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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14590 ***
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through Our Roots/Nos
+      Racines. See http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.asp?id=1977
+
+
+
+
+
+A NEW HOCHELAGAN BURYING-GROUND DISCOVERED AT WESTMOUNT ON THE WESTERN
+SPUR OF MOUNT ROYAL, MONTREAL, JULY-SEPTEMBER 1898
+
+Notes by
+
+W. D. LIGHTHALL, M.A., F.R.S.L.
+
+Privately printed for the writer by
+Alphonse Pelletier
+Printer to the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal
+
+1898
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The above title is provisional as respects the term "Hochelagan." All
+those who are interested in the Indians of old Hochelaga, or in the
+Mohawks with whom they seem to have had a close and not yet fully
+ascertained race relationship, will be pleased to learn of the
+discovery of a prehistoric burying-ground which is probably one of
+their race, the only one heretofore known having been on the borders
+of their town itself, about upper Metcalfe street, Montreal. The new
+one is on the upper level (not the top) of Westmount, which is the
+south-western prolongation of Mount Royal, and the four or five graves
+thus far found are scattered at considerable intervals over an an
+area of about 600 by 300 yards, nearly bounded by Argyle, Montrose
+and Aberdeen Avenues and the Boulevard, three of the graves being a
+little outside of these limits. A number of years ago a skeleton was
+discovered, near the surface, on the cutting of Argyle Avenue on about
+a westerly line from the residence of Mr. Earle. As the remains were
+rumored to be possibly Indian, Mr. Earle secured the skull, which
+had been used as a football by boys, some of the teeth, which had
+originally been complete in number, being thus lost. This head is
+identical in form with those last found. Roots of grass interlaced
+in it show the lightness of the covering. On another occasion many
+years ago, a skeleton was found, also lightly buried, and with the
+knees drawn up, just east of the residence of Mr. John Macfarlane
+on Montrose Avenue, during the digging of a flower-bed. It was over
+six feet long. After being exposed for a few days it was re-interred
+in the same spot by order of Mr. Macfarlane, and could doubtless
+be obtained for examination if desirable. At a later period, the
+gardener, Mr. Latter, who had found the Macfarlane skeleton, dug up
+and re-interred another just within the bounds of his own property
+adjoining the head of Aberdeen Avenue opposite the St. George's
+Snowshoe Club-house. On the 22nd of July last (1898) a gardener
+excavating in the St. George's Club-house grounds found three
+skeletons interred at a depth of from two to two and a half feet and
+with knees drawn up. A report of the find was made to the Chief
+of Police of Westmount and to Mr. J. Stevenson Brown, and Mr. A.S.
+Wheeler, respectively President and Vice-President of the St. George's
+Club, the former being also an ex Vice-President of the Natural
+History Society. They examined the spot and remains, Mr. Brown
+concluding them to be probably Indian from the prominent cheek bones
+and large mouths. Having just been paying some attention to the
+archaeology of the Iroquois, which had been taken me on a flying trip
+to their former country in the State of New-York, I, on seeing in a
+newspaper at the seaside, a short item concerning the skeletons, was
+immediately interested, and especially in the possibility of their
+being Hochelagans, and having particularly commenced some inquiries
+into the relations between the latter Indians and the Mohawks, I
+wrote, as Chairman of Health of Westmount, asking Chief Harrison to
+note the manner and attitude of burial and any objects found, and to
+enquire concerning previous excavations in the neighborhood and save
+the remains for scientific purposes. (They had been sent by him to the
+City Morgue.) The above information concerning the previous skeletons
+was then collected and I found that the witnesses concurred in
+agreeing that the attitude seems to have been in all cases with
+knees bent up. No objects seem to have been noticed in any of the
+excavations then made, though some may have been overlooked by the
+workmen, particularly as the soil of the locality is full of pieces of
+limestone and small boulders, closely resembling arrow heads, hammers
+and celts. Several bones which are not human have however been since
+found with these three skeletons, one possibly of a dog, another of
+a squirrel. They may be those of the funeral feast Sir William Dawson
+mentions in his work "Fossil Men," as usually to be looked for over
+the Hochelagan graves.
