356 ETHNOLOGY. 



readily seen by reference to the diagram, to indicate any arrangement 

 or design whatever, except to construct them where it could be done 

 with least labor, by taking advantage of the ridges and slight elevations 

 of loose and sandy soil. The structures vary in height from two to 

 twelve feet, the diameter being five or six times the height. They are 

 usually circular, only four or five being elliptical, the I'^ngth of these about 

 double the breadth, and the longer diameter being parallel with the 

 river. The outline of surface is such as would naturally result from a 

 rounded heaj) of sand or loose earth exposed for ages to the action of 

 the elements, the surface being protected by such grasses, plants, bushes, 

 or trees as the soil would produce. The exact height and diameter are 

 consequently difficult to determine, but it would appear that they had 

 originally been from four to fifteen feet in height and perhaps four 

 times those measures in diameter. 



All of the largest mounds and several of the smaller are upon the 

 high ground, from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and 

 fifty feet above the river. The rest are on the slope between it and 

 the river. I selected for examination one of several similar mounds, 

 which were situated in a row parallel with the river, and but a few rods 

 northwest of the sandy ridge, at some fifty feet lower level, and on 

 ground sloping gently toward the Mississippi, which is distant about 

 one-fourth of a mile. This mound is marked 1 on the plan. It was about 

 four feet high and twenty-five in diameter. On the top was the stump 

 of an oak tree, five inches in diameter. This mound is composed, as are 

 the most of those which have been opened, of a loose fine sand, with 

 here and there a stone of two or three pounds' weight or more, of the 

 Niagara limestone and the sandstone common in this region, many of 

 them evidently having been subjected to the action of fire before they 

 were placed there. No floor, wall, or internal structure of any kind was 

 found, and the same is the case in almost all instances in this district. 



Making an excavation from one side and toward the middle, on reach- 

 ing a depth of six feet from the top, a quantity of human bones was 

 discovered lying about in the center of the mound. Seven adult and 

 one child's skulls were exhumed, the latter falling in pieces as soon as it 

 was removed. The adult skulls were more or less crushed and distorted, 

 and some portions entirely decayed ; two of them, however, were secured 

 in tolerably good condition, one containing thirty-two sound teeth, the 

 other wanting but two or three. Many teeth were found with fragments 

 of decayed jaw-bones, and it is very evident that, whatever the troubles 

 and trials to which their possessors were subject, that plague of modern 

 times, the tooth-ache, was one from which they were pretty much 

 exempt. 



The crania have apparently been subjected in life to no artificial dis- 

 tortion nor compression, except, possibly, some flattening of the occipital 

 region, such as is said to be produced by the position and manner in 

 which some tribes confine the inlant to a cradle-board. This seems the 



