ANTHROPOLOGY. 403 



the surface and may not have constituted a part of the interments. It 

 is possible, as it was alone, that it might have been lost there long after 

 the burials were made. 



9. MOUNDS ON FOUR-MILE BAYOU. 



Nearly opposite John's Pass, upon the mainland, on the south side of 

 Boca Ciega, or Four-Mile Bayou, at or near the mouth of a small creek 

 which empties into the bayou, are two large mounds, one of shell and 

 the other of sand. As the owner of the land required pay for the privi- 

 lege, I made no examination either into their structure or contents. As 

 it is not at all probable that any person will pay the required tribute, 

 the mounds will no doubt remain intact until they fall into the hands of 

 a more liberal owner. 



10. TURTLE-SHAPED MOUND, LONG KEY. 



Long Key is a narrow island, about five miles in length, lying between 

 Boca Ciega, or Blind Pass, on the north, and Pass A'grille, on the south. 

 About midway between the passes a tongue of land makes out into Boca 

 Ciega Bay toward the southeast, covered by a dense forest of cabbage- 

 palms. The land is good and there is an abundance of oysters and shell- 

 fish along the shores and on the adjacent flats. 



It is not without some hesitation that I attribute to this mound a 

 turtle shape, as such an occurrence among the mounds in this part 

 of Florida is an anomaly. Whether the shape depicted in Plate V, 

 Fig. 1, was the result of deliberate design on the part of the build- 

 ers, or was the accidental result of irregular ditching, I cannot say. 

 The mound proper consists of a structure of sand 108 feet long and 66 

 feet wide. It is about 5 feet high at the point marked A in the figure. 

 This constitutes the body, or carapace, and tail of the supposed turtle. 

 The ditches, a, a, a, are distinct and leave the flippers, B, B, and the 

 head, C, at the natural level of the laud. The view in section, Fig. 2, 

 will convey an idea of what I mean, A being the mound and B, B, 

 the ditches, leaving the flippers as before stated. In other words, the 

 flippers are not the result of heaping up sand, their shape being given 

 by the ditches. Whether the design was to give the form of a turtle or 

 not, the result was precisely the same, the whole structure having a won- 

 derful resemblance to that animal. It is not at all improbable that the 

 ancient architects had that form in view in the const ruction of this mound, 

 as the beaches of this island are still the resort of hundreds of turtle, 

 which come up to lay their eggs in the sand during the summer ; and 

 successful turtle fisheries are now carried on in Boca Ciega Bay, imme- 

 diately opposite this point. 



Some one had dug into the mound before me, but with what result 1 

 know not. The excavation was about (> feet in diameter and 3 feet in 

 depth. I explored it thoroughly in every portion, finding all parts of 

 the human skeleton except the skull. The bodies were buried at full 