+
+Mr. Beauchamp, the New-York authority, writes concerning the Mohawks;
+"Burial customs varied greatly among the same people, but usually the
+knees are drawn up. The face might be turned either way in contiguous
+graves. I have seen many opened with no articles in them." By the
+kindness of Dr. Wyatt Johnston, Pathologist to the Provincial Board
+of Health, the three skeletons have been preserved and are now in
+the Chateau de Ramezay Historical Museum where they will doubtless
+be regarded with interest by scholars. The skulls have been fully
+identified as of the Indian type, and found to be those of two
+powerful males in the prime of life and one young woman. The skull
+in possession of Mr. Earl is doubtless of the same race. Some large
+stones were found placed above the bodies, and also a number of
+naturally flat stones which appear to have been used as scoops to
+excavate. The plateau where the remains were found is about half way
+up the side of the "Mountain" or hill, as it more properly is, the
+total height being only about 700 feet. The plateau slopes somewhat
+and looks towards the south-east, and being protected by the hill
+behind it from prevailing winds, and having a good light soil,
+constitutes a very favorable situation for the growth of the Indian
+crops of corn and beans. The Mountain being an isolated rise in the
+great plain of the St. Lawrence, the plateau was also most favorably
+placed for look-out and defence. A hundred yards or so to the west is
+a fine perennial spring, and a short distance further is another which
+has always been known as "the old Indian Well," having been a resort
+of Indians at a later period. Only a few spots on the plateau have
+so far been excavated; but with approaching improvements I have no
+doubt that other graves will soon be found. The ground to the west,
+in the neighborhood of the two perennial springs, has in particular,
+never been much disturbed. If therefore, as on the site of the old
+Hochelaga, this burying-ground is on the out skirts of a town site,
+relics of a much more interesting character may be looked for in
+the undisturbed neighborhood just referred to, the Raynes and Murray
+farms, and those on, the southern slope of the Mountain.
+
+Should a town-site be fortunately discovered I have no doubt that
+progressive Westmount will see to proper care being taken in the
+matter. Such a town would likely be older than Hochelaga and thus
+afford a fresh step in tracing the record of this mysterious people.
+Such towns were frequently moved, when the soil or supply of wood gave
+out, or disease or enemies made removal imperative. As to the remains
+already unearthed being prehistoric, there can be no doubt. The Island
+was deserted after the destruction of Hochelaga by the Hurons about
+1560. The next Indian inhabitants were Catholic converts and therefore
+were buried at full length in a consecrated Christian ground.
+The village of the converts was at the Old Towers of the Fort des
+Messieurs, some quarter of a mile eastward of the plateau referred to.
+
+In tracing back the history of the land in which these discoveries
+have been made, we learn from the _terrier_ or land book of the
+Seminary of St. Sulpice, that it was conceded about 1708, and that it
+has ever since remained in private hands. Had the site been known as
+a burial place, even years previous to that date, it is altogether
+unlikely that such a concession would have been made; especially as
+there was abundance of unoccupied land in the vicinity. The faint
+doubt which arose as to whether the interments were made subsequently
+to the founding of Montreal, is therefore eliminated. The authorities
+of the Seminary, who conceded the land, state not only that they have
+no record of a burying-ground there, but agree with me that the space
+covered is too large, to be consecrated ground, as it would be in
+Christian times, and they also state that the burials of the mission
+of the Mountain where the Montreal Indian converts lived, were made
+chiefly at the cemeteries of Montreal and were very few. These
+Indians had originally been assembled around Ville Marie but were
+removed to the Fort des Messieurs where Montreal College stands in
+1662, and thence, towards the beginning of the 18th century, to
+Sault-au-Recollet and in 1717 to Oka. The method of burial, also, is
+not Christian, but pagan, and similar in every respect to early Mohawk
+burials.
+
+On Saturday the 10th September, 1898, I went with two laborers granted
+by the Town of Westmount to the excavation on the club house grounds,
+and choosing a spot on its edge cut a short trench some two feet deep.
+About ten feet southward of the three skeletons previously found, this
+trench revealed two large stones placed in the form of a reversed V,
+clearly in order, as it afterwards appeared, to partly cover a body.
+On raising these, a skeleton was found of a tall young man laid on the
+hard-pan, on his right side, with face down, head towards the west,
+knees drawn up, and covered with the mealy dry whitish earth of the
+locality, to a depth of about two and a half feet. Mr. Earl assisted
+in carefully uncovering the remains, of which Mr. Charles J. Brown
+then took two excellent protographs in situ. The form of skull was
+similar to the others, the teeth fine and perfect except a grinder
+which had been lost years before. One armbone showed that it had once
+been broken and healed again. No objects were found, though the search
+was very careful. On the 17th, the excavations were continued in the
+hope of finding objects of value to science. On this occasion there
+was present, besides the writer Mr. Earl, Mr. C.J. Brown, Mr. Wheeler
+and others and Mr. R.W. McLachlan, one of the excavators of old
+Hochelaga. About four or five feet north of the grave last-mentioned,
+large stones were again struck and on being lifted, the skeleton
+of a young girl was unearthed whose wisdom teeth had just begun to
+appear in the jaw. The large bone of her upper left arm had at one
+time been broken near the shoulder. Her slender skeleton was in the
+same crouching position as the others but much more closely bunched
+together; the top of the head was laid towards the north and looking
+partly downwards. Above her were found several flat stones which
+may have been used as scoops for the excavation. Under her neck was
+discovered the first manufactured object found, a single rude bead of
+white wampum of the prehistoric form, and which is now deposited in
+the Chateau de Ramezay. As white wampum was the gift of a lover, this
+sole ornament tells the pathetic story of early love and death. Mr.
