842 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



it was another small, flat mound, and 180 feet northeast of No. 2 was 

 another of the same character. My recollection is that none of this 

 group except No. 1 had ever been disturbed. It is a matter of regret 

 that I did not have an opportunity to make internal explorations of 

 the more important ones. 



In the western part of what is now the village of Ovid there formerly 

 existed a group of small burial mounds, marked on the map. They 

 were long since destroyed by the cultivation of the land. I have an 

 account of them from Mr. Dennis Birmingham, of Ovid Township, who 

 Is not unfamiliar with the works of the Mound Builders, and would not 

 be likely to be deceived. 



Continuing on down the Maple, in a northwesterly direction, some- 

 thing like a mile and a half, we come to the site of two small mounds, 

 marked 2. The location is 30 or 40 rods west of the center of section 11. 

 They are situated on a tract of rich, loamy soil, with a mixture of fine 

 gravel, heavily timbered with several varieties of forest trees. The 

 tract slopes gently down from higher land at the north till it blends 

 with the Maple Eiver bottom at the south. At the west it terminates 

 in a bank or bluff about 12 feet high, 50 or 60 paces distant from the 

 larger mound. At the foot of the bank is an ancient channel of the 

 river, with low, wet bottom land beyond. It is not improbable that the 

 river flowed through this channel at the time the country was occupied 

 by the Mound Builders, though it is now found some distance farther 

 southwest. The larger mound, measured by the eye, at the time of my 

 visit was not more than 16 feet in diameter and 2 feet high. There 

 was a shallow trench all around its base, from which, no doubt, a por- 

 tion of the earth for its construction had been taken. Excavations had 

 already been made in both mounds. In the vicinity of the mounds were 

 a large number of " dug-holes.'' They were generally circular, some of 

 them having a raised margin made by the earth thrown out, while around 

 others the ground was level up to the very brim, as if the excavated 

 earth had been carried away to aid in the construction of the mounds. 

 Perhaps those with raised margins may have been made by the modern 

 Indians for burying their corn. Possibly the Mound Builders also 

 buried their corn in the same manner. It is not always easy to distin- 

 guish between the dug-holes of the Indians and those of the more ancient 

 people. 



Continuing down the valley of the Maple, in a direction almost due 

 northwest, for a little more than 2 miles, we come to the site of the 

 mound marked 3, on the northeast quarter of the. northeast quarter 

 section 4. This mound has disappeared in the process of cultivation. 

 Mr. Gleasou, the owner of the farm, describes it as 16 feet broad and 2 

 feet high. I remember that many years ago, when hunting there, while 

 Mr. Gleason's farm was still a forest, the deer I was tracking walked 

 over this mound, and I stood for some time on its summit, peering into 

 the surrounding forest for signs of the game. My attention had not at 



