786 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



In the summer of 18S0 I was appointed county surveyor of Erevard 

 County, Florida, and surveyed the south line of the county, starting in 

 near the mouth of the Saiut Lucie Elver, and going west about 22 miles. 

 On the way to the starting-point, at the mouth o«f the Saint Lucie Eiver 

 I stopped at Fort Capron, opposite Indian Eiver outlet. Here I found 

 a large deposit of oyster-shells resembling a kjokkenmodding, but saw 

 no mound. I stopped also at Fort Pierce, about 4 miles south of Fort 

 Capron, and here I found a large sand mound on the west bank of the 

 Indian Eiver or Saint Lucie Sound, and just south of the old fort, the 

 embankments of which are plainly discernible. I stopped also and ex- 

 amined Mount Elithabeth, which is showu on nearly all maps of Florida. 

 I found this to be a large, high, and symmetrical mound of black earth 

 and shells, which would probably be classed as a kjokkenmoddiug. It 

 is an immense work, probably GO feet high, and with the exception per- 

 haps of Turtle mouud, the largest prehistoric monument that I have 

 seen in the State. 



I found also, on the north bank of the Saint Lucie Eiver, about 3 

 miles from the mouth, in a large bay of the river, another immense 

 mound called Mount Pisgah, truly gigantic, and of the same character 

 as Mount Elithabeth. Near its base is the remains of a stone house, 

 built of coquina stone, and believed to be the remains of the abode of some 

 of the pirates that are known to have infested this locality in the early 

 days of the present century. I saw no other mounds on the whole trip. 



This completes my present knowledge of the prehistoric remains of 

 Florida. As the object of this paper has been to simjjly state facts, I 

 will not enter into any lengthy discussion as to the objects or uses of 

 the shell mounds. 



Difierent persons with whom I have conversed in Florida have sug- 

 gested that some were built for lookouts, others as sites for residences, 

 to enable the dwellers on them to obtain the benefit of the breeze, so 

 desirable in this climate, while others have thought they were used as 

 dwelling-i)laces to avoid the mosquitos, which are so troublesome in the 

 woods near the ground, and others still that they were used as dwelling- 

 places, to enable the occupants to escape the floods which even now in 

 certain seasons often surround their bases during great storms. This last 

 hypothesis receives more credence from the fact that numerous instances 

 have occurred of white settlers resorting to them in such emergencies. It 

 may perhaps be safe to say that incidentally they have served all these 

 purposes. JS^ot a few persons whom I have met contend strongly against 

 this artificial origin, believing them to have been cast uj) by the sea, 

 but they totally fail to account for the presence of broken pottery and 

 bones which almost invariably forms part of their composition. The 

 great shell banks on Fort George Island, at the mouth of the Saint 

 John's Eiver, have the appearance of oyster banks in which the shell- 

 fish were killed by some geological catastrophe, such as elevation above 

 the water, but the remains of man appear distinct, superimposed upon 

 them. This place deserves more careful study. I have endeavored to 



