688 



PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



are five mounds, represented in the accompanying map, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 



The river bed is near the center of the space between the bluffs or 

 highlands, which are at this place 7 or 8 miles apart. 



The following figure shows the relative position of the bluffs, river 

 bottom, river bed, and sand-ridge on which the mounds are located: 



Fig. 2. Section of bluffs, &c., on Illinois River. 



Kos. 2 2 represent the bluffs capped with loess ; 3, the river bed, and 



5 the sand ridge. This ridge is between a fourth of a mile and half a 

 mile in width, about 30 feet higher than the level lands on either side, 

 and runs a little east of north, parallel with the river. The mounds are 

 nearly parallel with the ridge. The oue farthest to the north, j^o. 1 (Fig. 

 1), IS a regular oval, 132 feet long, 98 feet wide, and about 10 feet high. 

 It was, no doubt, originally much higher, as it has been plowed over 

 for years, and the top is composed of sand. Mound No. 2 is the one 

 from which the pipes and other relics referred to were taken. Tbis one, 

 and Nos. 3 and 4, are covered with a small growth of hickory aud oak 

 trees. No. 2 is 86 feet in diameter and about 11 feet high. No. 3 is 90 

 feet in diameter and 11 feet 4 inches high. No. 4 is G6 feet in diameter 

 and about 4 feet 8 inches high. No. 5 is 50 feet in diameter aud 3 teet 



6 inches high. Mound No. 3 is comjiosed of very hard ash-colored clay. 

 No. 2, from which the pipes were taken, is shown in the following out- 

 line cut (Fig. 3), which represents its present condition : 



Fig. 3. Section of mound near Xaples, Ul. 



The inclosed space marked 4 represents the excavation made by 

 former explorers. In the present exploration the diameter of the 

 mound, 86 feet, was first obtained and then its height, using for this 

 latter purpose a spirit-level and po^e, as represented in the cut, placing 

 the level on the margin of the excavation at a. Its height i)roving to 

 be about 11 feet and the depth of the old excavation about 7 feet, 4 

 feet remained in order to reach the original surface. The removal of 

 a large amount of forest leaves that had accumulated in the hole re- 

 vealed for the first foot or more, soil that had tumbled down from the 

 walls of the excavation. Next was encountered a stratum about iS 

 inches in thickness, composed of clay, black soil, and sand, in separate 



