PAPERS EELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 743 



a little northwest of Quakertown, on the east side of Bond's Creek, about 

 80 yards distant. The present height is 3 feet, and base diameter, GO feet. 

 Mr. Hugh Abernathy, among the first settlers of this valley, states that, 

 sixty years ago, this mound was about 18 feet high, and made of fine 

 sand, which the older citizens of Quakertown and Dunlapsville hauled 

 away for building purposes. The remaining portion does not look like 

 the remnant of a mound. 



Number 79 is in Sec. 31, T. 14 iS^., R. 14 E., in the northeast corner of 

 the northwest quarter section, on the third terrace formation, on Mr. 

 Hugh Abernathy's farm. The height is 8 feet; base diameter, 45 feet, 

 and composition, compact clay. 



Number 80 is in Sec. 2, T. 11 N., E. 2 W., in the northwest part of the 

 northeast quarter section, on the highest terrace formation, on the Lev- 

 iston farm. It stands about half way between the Junction Railroad 

 and Liberty and Brownsville pike, and about 4 rods from a never- failing 

 spring, which is a little northwest of the mound. The mound has been 

 under cultivation for a great many years, which has greatly diminished 

 it in height. 



Number 84 is in Sec. 5, T. 11 N., R. 2 W., in the northwest part of 

 the southeast quarter section, and on the second terrace formation of 

 Hannah's Creek, on Mr. Henry Ruse's farm. The height is G feet; base 

 diameter, 42 feet; composition, compact claj-. 



The fragments of pottery which have been found in the exploration 

 of the several mrunds that are distributed along this valley (no com- 

 plete vessels have been recovered) are composed of potter's clay, sand, 

 and pounded shell. In the process of burning, a portion of the sand 

 became vitrified and the shell calcined. By the aid of the microscope 

 it was possible to find out the composition of each fragment, yet these 

 would crumble with tke least handling. The mysterious people who 

 constructed these mounds must have exercised a great deal of care in 

 removing the larger pebbles from the dirt, since those composed of clay 

 or sand show a very few pebbles as large as a good sized marble. This 

 fact has been often verified by the author, who ordered his helpers to 

 notice critically every particle of dirt handled in the process of trench- 

 ing or sinking a i)it. Mounds from 20 to GO feet in diameter have been 

 trenched without finding as many as a dozen pebbles. It is not for the 

 want of pebbles in the surface soil, for they are plentiful and can be 

 gathered by the bushel. It is not that the material has been brought 

 from a distance. Ninety-nine of every hundred mounds are heaped up 

 from the surrounding soil, and seasons of rain-fall, freezing and thaw- 

 ing, growth and decay have filled up these places, so that the surround- 

 ing surface presents the appearance of never having been disturbed. 

 How much higher these tumuli were originally we have no means of 

 knowing; the same changes will diminish the height of these monu- 

 ments with each succeeding year. 



Number 54 is a group of stone graves in Sec. 10, T. 9 N., R. 2 W., in 



