92 Editorial Mheellany. 



ers. No original deposit exists within the State of Ohio. Mr. Jones, 

 in liis "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," alludes to the frequent 

 oceurrence of "isinglass mirrors," or dises of mica, not only in the 

 ancient graves and mounds, but also upon the sites of old Indian vil- 

 lages and in relic-beds, in Georgia. Squier and Davis bear similar 

 testimony concerning the tumuli of Ohio. 



Prof, Kerr, r»f the Geological Survey of North Carolina, from the 

 evidences of ancient mica-mining operations, disclosed in clearing out 

 pits formerly supposed to have l^een excavated by Dc Soto, believes 

 the soui'ce of supply resorted to by the Mound-Builders, for this min- 

 eral, existed in the mountainous regions of his State. Our markets 

 are now chiefly supplied from that locality. 



Mound Explorations. — Prof R. D. Smith, Principal of the Co- 

 lumlna Athenaeum, Maury county, Tennessee, sends us the following 

 interesting account of a mound exploration recently made by him, 

 assisted by, Dr. W. A. Smith of the same institution : 



" Since my last letter to you we have ojjened the large mound, of 

 which I have before spoken, situated four or five miles north of this 

 plaf;e (Columbia). The mound is a four-sided truncated pyramid, 

 say 80 by 30 feet at the base, with a level summit about 50 l:)y 20 feet 

 in area, and is about 25 feet in perpendicular altitude. Forty years 

 ago, large trees, two and two and a half feet in diameter, grew upon 

 this mound, but no trace of them now remains. Before the war the 

 level top of the mound was used by an old negro as a garden spot. 

 At present it is covered with a thick growth of cane, f< nir to six feet 

 high. 



" We made an opening in the top of the mound in the center, say 

 nine feet in diameter. The first three and a half feet of excavation locxs 

 through soil, evidently made from decaying. vegetable matter since its original 

 construction by the Mound- Builders. (This may assist you in determin- 

 ing the age.) After passing through this soil the "made earth" could 

 be easily distinguished, and it was- here that the only "find" was dis- 

 covei'cd. Near the center of the mound we found an opening in the 

 top. aljoiit twenty inches in diameter, and about twelve inches deep, 

 in the form of a pot, made by excavating the earth and plastering the 

 hole with mud, then partially burning it. Within this receptacle Ave 

 found pieces of charcoal— some oH them six inches long. This I take 

 to be good evidence of the original height of the mound, and that all 

 of the earth above has been formed since ; and, also, that it was a sac- 

 rificial mound.' The excavation Avas continued to the level of the sur- 

 rounding country, but without further results." 



