MOUNDS IN IOWA AND ILLINOIS. 361 



no evidence of ditches or excavations of any kind near the mounds 

 whence the earth might have been obtained, but as it is similar to that 

 in the vicinity it must have been scraped up from the surface near the 

 mounds, but so taken as to leave no traces at this late day of any 

 depression or hollow. 



In group No. 1 nothing was found. I opened ten mounds in a group 

 of twenty ; went from 2 to 3 feet below the surrounding surface ; opened 

 both by trench and by leveling the entire mound. I found, once in 

 a while, a bit of charcoal or a fragment of common river mussel very 

 much decayed. In No. 2 I found one skeleton almost decayed, and some 

 small pieces of broken pottery. The body was evidently buried iu a 

 reclining position, as we found by following with our tools the remains 

 of bones through the clay. Near No. 3 there have been several 

 inouuds opened. I was not able to be present and do not know the 

 position of the mounds, &c, only that they are situated on the bluffs 

 overlooking what is known as "Whiskey Hollow." A creek runs 

 through this hollow into Muscatine Slough, which surrounds the island 

 of the same name. Only one of the mounds opened here yielded any- 

 thing — a skeleton so much decayed that it was impossible to tell posi- 

 tion, &c, and underneath the head of the skeleton a stone ax, very 

 much in shape like others discovered in this locality. But we had never 

 before heard of an ax being found in a mound in this region. The ax 

 weighed 2 J pounds. 



No. 4, on the island, is so leveled that the shape of the mounds can- 

 not be ascertained. Pottery abounds all over the surface, also very small 

 triangular arrow-points. The ground is also strewn with flint chippings, 

 and in no instance are the points found so large nor of the same shape 

 as the specimens from higher ground. The points are all alike and have 

 no variation of design. This, with the softness and rudeness of their 

 pottery and their low position on the island, leads one to believe that 

 they were of a more recent period, and their constructors somewhat de- 

 generated from the Mound Builder of the overlooking bluffs. 



No. 5 is iu Illiuois. In this group, so far, only one mound yielded 

 anything. The mound in question is one of a group of live, all large 

 mounds, upon a prominent bluff, situated at the extreme upper end of 

 the series. They are not arranged with any noticeable regard to posi- 

 tion. We went to work on the smallest (two had been carelessly opened 

 by some unknown party before). We deviated from the usual manner 

 of opening by a trench (as in that way we would have missed the con- 

 tents), and proceeded to reduce the mound to a level with the surround- 

 ing surface. At a distance of 2i feet from the center, a little below the 

 natural level, we discovered the remains of three bodies. With great 

 care, we were enabled to sec their position, &c, and to obtain parts of 

 the skull and of the large bones of the legs and arms. By the head of 

 the center one was deposited an earthen pot holding about two quarts, 

 which had been crushed by the weight of earth. The pot was empty, 



