INDIAN MOUNDS NEAR FORT WADSWORTII, D, T. oOl 



removed ^Yitll .i^Teat care without disturbing the stones. Tiiis structure 

 proved to be a work of rude masonry, three feet h^ug, eighteen inches 

 wide, and tv.o and a half feet high, inclosing a rectangular si)ace. The 

 stones used for this purpose were the undressed bowlders of the prairie, 

 from eight to twelve inches in diameter, and were sustained in posi- 

 tion by earth banked around the wall externally without the appearance 

 of the use of lime or mortar. 



In this were found the imperfect skeletons of a female and child, whose 

 attitude would indicate the relation of the former as that of mother or 

 nurse to the latter. The posture of each was that of sitting — the mother 

 upon the floor and the child upon her lap, supported by her right arm. 

 Indian women, at the present da}-, in seating themselves draw their 

 heels close to their nates and bring the knees quite close to the floor, 

 either upon the right or left side ; such had been the disposition of the 

 lower extremities of the mother interred by the mound-builders. The 

 masonry had formed a support for the thorax of both mother and child, 

 both of wiiom had been placed facing the east, the body of the child 

 slightly inclined to the motlier. The cranium of the latter had fallen to 

 the pelvis ; that of the former was resting procumbent upon the thorax. 

 Amidst the black pulverulent dust with which the mound-builders were 

 wont to surround the remains of their dead, upon the floor, within the 

 cavity of the pelvis, and around it, I found a number of the bones of a 

 fa^tus. The lower jaw was divided at its median symphysis ; a parietal 

 bone, scarcely thicker than paper, had thrown out its osseous matter 

 from the parietal protuberance in radiate lines; a humerus of not a 

 finger's length, and proportionately slender and delicate, was picked up 

 among other bones of this interesting locality. My Indian party having 

 observed every object of interest with the closest attention, were able 

 to distinguish human bones from those of animals and to designate 

 their places in the skeleton. One of these, struck by the analogy of the 

 fcetal bones to those of the adult, i)laced his hand upon his abdomen 

 and exclaimed, '• Papoone cilc eistina,^^ (a very small infant.) 



Immediately behind the mason work above described, that is, to the 

 west of it, was found a triangular space, in which was x)laced a luimber 

 of bones, chiefly those of the upper and lower extremities, a few verte- 

 brae and ribs, crania, «S:c. ; these had been apparently thrown in promiscu- 

 ously, as if from disarticulated limbs ; those of the upper and lower 

 extremities in a state of extreme tlexion, probably with a view to econo- 

 mize space, as though the sole object had been to preserve the bones from 

 destruction and remove them from sight. The relative i)ositiou of the 

 parts would indicate that no trunk was entire; in one place was deposited 

 the pelvis and lower extremities, without the small bones of the feet, 

 in another, the lower extremities without the pelvis; in another, the 

 thorax and part of the spinal column ; in another, the thorax and upper 

 extremities ; here a right arm had been deposited, having been severed 

 from the trunk at the shoulder-joint ; there a left lower extremity with 



