SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS. 145 



This altar was perfectly round. Its form and dimensions are best shoAvn by the 

 supplementary plan and section A. The altar, measured from c to d, is nine feet 

 in diameter ; from a to e, five feet ; height from h to c, twenty inches ; dip of curve 

 a r e, nine inches. The sides c a, e d, slope regularly at a given angle. The body 

 of the altar is burned throughout, though in a greater degree within the basin, 

 where it is so hard as to resist the blows of a heavy hatchet, — the instrument, 

 rebounding as if struck upon a rock. The basin, or hollow of the altar, was filled 

 up evenly with fine dry ashes, intermixed with which were some fragments of pottery, 

 of an excellent finish, and ornamented with tasteful carvings on the exterior. One 

 of the vases, of elegant model, taken in fragments from this mound, has been very 

 nearly restored, and will be further noticed in the chapter on the Pottery of the 

 Mounds. A few convex copper discs, much resembling the bosses used upon 

 harnesses, were also found. 



Above the deposit of ashes, and covering the entire basin, was a layer of silvery 

 or opaque mica, in sheets, overlapping each other ; upon which, immediately over 

 the centre of the basin, was heaped a quantity of burned human bones, probably the 

 amount of a single skeleton, in fragments. The position of these is indicated in 

 the section. The layers of mica and calcined bones, it should be remarked, to 

 prevent misapprehension, were peculiar to this individual mound, and were not 

 found in any other of the class. 



It will be seen, by the section, that at a point about two feet below the surface 

 of the mound, a human skeleton was found. It was placed a little to the left of the 

 centre, with the head to the east, and was so much decayed as to render it 

 impossible to extract a single bone entire. Above the skeleton, as shown in the 

 section, the layer of earth and the outer stratum of gravel and pebbles were broken 

 up and intermixed. Thus, while on one side of the shaft the strata were clearly 

 marked, on the other they were confused. And, as this was the first mound of the 

 class excavated, it was supposed, from this circumstance, that it had previously 

 been opened by some explorer ; and it had been decided to abandon it, when the 

 skeleton was discovered. Afterwards the matter came to be fully understood. No 

 relics were found with this skeleton. 



It is a fact well known, that the existing tribes of Indians, though possessing no 

 knowledge of the origin or objects of the mounds, were accustomed to regard 

 them with some degree of veneration. It is also known, that they sometimes 

 buried their dead in them, in accordance with their almost invariable custom 

 of selecting elevated points and the brows of hills as their cemeteries. That 

 their remains should be found in the mounds, is therefore a matter of no sur- 

 prise. They are never discovered at any great depth, not often more than 

 eighteen inches or three feet below the surface. Their position varies in almost 

 every case : most of them are extended at length, others have a sitting posture, ^\ hilo 

 others again seem to have been rudely thrust into their shallow graves without 

 care or arrangement. Rude implements of bone and stone, and coarse vessels of 

 pottery, such as are known to have been in use among the Indians at the period of 

 the earliest European intercourse, occur with some of them, particularly with those 

 of a more ancient date ; while modern implements and ornaments, in some cases of 



in 



