396 ETHNOLOGY. 



iiiteiestiiig group, from location, size, aud general appearance, may be 

 regarded as of the domiciliary class, and tliey vary in dimensions, their 

 bases being in diameter from twenty to thirty-live feet, their superior 

 planes being from fifteen to twenty-five feet, the height of the latter 

 from one to two feet ; they are located in a line at distances of from 

 thirty to sixty feet apart. 



On the west side of Kettle Lakes, about a mile and a half distant 

 from the post, is a group of three mounds whose dimensions are as fol- 

 lows : diameter of base, sixty feet ; diameter of superior plane, forty 

 feet; height of superior plane, three feet. 



In one of these the recent interment of the remains of an Indian 

 child had taken place ; another of these I explored, removing all the 

 earth found perpendicularly beneath the superior ])lane. The mound 

 proved to belong to the sepulchral class, and was composed of the four 

 characteristic strata as were found elsewhere, viz, first, a stratum of 

 surface-soil two feet thick ; second, a stratum of dry pulverulent car- 

 bonaceous matter one foot in thickness; third, a stratum of siliceous 

 loam, bearing evidence of exposure to high heat, very dry and compact ; 

 fourth, a stratum of concrete one foot thick composed of clay contain- 

 ing a slight admixture of lime; both of these latter strata appear to 

 have been subjected to a high degree of heat, being very dry and com- 

 pact in structure, and so great is the cohesiveness of the particles that 

 it requires smart blows of the pick to remove them. The shovel or 

 spade makes no more impression upon the strata than upon a closely 

 cemented pavement of bricks. 



It would seem that the third and fourth layers of the mound had been 

 leveled off singly, and an enormous pile of wood had been burned upon 

 each for the purpose of baking it, and the ashes had been gathered up 

 and sifted to remove the charcoal. An excavation ten or twelve inches 

 deep, three feet in circumference, had been made in the third layer of 

 this mound, in which had been deposited the bones above mentioned. 

 The sides and bottom bear the impressions of a pointed instrument, not 

 unlike those made by a pick. The implement used probably was a 

 sharpened stake, such as I have seen the Dakotas use in spring to dig 

 tijhsinna, or Dakota turnips. The bones found here had been divested 

 of their soft parts and were piled in very compact cross-layers ; they 

 were as follows, none of them perfect, however, viz : two inferior maxil- 

 lary bones, a number of fragments of a cranium, a luimber of frag- 

 ments of a ])elvis, six femora, four tibiae, four fibuhie, three ulnte, two 

 radii, and one sciipula. I also obtained about a ]>eek of fragments of 

 decayed wood, which had scarcely enough cohesiveness existing to 

 enable it to retain its form, and yet the bark remained adherent. 

 Each stick nuist have been five feet long and three inches thick. The 

 wood was found between the first and second layer, surmounted by a 

 number of large undressed bowlders in immediate proximity to it. It 

 bears no mark of implements upon it. except thi^t it has been split, and 



