FLORIDA: THE GULF COAST i6i 



selves from undertaking it ; generally the latter. 

 One day one of them, more frank than the rest, 

 told me that it had become common gossip that 

 I was not paying a fair market price for birds, 

 especially the ivory-bills ; that I took them North 

 and sold the ivory of which the bill was composed 

 for fabulous prices, and was simply playing on 

 the credulity of the people whom I paid a small 

 price for obtaining them. 



Before passing on to other matters I must delay 

 for a moment to dwell on the ethnological work 

 I had undertaken for Mr. Douglass. Very soon 

 after my arrival I made inquiries as to the loca- 

 tion of the " Indian Mounds," as they were called, 

 and found several were near at hand. One of 

 these was about three miles from the mouth of 

 the river on the bank, and I determined to make 

 a detailed investigation of part of it at least. 

 For two days of each week during the stay at 

 Gigger's Island, Mr. Devereux and I worked in 

 excavating and removing the sand, beginning at 

 one end of this mound. We procured an admira- 

 ble series of crania, many interesting fragments 

 of pottery, and some vessels and dishes almost 

 entire, as well as bone and flint implements in 

 considerable numbers. These were all ultimately 

 shipped to Mr. Douglass and became part of his 

 admirable collection which he finally presented to 

 the American Museum in Central Park. 



