ETHNOLOGY. 381 



for tbe liandle. It was exluinied from one of the small mounds of tlio 

 group described by me, and with it was a cop[)er awl or needle 3 inches 

 long^, pointed only at one end. The same mound furnished fragments 

 of two diftereut vessels of pottery, one deep and narrow, with bauds 

 cut in chevron patterns upon the outside. The other was apparently 

 about the shape of the glazed earthen vessels used by our larmers for 

 milk-pans. The outside of this has beeu highly ornamented with cut 

 aud iudeuted patterus, but the device cannot be made out from the 

 fragment in my possession. Its inner surfcice has been smoothed by 

 pressure, I think, upon a potter's wheel. Bones of a single skeleton 

 were found in this mound, but unfortunately no record was taken of 

 any peculiarities. 



During the summer I have investigated the prehistoric remains of 

 Allen and De Kalb Counties as far as my opportunities would allow. 

 All that I have discovered thus far have been in the vicinity of the 

 Saint Joseph lliver, which flows from the northeast to the head of the 

 Maumee and of one of its tributaries, Cedar Creek, which flows from 

 the northwest into the Saint Joseph. [ know of no mounds on the Saint 

 Joseph much above the mouth of Cedar Creek ; and the greatest number 

 are on the creek in i)e Kalb County and the northern part of Allen. 



Near Waterloo, in De Kalb County, E. W. McBride, esq., an enthusi- 

 astic archaeologist and collector, had excavated two mounds, finding 

 in one the remains of a great number of human skeletons, apparently 

 buried in a promiscuous heap, and in the other, not far distant, a single 

 skeleton. The bones were too much decayed for preservation. One of 

 the skulls, he says, appeared to have been crushed by a blow from a 

 blunt instrument. He found no works of art, but in examining the 

 rubbish afterward with him I found the butt-end of an arrow-head of 

 flint and a small fragment of pottery. These two mounds are about 50 

 feet apart, are about 30 feet in diameter, and about 4 feet in height, 

 and are situated on the high ground bordering a marsh, which has once 

 been a small lake. The remains were laid on the surface of the ground, 

 covered with earth, and fires built, which baked the earth and calcined 

 some of the bones. Quite a layer of charcoal and ashes was passed 

 through in digging, and above this layer earth had again been heaped. 



From there we went to Smithfield Township, six miles northwest of 

 Waterloo, where, on the farm of Mr. Euffner, is a circular earth work 

 about 000 feet in circumference, with two entrances opposite each other. 

 The earth-work is from 2 to 2^ feet high, with a ditch outside. Very 

 large trees, which grew on the embankment, have fallen and gone to 

 decay, aud a black oak standing just inside the wall measured 12.] feet 

 in circumference at a height of 6 feet from the ground. The -fort" is 

 situated in the woods, on a high piece of ground, which is nearly sur- 

 rounded by ravines cut by the action of two streams now nearly dry. 



We next went to the farm of Henry Gouzer, in Fairfield Township, 

 where a mound once overlooked a small lake, which is gradually filling 



