Note 48 — II. FREDERICA.

The Aborigines cleared considerable spaces on the Sea Islands along the Georgia Coast, planting them with maize, pumpkins, gourds, beans, melons, &c. These indications of early agriculture were not infrequent in various portions of the State. The richest localities were selected by the Aborigines for cultivation: their principal towns and maize-fields being generally found in rich valleys where a generous soil yielded, with least labor, the most remunerative harvest. The trees were killed by girdling them by means of stone axes. They then decayed and fell piecemeal. So old were these Indian fields that in them no traces appeared of the roots and stumps even of the most durable trees. The occupancy of these islands by the Red race was general and of long duration. Prominent bluffs are to this day marked by their refuse heaps, composed chiefly of the shells of oysters, conchs, and clams, and the bones of the animals, reptiles, birds, and fishes upon which they subsisted, intermingled with sherds of pottery, and broken articles, and relics of various sorts. Many localities are hoary with ancient shell-mounds, while sepulchral tumuli of earth are not infrequent. Besides the primitive population permanently domiciled on these islands, at certain seasons of the year, large numbers of Indians from the main here congregated and spent much time in hunting and fishing.