390 ETHNOLOGY. 



beauty of its scenery and the accessibility to game, imiwiUmt desiderata 

 to the liviiifi:, \s'as deemed the most suitable for the hauuts of the 

 si)irits of the dead. 



The mound selected for exploration, east of Kettle Lakes, for conven- 

 ience of reference, is termed No. 1. Upon and around it for several 

 feet were strewn human bones of every stage of development and of 

 either sex. The external appearance of this ancient structure bore the 

 most unmistakable evidence of the purpose for which it was intended — 

 a receptacle for the remains of the dead; but from this purpose it had 

 been perverted by the fox of the prairie, which had burrowed within it, 

 removing bones and other obstacles in the way of constructing its lair. 



The form of this mound, like others of the class, was that of the frus- 

 tum of a cone, the diameter of whose base measured fifty feet, that of 

 its superior plane thirty feet ; the height of the latter was three feet. 



Almost covered with earth, I found a hornblende bowlder, of an 

 irregular discoidal shape, divided into two unequal sections by a vein of 

 granite three-quarters of an inch thick. This stone marked the center 

 of the mound. I drew two lines in the direction of the cardinal points 

 of the compass, quite across the mound, intersecting each other at this 

 stone, and dividing the mound into four equal sections, which are desig- 

 nated for convenience of reference as the northeast, southeast, north- 

 west, and southwest, respectively. 



I commenced digging into the northeast and southeast sections, 

 removing the earth, stratum by stratum, observing and noting objects 

 of interest as they appeared. In the southeast section I found within 

 eighteen inches of the surface two incomiilete skeletons lying upon their 

 sides, lacing each other, their feet directed to the east, their heads 

 within six inches of each other. One of these skeletons was that of a 

 male, the other that of a female; though apparently of young persons, 

 they were fully developed. The earth surrounding these was less 

 compact than elsewhere found in the mound, was of a homogeneous 

 character, of a dark color, and furnished no protection to the bones 

 against moisture, from which I infer that the interment was intrusive, 

 and made by a tribe occupying the country since the dispersion of the 

 mound- builders. • 



The most southern portion of the southeast section of this mound 

 was a locality of great interest ; it is designated in my invoice of con- 

 tributions to the Museum as " locality A." 



While sinking an excavation to the depth of about four feet, the atten- 

 tion of one of the party was attracted by the appearance of a small 

 (juantity of black, dry^ pulverulent earth, which, being examined, was 

 found to be in close proximity to some stone, between which an aper- 

 ture was found large enough to receive the hand, but as fast as the hand 

 was Avithdrawn the space was again filled with the same pulverulent 

 dust. My impression was that the aperture communicated with the 

 cavity of a vault, to obtain a view of which ^he surrounding earth was 



