ETHNOLOGY. 443 



ent bottom of the excavation, and at this poiut dump and excavation 

 measure about 150 feet across. At the upper end of my tunnel the 

 old digging has been carried dowH about 30 feet below the surface. If 

 the excavation at the point just mentioned was carried as deep as the 

 work at the upper end of the tunnel, it would make the dump-heap on 

 the upper side 55 feet higher than the bottom of the old works. I bave 

 been thus particular, in order to show that with mere stone implements 

 it must have required a series of years and a large force to have accom- 

 plished such results. 



I shall make special mention of but one other of these old diggings 

 in this county. The vein, as recently worked by the Messrs. Brooks, 

 yielded excellent mica that was of peculiar interest because it contained 

 in every crystal internal markings in deeper and lighter shades of the 

 coloring matter showing the hexagonal form. It has the appearance 

 of having been photographed in the plates of mica. 1 found one crys- 

 tal in possession of the proprietors that was revolved upon itself, 

 which, being split up and adjusted, formed a hexagonal crystal and 

 showed the entire hexagonal in the internal markings. May we not 

 suppose that such markings deeply impressed the idolatrous race who 

 used it ? 



The ancient miners seldom attempted tunneling after the mica, and 

 where there is any evidence of such work it is more like burrowing in 

 than cutting a tunnel. There is one such hole a few miles from Frank- 

 lin, but it does not exceed 15 feet in length. In one of the old diggings, 

 about four miles from Franklin, an old shaft was discovered and opened 

 last spring, at the bottom of which two irons were found, evidently the 

 Bhanks of a windlass, an old Spanish ax, and an iron gad. This work 

 was done, perhaps, by De Soto, as his journal leaves us to infer that he 

 passed through this mountain region. Moreover, the pick-marks in this 

 old shaft have sharp angular outlines which distinguish them from the 

 blunt marks of the stone implements as seen in the old diggings. This 

 shaft was assuredly not the work of the race who made the excavations. 



A BOIBLE-AVALLED EARTHWORK IX ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO 



By Stephen D. Peet. 



There is in Ashtabula County, Ohio, an earthwork which has some dis- 

 tinguishing peculiarities. It consists of a double-walled circle, erected 

 on an elevation of land near Pymataning Creek in Wayne Township. 

 It is known in that vicinity by the name of " The Fort." It covers only 

 a portion of the so-called island, but the walls run along the contour of 

 one end, while the land on the south extends on the same level to twice 

 the area on the outside. The height of the elevation is but 8 or 10 feet. 



