Page:Bedford-Jones--Boy Scouts of the Air at Cape Peril.djvu/145

 "Listen here," he said opening the volume, and then he began to read: Many ancient sites have been discovered along the streams of tidewater Virginia, marking the positions of villages indicated by Capt. John Smith. In some localities, banks of oyster shells, intermingled with bits of pottery, implements of stone and bone, and fragments of bones of animals which had served as food, alone mark the position of some ancient settlement.' Now, as long as I've got the book," he continued, "I'll read you what the historian Strachey said about the Indian villages in these parts."

Their houses or towns are generally by the rivers, or not far from springs, and commonly built on a hill or rise of ground so that they may overlook the water and see everything that stirs on it. The houses are built far apart and there is no pretense of a street. All the houses, including the chief's house, are exactly alike. Round roofs are made of young twigs thatched with mats thrown over them. The walls are made of the bark of trees.

In the middle of the house, there is a smoke hole, through which the smoke from the