Professor Jeffries Wyman,[5] who had discovered several extensive shell banks on the eastern coasts of Florida, gave me, at his house at Cambridge, an interesting account of his investigations. He thought that the mounds were entirely formed by the refuse of the food eaten by the tribes dwelling near the sea; but, whether by a large settlement of tribes in a comparatively short time, or by a small tribe in a long time, it was difficult to determine. Some of the banks were from fourteen to twenty-five feet high. They varied in length from one hundred to five hundred yards. On the tops of several of them he had seen large trees, whose age he estimated to be not less than eight hundred years. It did not appear that the mounds followed the outlines of any particular plan of encampment, except in an instance where one of the longest of them had the shape of an amphitheatre. He also examined some fresh water shell heaps. These, he thought, were made in the same manner as the sea shell mounds, by the Indians eating the fish and piling up the shells. In all of them he had discovered fragments of pottery and other marks of human life. The Professor proposed that I should make an appointment with him in order to have a thorough examination of his collection, not only from the shell heaps, but also from the tumuli of the mound builders and other Indian tribes. A day for this purpose was accordingly fixed. In the meanwhile my time was occupied in visiting the public schools: Mr. Frank Parker, who was interested in educational work, usually went with me. From a national point of view it was considered of great importance that the children of the emigrants should receive a sound education so as to enable them to become useful and self-respecting citizens. The majority of the parents upon their arrival at New York or Boston, do not attempt to seek their fortunes away in the West, but settle in those quarters of these cities where they find that others of their race are already established. The elder members of the emigrating families are quite aware that their age or other circumstances practically debar them from all hope of success in any attempts to gain a livelihood by their own work. Thus their attention is directed to the training of their children, so that these may have a fair start in life. For this purpose, the free and thoroughly practical system of education carried out in the schools seems to be excellent.