Results of Investigations of Indian Mounds, 377 



niarkable collection of vases, urns and bo^vls of archseolocrical pottery, 

 and varied and various implements of stone, which you will find figured 

 in the accompanying charts. With one exception, the vessels are all 

 of the same material as those usually found in mound excavations, 

 well-worked clay intermixed with broken shells or other calcareous 

 matter. The exception is a little pot-hooked vessel witli ears for hook 

 suspension, which is of a darker color and apparently of a firmer ma- 

 terial, though much injured when exhumed. 



"I will now give, as you request, some account of the labor and dis- 

 covery. On the 22d of February, 1871, I commenced opening the 

 mound by trenching on the level from the west. The first bones dis- 

 turbed were the extremities of three individuals buried standing. The 

 femurs, tibite and tarsi were in good preservation, and maintained their 

 vertical positions so perfectly that one of my companions exclaimed, 

 "These fellows must have been buried in a barrel.' The more earthly 

 bones of the dorsal and cervical vertebrae had entirely disappeared. 

 My surmise was that they were the sentiuels or outstanding guards, 

 with heads above ground "to watch and ward" over their superiors in 

 the centre. We next reached a large deposit of ashes and burnt earth, 

 the residuum of a sacrificial fire was so intense that not a bone or even 

 tooth was discoverable, over this large bed of undistinguishable rabble, 

 waiting their delivery. 



"Approaching the centre of the mound, and about five feet above 

 the level we met with a few pieces of pottery, then a whole specimen, 

 and another and another to the number of twenty-five or thirty. I 

 confess now to having felt an almost childish delight at the discovery. 

 I had broken into the domestic sanctum of a venerable Mound Build- 

 er ! I had resurected his bones and robbed his ancient pantry ! I had 

 scattered his armory and rejoiced ! I rejoiced at my folly and my good 

 luck, and why should I not? Messrs. Squier and Davis had said, "It 

 is much to be regretted that none of these remains have been recovered 

 entire in the coarse of our investigations." Now bear in mind that 

 they had opened scores and scores of mounds ; and I now learn from 

 Llewellyn Jewett, in his "Grave Mounds and their Contents" of Great 

 Britain, that it must not be supposed that they, (the urns, &c.) are 

 often found in a peifect state; on the contrary, the urns are usually 

 very much crushed. 



"As near central as possible lay the three great men of the nation; 

 around them matters of use and ornament, urns and vases, beads and 

 arrows; adjoining the heads of each, in pairs, a drinking vessel and a 

 food vessel, all once filled, but now alas! skull, urn, and bowl, quite 

 empty, dry, and foodless. jSTot far off w^e di.-covered two skeletons on 

 whose crania the bowls were placed like handets. I know not whether 

 this was accident or design ; I think the latter. I had no authority to 

 "prophesy on the bones or make them speak ; but I felt persuaded that 

 my new-found friends had once been mighty leaders, perhaps glorious 

 heroes, in their days of action. 



"In this little collection you will find some points of agreement and 

 some of difference from the contents of other mounds. The cinerary 

 urn on Chart No. 2 is the exact counterpart of those delineated in the 

 work of Llewellyn Jewett, where, as tiie little comnioa caricature of 



