INDIAN MOUNDS NEAR FORT WADSWORTil, D. T. o*J5 



from the lake, nearly ])arallel Avitli the one joining the center of the 

 principal monnds, are sitnated eight mounds smaller in dimensions and 

 less conspicuous in appearance. One of these, whose diameter Avas 

 twenty-five leet at base and fifteen feet at its superior i:)lane, and whose 

 perpendicular height was two feet, I opened at the same time of explor- 

 ing the one previously described ; it proved to be, unlike No. 2, destitute 

 of strata, but composed of one homogeneous mass of surface-soil. At 

 the depth of two feet was a stratum of clay three inches thick, very hard 

 and compact. On this stratum, at its center, Avere found charcoal and 

 ashes, but no bones. 



I could explain this structure only on the supposition that a circular 

 hut had once Ix^en located there, with a clay fioor, with a fire-place in its 

 center. Around the sides of the hut the earth had been banked, and when 

 abandoned by its inmates the perishable portion had been removed, or, 

 remaining undisturbed, had decomposed; the embankments had settled 

 both internally and externally, and the center of the habitation had filled 

 up to the common level of its sides. That a circular earth-walled hut, of 

 suitable dimensions, will assume the form of a frustum of a cone is 

 shown by the group of small mounds which a few years ago might be 

 seen near Saint Paul, where the once celebrated Black Dog's village 

 stood. The remains of such huts I propose to (i'All domiciliary tuniidi, iu. 

 contradistinction to those of a larger size, with four characteristic strata, 

 constructed for the purpose of interment. 



The third mound of this group had a diameter of forty feet at base ; 

 that of its superior plane was fifteen feet, and its perpendicular height 

 was two and a half feet. This mound showed a want of regularity in 

 the circumference of its superior plane and that of its base, as Avell as 

 the slope of its sides, and apparently- had been the remains of a hut 

 whose form had been a rectangle, Avith earth banked around its sides 

 several feet high. The perishable part had been removed ; its embank- 

 ments settled, both externally and internally, and its central portion, 

 though slightly depressed or cup-shaped, had nearly filled to the com- 

 mon level of its sides. A few inches below the surface 1 found the bones 

 of the thorax, with upper extremities, in situ, as when interred, the ex- 

 ternal surface of the sternum directed upward, and to the east the 

 cervical vertebriie, not a foot below the surface. The axis of the thorax 

 inclined to the horizon at an angle of about forty degrees ; the bones of 

 the lower extremities were entirely wanting. This mound was also des- 

 titute of the four characteristic strata Avhich I found in Mound No. 2 

 and others afterward examined, from which it may be inferred that the 

 burial was intrusive and by a more recent tribe, and that the mound 

 was one of the domiciliary class. A stratum of clay, four inches thick, 

 constituted the floor. Beneatli the Hoor was found the skull and thigh- 

 bones of an aged man. These bones among civilized men have emblem- 

 atic significance. Can it be for a like reason the savages had deposited 

 them in a place as secure as possible? The rennuning mounds in this 



