INDIAN MOUNDS IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA. 407 



of pottery. I also opened other points, as at c arid d, with a like result. 

 This mound is probably more modern than any of the domiciliary 

 mounds, and may be considered typical of its class. 



14. MOUNDS OF POINT PINELLOS. 



Nos. 1, 2, 3 are large mounds composed of shell and sand. 



Nos. 4, 5, are low shell-heaps (very ancient) on sand flats. 



Nos. 7 and 8 are sand mounds, one 2 feet the other 5 feet high. 



No. is an immense mound over 20 feet high, built of alternate layers 

 of shell and sand, surrounded by an irregular wall from 5 to 10 feet 

 high, partly shell and partly sand. The dense growth prevented an 

 accurate plan during my short visit, but this is the most stupendous 

 work I have seen anywhere in Florida, slightly explored. 



No. 10 is a large oblong mound 25 feet high, built of sand and shell, 

 with a graded way on west side sloping to the top. The sides are pre- 

 cipitous. A pine tree on the summit bears date 1840. 



Nos. 11 and 12 are low sand mounds 5 or 6 feet high and 100 feet in 

 diameter. 



No. 13 three large shell mounds 25 feet high. 



Nos. 14, 15, and 1G sand mounds about the height and dimensions of 

 11 and 12. 



No. 10 is very interesting from the fact that it contained skeletons. 

 An old excavation is visible, probably made in 1840, and one quite recent. 

 One skeleton was obtained a few years ago. I dug in the old ditches 

 extending them in all directions, and obtained numerous specimens of 

 pottery, arrow-heads, and implements, but all were lost in the wreck of 

 our boat. I also explored slightly Nos. 9, 11, and 12, but found nothing 

 valuable. 



As the circular sand mounds on Point Pinellos are precisely similar, 

 except in dimensions, I have selected one out of the seven located there 

 for description, that one being in the best state of preservation and 

 combining all the peculiar characteristics of the class. 



This mound is situated at the foot of a gentle slope, near a series of 

 shallow ponds, on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter sec- 

 tion 28, township 1l>, range 31 east, half a mile from the residence of 

 John II. McLauchlin. The structure (Plate V, Figs. 2 and 3) is a perfect 

 circle, 175 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, surrounded by a ditch 

 feet wide and 3 feet deep, except at two points exactly opposite, where 

 the ditch is discontinued and a pathway feet wide left to the interior. 

 The mound is built of sand, and contains no pottery or relics whatever; 

 no signs of lire could be seen, nor any clue, however small, to lead even 

 to a guess as to the uses to which these structures were applied. I have 

 examined four out of the seven mentioned here, with a like result. The 

 growth upon all these mounds consists of large pines, similar in size and 

 age to those in the surrounding forests. 



The locations of the remaining six are as follows: 