+Chas. J. Brown again protographed the remains in situ. The work will
+still proceed and no doubt more important discoveries are yet to be
+made.
+
+Montreal, September 20th, 1898.
+
+
+REPORT OF Dr. HIBBERT ON THE WESTMOUNT SKELETONS
+
+No. I.--A Young Woman
+
+
+The bones of this skeleton, are fragile, broken and considerably
+decayed.
+
+The skull is in fair condition, though the lower jaw is broken in
+half.
+
+The skull is round and arched above the breadth index being 77.7, of
+brachycephalic or Mongoloid type. _The superciliary_ ridges are not
+very prominent, but the frontal, parietal and occipital eminences
+are very distinct. _The forehead_ is non receding and the breath
+measures 9 c.m. The cheekbones are not unduly prominent, the official
+measurement being 119 m.m. The gnathic index is 93, or orthognathous.
+The teeth are well preserved and not much worn, the 3d. molars not
+having erupted in either jaw. The face is short and broad, the height
+being 108 m.m. in and breadth 119 m.m., the orbit is inclined to be
+square with rounded angles and the type megaseme, the nasal index is
+mesorhine.
+
+A very striking feature of this skull is the well marked central
+vertical frontal ridge and some tendency to angularity of the vertex.
+In the whole this skull is of a more refined type than the others and
+suggestive of some fair intellectual development of the individual.
+There are two wormian bones on the left side of the skull, one at the
+pterion and one below the asterion each being 9 m.m. long.
+
+The bones generally are fragile and the long bones slender, with no
+marked impression for muscular attachment. A curious fact is that the
+ends of all the long bones are absent, presumably from decay, and as
+these ends are united to the shafts between the age of puberty (14-15)
+and adult life it is suggestive that the individual may have been
+of about the age of 18 or 20 and this is somewhat confirmed by the
+noneruption of the third molars.
+
+With this skeleton are two animal bones. White and very dense in
+structure. They are both femura, one probably that of an ungulate; the
+other of a carnivore.
+
+
+No. II.--A Brachycephalic Man
+
+
+This skeleton is that of a large and powerfully built man, the bones
+being very heavy and strong with marked impressions and prominences
+for muscular attachment. The skeleton, with the exception of some of
+the small bones of the hands and feet is complete.
+
+The skull is large and massive, and the lower jaw very strong and
+heavy. The teeth are well preserved but much ground down at the crown.
+The superciliary ridges are very prominent. The fore head is narrow
+(102 c.m.) receding.
+
+Judging from the size and strength of the bones and their impressions
+for muscular attachment, this man must have been very powerful and
+calculating from the length of the femur, at least six feet tall.
+With this skeleton we found a small humerus of some mammal possibly a
+squirrel.
+
+
+No. III.--The Tallest Man
+
+
+This skeleton is also that of a large powerfully built man, even
+taller man the last. The skull is larger, though not quite so massive.
+It is longer and narrower and dolicephalus, the occipital region very
+prominent. The height index is low (70.5).
+
+The face is broad as compared with the length 124-112 and the cheek
+bones are prominent, lower jaw is heavy and strong.
+
+The bones of this skeleton are well preserved and it is almost entire,
+there being only a few of the bones of the hands and feet missing. The
+pelvis is masculine. The bones are long, large and heavy with marked
+impressions and processes.
+
+The femur measures 17-7/8 inches so that this man must have been six
+feet or more and of muscular frame.
+
+Among the bones of No III skeleton were 2 small rib bones of a bird.
+
+Judging from the general conformation of the three skulls, it would
+appear that No. I, was that of the most intelligent person of the
+three and No. III of the least No. II being intermediate.
+
+It is difficult to estimate the height of No. I as the femur is so
+decayed at both ends, but allowing for this, the height would not
+be more than 5 feet and probably less than that. The skeletons
+undoubtedly belong to the Mongoloid type and are distinctive of
+the North American Indians.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14590 ***