S E P U L C H R A ], MOUNDS, 



169 



in circumference at the base. It was excavated by the proprietor in 1838. He 



sank a shaft from the apex of the mound 

 to the base, (i o, Fig. .55,) intersecting it 

 at that point by a horizontal drift (a e e). 

 It was found to contain two sepulchral 

 chambers, one at the base, («,) and 

 another thirty feet above (r). These 

 chambers had been constructed of logs, 

 and covered with stones, which had 

 sunk under the superincumbent mass 

 as the wood decayed, giving the summit of the mound a flat or rather dish-shaped 

 form.* The lower chamber contained two hiunan skeletons (one of which was 

 thought to be that of a female) ; the upper chamber contained but one skeleton in an 



Fio. 



advanced stage of decay. With these were found between three and four tiiousand 

 shell beads, a number of ornaments of mica, several bracelets of copper, iind varimis 

 articles carved in stone. After the excavation of the mound, a light ihrcivstory 

 wooden structure was erected upon its summit. It is indicated by h in tiie s.'^ctioii. 



* In the construction of this mound the builders had availed tliemselves of a small natural elevation, 

 above whicli the tumulus was raised. The vault a had b(H'n sunk in this elevation : it was an exaei 

 parallelogram, eon 4ructe I by setting up.itjlii timbers aroiin<l flu- si-ics. and eoverinu' ibcsewiih ln<rs 



22 



