S A C R E D E N C L S U R E S . ' 91 



gravel, was originally five feet eight inches in depth ; the accumulation since its 

 abandonment has been, therefore, three feet eight inches. Allowing the wall to 

 have subsided to an equal extent, its original height from the bottom of the trench 

 must have been upwards of twelve feet. 



The rapiditv with which the river encroaches upon its banks at this point may 

 be inferred from the fact, that twenty years previous to the time of the survey of 

 this work by Mr. McBride, in 1836, the river flowed not far from three hundred 

 feet to the left of the central mound, which since that time has entirely disap- 

 peared. About thirty feet below this mound was I'ound, some years ago, a number 

 of flat stones set on edge, forming a kind of coffin, in which was a human 

 skeleton, accompanied by a large marine shell and some' rude implements. About 

 a fourth of a mile below this work, appears to have been a general cemetery. 

 The graves are indicated by small regular elevations.* The three works last 

 described are laid down from th& surveys of Mr. McBride, from whose notes the 

 above facts are principally derived. 



PLATE XXXII. 



Upon this plate are placed a number of small works, and groups of works, 

 arranged however with no view to any relationship, but as best served the purposes 

 of the engraver. 



Number 1 is a group of small works situated on a branch of Mill creek, near 

 the south-east corner of Butler county, Ohio, on S. 14, T. 3, R. 2, M. R. The 

 rectangular work is two hundred and twenty feet long, by one hundred and twenty 

 feet broad. The Avails are now about five feet high, and are unaccompanied by a 

 ditch. There were standing upon the embankment, in 1842, a red-oak tree three 

 and a half feet in diameter, and a wliite-oak tree three feet in diameter. Twenty 

 rods north of this work is a truncated mound ten feet high ; and a short distance 



* Previous to the entire destruction of this uiouiid, and at the time when about one half of it remained, 

 it was examined by Mr. McBride, from wliose (Original notes tlie following observations respecting it are 

 taken : 



" The mound was composed of rich surface mould, evidently scooped up from the surface ; scattered 

 through which were pebbles and some, stones of considerable size, all of which had been burned. Upon 

 excavation, we found a skeleton with its head to the east, resting upon the original surface of the ground, 

 immediately under the apex of the mound. Some distance above this was a layer of ashes of consider- 

 able extent, and about four inches thick. The skeleton was of ordinary size; the skull was crushed, and 

 all the bones in extreme decay. Near tlie surface were otlier skeletons. The inhabitants of the neigh- 

 borhood tell of a copper band with strange devices, found around the brow of a skeleton in this mound ; 

 and also of a well carved representation of a tortoise of the same metal, twelve or fourteen inches in 

 length, found with another skeleton " 



