SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS. 



149 



lime mortar. Mingled with this mass, which was hard aud compact, were a 

 few fragments of calcined shells ; leading to the inference, that it was formed from 

 the burning of shells. It was afterwards found upon analysis, that the mass was 

 principally carbonate of lime, with a considerable portion of earthy particles, 

 thus sustaining the inference already made. No fragments of bones, however small, 

 were discoverable. 



By the side of the mound just mentioned, the bases of the two running into each 

 other, is another mound, No. 5 in the plan of " Mound City." It is of the same 

 form and dimensions with the one just described, and like tliat has two sand strata. 

 The altar however more resembles that of Fig. '.H, though somewhat smaller in size. 

 It contained a quantity, perhaps thirty pounds in all, of galena in pieces weighing 

 from two ounces to three pounds ; also several lumps of fine clay, possessing an 

 unctuous feel. The latter appeared to have originally formed a model over which a 

 vessel of some sort had been fashioned. Around this deposit there was consider- 

 able charcoal, apparently of a light w ood, but very little ashes. The altar, although 

 the galena was but shghtly burned, bore marks of intense heat, — thus evincing 

 that it had been previously subjected for a considerable period, or at frequent 

 intervals, to the action of fire. 



Fig. 34 is a section of the long mound. No. '.i, in the plan of " Mound 

 City." For several reasons, — its shape, the great dimensions of its enclosed altar, 

 and the number and variety of its relics, — this mound was minutely investigated, 

 and is worthy of a detailed description. It is egg-shaped in form, and measures 

 one hundred and forty feet in length, by fifty and sixty respectively at its greater 

 and smaller ends, and is eleven feet high. 



Its longitudinal bearing is N. 20'' \V. Four shafts were sunk at as many 

 ditierent points ; between three of which, for a distance of over forty feet, con- 

 necting drifts were carried, as indicated in the plan. 



The shaft a was first sunk. At the commencement of the excavation the feature 

 already mentioned, viz. the confusion of the layers, was remarked, and care was 

 accordingly taken to uncover carefully the expected recent deposit. This proved 

 to be a single human skeleton, placed in a sitting posture, the head resting on the 

 knees. The top of the skull was eighteen inches below the surface. The skeleton 

 was well preserved, still retaining a large portion of its animal matter. The lower 

 jaw was broken, a circumstance observed in most of the skeletons thus found. No 

 relics were deposited witli this skeleton. The sand strata occurred low down, 

 following the curvature of the mound, as represented in the section. 



Shaft c was next sunk. On the left side of the excavation a disturbance was 



