354 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



point, a little charcoal, and a fragment of ochre. The stump of an oak 3 

 feet in diameter stood on the side of the mound, the trunk having been 

 broken oft" apparently many years ago. 



On Mound Xo.5 there stood a red-oak stump, which showed 200 rings 

 of growth. 



Mound No. was similar to 1 and 2, and contained a concealed vault 

 7 feet 9 inches square, but without an entrance. Eight human skulls were 

 obtained from this vault, but no complete skeleton, although some pieces 

 of bones were exhumed in a fair state of preservation. In digging 

 into this vault a few flags of limestone were found a few inches below 

 the surface. Eighteen inches below was another fragmentary roof of 

 limestone, beneath which skulls and portions of vertebrae were disclosed. 

 The flagstones were not regularly arranged nor quite close to each other, 

 but only a few appeared to have been placed above the bones and then 

 earth was heaped upon them. Some fragments of flagstones were also 

 found in No. 2, perhaps the remains of a former roof. 



The bones in the several mounds, or rather vaults, were generally soft, 

 and as easily cut through with the spade as the earth itself; but some 

 of them were firm. A few of the bones had been gnawed, probably 

 by rodents, and do not furnish as some might say, evidences of canni- 

 balism. 



JOHNSON COUNTY MOUNDS. 



These I have not seen. They are located on the bluffs of Blackwater 

 River, and are described as being very similar to those of Clay County, 

 but of larger dimensions, with vaults built of stone, and having lids of 

 the same kind of material, the whole covered over with earth so as to 

 present the contour of large rounded mounds. Some pottery and flint 

 implements have been obtained from them. 



Ancient mounds or graves are found on the tops of the bluffs of all 

 the principal streams of the Missouri. I have noticed them on the Mis- 

 sissippi at various places ; on the Missouri, from Saint Charles County 

 to Holt County ; on the Osage, the Gasconade, the Sac, and Shoal Creek, 

 and along other smaller streams. They are generally built of earth, 

 being often constructed of stones arranged in a circle, their tops inclined 

 towards the center, with earth heaped on the outer side. When rocks 

 abound and earth is not easily obtained, I have observed them con- 

 structed solely of stones piled in a rough circular mound on the hill- 

 top. 



Rock mounds have been observed on the summits of the highest bluffs, 

 where the material had to be carried up 50 or 75 feet above the ledges. 



It is but rarely that a single mound is found at a place, but there are 

 generally several ; three or four, or even a dozen, may be found arranged 

 in ;i line, with their bases contiguous. 



Theearth mounds are generally circular, from 15 to 40 feet in diameter 

 and from 3 to G feet high, and are often found with large trees growing 



