GAGE INDIAN MOUNDS. 23 1 



how beautifully the surfaces were ornamented with fret-work and 

 various figures ; and here is a kettle-like vessel having for one 

 side the profile of a human being. One of the specimens was 

 undoubtedly a water-jug, and being unglazed water could readily 

 permeate the clayey material, and, rapidly evaporating in hot 

 weather, would create a lower temperature than the surrounding 

 air and then impart its temperature to the enclosed water, and by 

 this device furnishing a cool beverage for summer. 



Besides the pottery, the mound contained other interesting rel- 

 ics, one of which was an article made of magnesian limestone, 

 round in shape, being two inches in diameter and a quarter of an 

 inch thick, and discoidal on both sides. This is a characteristic 

 implement, and frequently found in sepulchral mounds. Foster 

 quotes a number of speculations indulged in as to the uses of this 

 discoidal stone — among them the suggestion of Schoolcraft, that 

 they were used as quoits. The little notches in the sides of the 

 one I have here would give color to the supposition ; and they 

 w T ere evidently made by striking against some hard substance, for 

 in places the stone was worn very smooth, as through much 

 handling. 



Another implement was made of a very hard sandstone, almost 

 quartzite ; its shape was a fiat quadrilateral figure, 6 inches long 

 by 4 wide, and 2 in thickness. 



Among the other interesting relics was a pipe, from which it 

 seems the Mound Builders were not unaware of the narcotic 

 properties of tobacco. The pipe was very plain, having not a 

 single line for ornament. During the disinterment a small frac- 

 ture revealed a fresh surface showing that the pipe was manufac- 

 tured from fire-clay : it had been burned very hard, and from its 

 appearance I judged it had seen a great deal of service. 



In this mound I discovered no metalic remains, though I was 

 informed by a gentleman who had opened several that he had 

 found implements of copper and plates of mica, with fragments 

 of obsidian. These facts would indicate that they enjoyed com- 

 mercial advantages to a very high degree, as I am acquainted 

 with no point where obsidian could have been procured nearer 

 than Mexico — the mica most probably from North Carolina, it 

 being the nearest point where that mineral occurs. As the Mound 

 Builders must have been ignorant of the art of smelting, this cop- 



