NO. 2042. ARCHEOLOGIOAL INVESTIGATIONS— BUSHNELL. 661 



action of flowing water carrying a large amount of sand and soU. 

 Persons who have seen the carvings at diflferent times during the 

 past 30 years say they are becoming less and less distinct, and that 

 formerly the figures were more clearly defined than now. If such 

 perceptible changes have occurred withm so short a time, we must 

 not regard the work as bemg very ancient, and probably two cen- 

 turies would be a fair estimate of their age. 



In speaking of the six circular figures, Dr. Walter Hough has sug- 

 gested the possibility of their having been copied from shields — in 

 other words, being heraldic symbols. The theory is plausible and 

 would be equally applicable to all the petroglyphs in the cave. It 

 would, therefore, be permissible to attribute their origin and pres- 

 ence in the cave to individuals who had such designs on their shields, 

 and whose right it was to use the symbols. The carvings may have 

 been left as records of visits made to the spring; this is suggested 

 by the following passage, which, however, refers to a far western 

 tribe : 



"Mr. G. K. Gilbert discovered etchings at Oakley Spring, eastern 

 Arizona, in 1878, relative to which he remarks that an Oraibi chief 

 explained them to him and said that the 'Mokis make excursions 

 to a localit}^ in the canyon of the Colorado Chiquito to get salt. On 

 their return they stop at Oakley Sprmg and each Indian makes a 

 picture on the rock. Each Indian draws his crest or totem, the 

 symbol of his gens (?). He draws it once, and once only, at each 

 visit.' " ^ The figures are described as having been made "by pound- 

 ing with a hard point," although some were "scratched on." While 

 some were quite fresh and of recent origm, others were old and 

 weatherworn. 



Caves are numerous throughout the southern part of Missouri, and 

 scores are met with in the limestone bluffs along the Ozark streams 

 and m the region eastward to the Mississippi. These, with few 

 exceptions, bear evidence of long or frequent occupancy by the 

 Indians, but I am unable to learn of any m which petroglyphs occur, 

 and consequently the small cavern near the Saline is quite distinct 

 from the others. 



Other caves were visited in the vicinity of Ste. Genevieve. ' ' Gil- 

 liam's Cave " is several hundred yards distant from the left bank of the 

 River aux Vases, and in a direct line about 3 miles northwest of the 

 salt spring near the mouth of the Saline. The cave proper is only a 

 few feet in height, and through it flows a small stream; it is of no 

 special mterest. Just above the cave the limestone formation forms 

 a natural arch; the opening is about 70 feet in length, and the dis- 

 tance between the walls about one-half as great. The space beneath 



1 Mallery, Garrick, Pictograplis of the North American Indians, in Fourth Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 29, 



