380 ETHNOLOGY. 



the surrounding- strata, and immediately around tbe skeletons is dis- 

 colored. I dug through about six inches of black loamy earth before 

 coming to the bones. They were found in what was nearly the exact 

 center of the mound. 



At Hascall, a few miles west, I found a small ball of baked potter's clay 

 in which pounded shells had been mixed. It had been squeezed up by the 

 hand just as we see children form balls of dough or putty. It is of the 

 color of Philadelphia brick. What is remarkable about it is, that not- 

 withstanding the lapse of time since it was baked it not only shows the 

 marks of the fingers, but even the lines of the skin are clearly impressed 

 on its surface. 



Some phrenologists would say that a race with foreheads like those of 

 this race had no brain capacity, and could have no intelligence. Yet they 

 fabricated and used tools and weapons, some of which are of fine work- 

 manship. They understood the ceramic art, and that they had a religion 

 no one can doubt who reflects that they erected such monuments to the 

 memory of their dead chiefs, or showed such care for the safety and com- 

 fort of their passage to the spirit-world as exhibited in placing beside 

 them jars of food and water, their pipes and weapons, and perhaps by 

 their sacrificing and burying with them their favorite wives. It is difficult 

 on any other hypothesis to account for these facts. 



ANTIQUITIES OF ALLEX AXD DE KALB COUNTIES, INDIANA. 

 By R. S. Eobertson, Four Wayne, Ind. 



I inclose by to-day's mail manuscript description of mound-remains 

 in Allen and Be Kalb Counties, which I hope may be considered worthy 

 of a place in your report. I think it important to describe locations of 

 mounds as far as discovered, and when "Northern Indiana is fully 

 explored, it will prove rich in prehistoric remains. 



I have been careful to defer noting anything from reports, which are 

 almost always much exaggerated, until I can verify them by personal 

 examination. For instance, some ten days since I rode twelve miles in 

 carriage and ten on horseback jind return, to visit a fortification and 

 mounds in the north part of Huntington County, only to find a very 

 large beaver-dam. As reported to me, it was said to inclose from 150 

 to 200 acres. I found a beaver-dam, in zigzag lines, nearly 1,000 feet in 

 length, and half a mile farther on two more, one about 300 and the other 

 COO feet long. 



Since my paper containing a description of the location and contents 

 of the mounds at Union Mills, I have received from there a copper 

 implement 4^ inches long, 2:^ inches broad at the cutting-end, and 1 

 inch at the other, and | of an inch in thickness. It is slightly convex 

 on one side, and has api)arcntly been flattened by hammering. I class 

 it among the hatchets of the "Age of Copper," although it has no groove 



