MOUNDS IN WfST FLORIDA. 867 



Passing over for the present the mounds, &c, intervening, a second 

 great area of ancient population was about the ceuter of the bay and 

 on its southern side, where a point 3 miles in length extends north be- 

 tween Horseshoe and Hogtown Bayous, while on the south and between 

 the point and the Gulf lies a large fresh-water lake, 7 miles in length 

 and with an average width of a half-mile. The peculiar advantages of 

 this point for an Indian town may be seen at a glance, viz : Fishing 

 and hunting facilities unequaled and capable of easy defense in case 

 of an attack. Evidences of a dense population once occupying this 

 vantage ground begin one mile south of the extreme point and extend 

 on both shores and down the center to the lake. These evidences con- 

 sist of shell banks and heaps along the shores, and of low mounds along 

 the center of the point. Some of the shell heaps are of immense size, 

 while others are mere piles containing a few bushels. The mounds 

 a short distance from the beach, and extending the whole length of the 

 point, are slight elevations, and often five or six are placed in a straight 

 line. Those measured were from 1 to 2 feet high and from 30 to 60 feet 

 in diameter. The general surface of the country is low and flat, render- 

 ing it necessary to have elevations for houses. 



The most important and interesting of all the aboriginal remains in 

 this vicinity, however, is a canal leading from the head of Horseshoe 

 Bayou into a large fresh- water lake, about 1J miles southeast of the 

 bayou. This canal is about 14 feet in width at the top and 6 feet at the 

 bottom. Its original depth was probably from 6 to 18 feet. At present 

 it is not much over half that depth. At ordinary times the canal is dry, 

 but during wet seasons the waters of the lake find an outlet through it 

 to the bay. Excepting a slight angle at one place its course is straight, 

 and the natural advantages of. the ground were disregarded in order to 

 reach the desired point by the shortest route. It enters the lake through 

 a marsh, which at a time previous to the cutting of the canal, was prob- 

 ably a part of the lake, and this being drained by the canal, the an- 

 cient engineers were forced to continue their work through the marsh 

 until deep water was reached. The lake, which is nearly 7 miles in 

 length, contains immense numbers of fish, and the canal was cut for the 

 purpose of reaching it in canoes, as these must otherwise have been 

 transported overland at great expense of time and labor. 



No burial places have been discovered in this region. Many clay 

 images, however, of large size have been picked up at Mr. Henry Rad- 

 dick's place on Four-Mile Point. These were all lost or destroyed by 

 the children, as their value to science was not known. 



Besides these two main centers of population, numerous smaller set- 

 tlements existed at various points along the shores of Choctawhatchee 

 Bay. Indeed, there is not a habitable spot that was not occupied, and 

 there is not a point or cove without the characteristic shell heap. The 

 most important of them are all correctly marked on the accompanying 

 map, and a detailed description of each of these would involve a repe- 



