392 ETHNOLOGY. 



tbe bones of tlie pelvis. I can only account for this separation of parts 

 on the supposition that, in most instances, the remains had been gath- 

 ered in for interment from burial-scaffokls a fter many months of exposure, 

 especially since the small bones of the hands and feet in almost every 

 instance were wanting. No implements of any kind were found in this 

 locality and no bones of aninmls except the skull of a beaver. The earth 

 in part of this mound had not been disturbed by the inroads of animals; 

 although this skull was in close proximity to a collection of human bones. 

 At the time, and for months after, I was unable to account for the 

 presence of the skull of this rodent in a human sepulchre. Upon careful 

 examination of this object of interest I perceived that the foramen mag- 

 Dum had been enlarged, its margin having been broken away by an 

 agency directed by more intelligence than the lower animals possess. 

 The object, of course, had been to extract the brain, but why extract the 

 brain from the skull of a beaver for deposit with the remains of the 

 dead ? No satisfactory answer to these inquiries suggested itself to me 

 until by accident I obtained a bag of an ex-member of the " grand medi- 

 cine lodge f this consisted of the skin of a beaver, the claws and skull 

 remaining attached, the i)osterior walls of the latter having been re- 

 moved with the soft parts. The skull in question, then, was, in my 

 opinion, the undecomposed part of a medicine-bag. 



The bones in the triangular space, like the skeletons of the mother 

 and child, were surrounded by a layer of dark pulverulent carbonaceous 

 earth, constituting a stratum of the mound, one foot in thickness, sur- 

 mounted by a layer of undressed bowlders, placed in as close proximity 

 as possible without cement or mortar. The superincumbent earth re- 

 moved from the layer of stones, its sides measured five, seven, and nine 

 feet respectively, and running in the direction in the order of the above 

 numbers, .starting from the work of masonry as the southeastern angle, 

 west of north, south of east, and due south to the point of starting. 

 The floor of the mound, which constituted the floor of the triangle, was 

 composed of clay of a wonderful cohesive property, and so compact that 

 it could only be broken with violent blows of the pick. It had the 

 appearance of having been baked, and yet there were no cracks in it as 

 one would expect to see, produced by shrinking during the process of 

 drying; it was quite smooth and level and bore the appearance of hav- 

 ing been flnished prior to drying with a coating of clay in a plastic state, 

 and smoothed with the hand or some rude substitute for a trowel. While 

 the exploration of this mound was being prosecuted I was present in 

 person, and when an object of interest was found my attention was 

 immediately called to it. The earth was removed from it with great 

 care, in order that its position might not be disturbed ; if it was sur- 

 rounded with a pulverulent earth, it was brushed away with a wisp of 

 prairie-grass or a very fine brush-broom ; if the earth was compact, it 

 was carefully cut away with a knife, and the object chiseled out. Sin- 

 gular as it may seem, onl^^ the southeast section of this mound con- 



