406 ETHNOLOGY. 



first deed nmuing back about one hundred and fifty years, (the land still 

 belonging to descendants of the same family that first occupied it,) would 

 prove beyond doubt that it is very old. 



The mound was situated due east and west, in size about nine by six 

 feet, the line being distinctly marked by difference in color of the soil. 

 It was dug in rich black loam, and filled with white or yellow sand, but 

 contiguous to the skeleton was a dark-colored earth, and so decidedly 

 different was this from all surrounding in quality and smell, that the 

 lines of the bodies could be readily traced. The decomposed earth, 

 which had been flesh, was similar in odor to that of clotted blood, aud 

 would adhere in lumps when Cv^mpressed in the hands. 



AICOINT OF THE OLD INDIAN VILLAGE KUSIIKISIIKES, NEAR NEWCASTLE, 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



By E. M. McConnell. 



This Indian village was on the Mahoning Eiver, on the south side 

 of the present town of Edinburgh, about five miles west of the city of 

 Newcastle, Pennsylvania. It was located on the second bank, on the 

 west side of the river, with a range of high hills to the west, forming 

 an excellent protection from storms. The distance from the base of 

 the hills on the west to the river is about one-third of a mile, making 

 a beautiful valley of several miles both north and south. Christian 

 Frederic Post, a Moravian, was sent on a mission to the Indians at this 

 place by General Forbes, in 1758. He says this village at that time 

 "contained ninety houses and two hundred able warriors." Post, 

 whose business it was, induced the chief, Pakankee, to attend a great 

 conference to be held opposite Port Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. 

 This is the earliest knowledge we have of Kushkushkee. 



Twelve years later, 1770, at the request of Pakankee, the Moravians 

 removed from their settlement at Lawunakhannak on the Allegheny 

 liiver, and settled on the Beaver Eiver, five miles south of Newcastle, 

 where they remained for two years, instructing the Indians in the prin- 

 ciples of the Christian religion, establishing schools, and introducing 

 agricultural ])ursuits, &c. During this time they luul intercourse with 

 Indians at Kushkushkee, many of whom became converts to Christi- 

 anity, among the number Glikkikan, a distinguished orator of the Del- 

 aware tribe. 



In company with D. Craig, esq., and 11. W. Clendenin, I visited the 

 site of this ancient village the past summer to examine carefully its 

 location and surroundings, and learn what I could of the race who 

 inhabited it more than a hundred years ago. When I visited this 

 place, some years ago, the sepulchral mound was in an almost perfect 

 state of preservation, but at this time we found that three-fourths of 

 it had been leveled to the grade of the field surrounding it, which, we 



