MISCELLANEOUS ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS. 



AN INDIAN MUMMY. 



By James Lisle, Long Fine, Nebraska. 



vVest of Fort Casper, in central Wyoming, is Poison Spider Creek, 

 a tributary of the North Platte River. The valley of this stream is 

 bounded on the northwest and nortli by a ridge of sand-rock, forming 

 the water-shed. 



In places this rises precipitously to the height of 40 to 50 feet, with a 

 width at the top of 100 to 300 feet. Elsewhere the rock barely shows 

 at the surface. In a cave in the west face of one of these precipices 

 was found by S. D. Helm and D. VV. Moftatt, the mummified body of 

 an Indian. The cave is open to the weather — a mere recess about 14 

 feet long, 7 feet high, and 8 feet deep. Inside this is a second cave or 

 recess, the floor of which is about 2^ feet above the main floor. This 

 recess is about 7 feet long, 4 feet high, and 4 feet deep. The tvhole 

 opening is natural. 



The body, evidently that of some important personage, was i>laced in 

 the inner cave in a kneeling posture, quite erect, with a very slight bend 

 at the hip-joints to balance. The head is thrown well back, the chin 

 high, and both head and face turned a little to the right. The hands 

 are joined across the bowels, the right hand outermost. The face was 

 to the front, looking westward. Originally there must have been scmie 

 kind of stay or prop to support the body in its position, but this had 

 long since disappeared, and the body had fallen to the left, the limbs 

 and feet being slightly twisted in consequence. 



The clothing was entirely rotted away, except fragments under the 

 bracelets; the bits remaining here are of cotton. A leather belt, much 

 decayed, is around the loins. Around each wrist is a coil of brass wire, 

 forming a bracelet. That on the left wrist makes forty to fifty turns 

 and extends about 6 inches. On the right wrist the coil is about 2 inches 

 shorter. On the fingers are several coarse brass rings. In the ears are 

 rings made of brass wire, the metal being very much corroded. 



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