to satisfy myself that no individual graves had been overlooked. In testing

The ossuary. Photograph by F. Houghton.

nearby I discovered a mass of bones which upon investigation I found to be a great bone pit similar to that which had already been found.

The site of these ossuaries is on the top of a sandy knoll which here is superimposed upon the limestone which caps the

escarpment known as the "Mountain Ridge". The hill is one of the highest points in Niagara County, being 640 feet above the sea, and it commands an extensive view of the lower lying fruit-tree-covered Ontario plain and, beyond, the blue waters of Lake Ontario. Eastward the escarpment is broken by a gully in which is a considerable creek, the east branch of Eighteen Mile Creek. A rather strong spring bubles out of the limestone at the base of the hill.

Upper surface of the ossuary. Photograph by F. Houghton.

Fifty years ago or more a house stood on the crest of the hill which at that time was covered by an apple orchard. This house and the orchard have disappeared.

There is no story regarding any burial place here, nor is there any among the neighboring people, many of whom can remember the site for half a century or more, and the finding of the first ossuary was a surprise to everyone.

No Indian village site has been found nearby. The nearest is probably that at Shelby, near Medina. On the edge of the gully before mentioned, however, I found a few small black spots which undoubtedly mark the sites of Indian cabins or tents, and in these I found a few potsherds and flint flakes. A

Cross-section of the ossuary. A bundle of bones projects at the right edge.

grave is also said to have been found there. Flint points are found on the low lands at the base of the hill near Gasport, half a mile away.

The surface of the hill yields practically no Indian artifacts. I found one pitted stone hammer and a few flakes which evidently marked the spot where some Indian had made a point at some distance from the ossuaries.

The second ossuary is twelve feet south of the (probable) southern edge of the first ossuary. It proved to be an irregular rectangle, the bounding lines of which seemed to be parallel to those of the first pit.

In exploring it I stripped the earth from an area over the ossuary of nine feet by ten feet and thus uncovered a large superficial area of bones, and then followed the eastern, northern and southern edges of the pit. The uncovering was not con tinued to complete the western edge because of lack of time and this has not since been uncovered, though the testing rod showed that the bones extend westward for about four feet from the edge of our excavation.

The entire pit was filled with one great mass of human bones. In the portion uncovered we counted 135 skulls. The bones were in no order but were intermingled in the greatest confusion. In a few instances the bones of a limb were found together as though the limb had been intact when it was thrown into the pit, or at least that the bones were still held together by the tendons. In at least two instances the bones of a skeleton were so arranged as to suggest the "bundle burial" type of interment which occurred so often in the Grand Island cemetery, the long bones being laid together and parallel, with the skull at one end and the pelvis at the other.

Only one entire skeleton was found. This lay in a flexed posture, head to the west and face south, on the original soil of the bottom of the pit and at its extreme edge. It was covered with the bones of the other skeletons of the pit, which lay in immediate contact with it. The only articles found in the pit, namely two small shell beads, lay on the pelvis of this skeleton.

The bones in the pit were those of persons of all ages from infancy to extreme old age. There were numerous evidences of disease and wounds. Several tibias and clavicles were enlarged and spongy. One skull was marked at the base by a deep cut