Academy of Science. 53 



center. They were composed of stones and earth ; the former placed in a circle. 

 One of these mounds we excavated, and in the hollow within the circle of stones 

 we found a few luiman bones, some of which had belonged to adults, and others 

 to children. Excepting the pieces of the skulls, they were so much decayed that, 

 with the assistance of Dr. Rice McCoy, and Dr^ Bryant, surgeon of Fort Leaven- 

 worth, it was not easy to discover to what part of the human body they belonged. 

 They had been under the action of tire, and were mixed with charcoal, burnt 

 earth, and stones that had been heated with fire. It appeared that after the bodies 

 had been subjected to the action of fire, without being consumed entirely, they 

 were covered with earth. 



*' Some Indians on the Columbia river burn their dead ; but whether they leave 

 any portion of the bones in the place of burning, I have not been informed. The 

 place where these mounds were erected, and their internal appearance, favored the 

 conjecture that human sacrifices had there been offered." 



As regards the recent examinations of the mounds, they have been only partial, 

 but have been sufficiently prosecuted to demonstrate the correctness of Mr. 

 McCoy's observations, and to warrant the belief that the mounds belong to the 

 works of the true mound builders of North America. 



In June last, in company with Mr. Henry Kuhu, of Leavenworth City, I visited 

 the location. We drove from the Fort, up to, and along the beautiful road-way, 

 known as the " Sheridan Drive," which passes along on the top of that extension 

 of the Pilot Knob ridge which circles along the west line of the Military Reserva- 

 tion, about one mile westward of the Fort. We found six mounds near this road, 

 one on the west side of the road and five on the east side. At a more recent visit, 

 made in company with Dr. R. .J. Brown, of this Academy, Dr. B. E. Fryer, of 

 Fort Leavenworth, Mr. R. N. Hershfield, and others, a seventh mound was seen ; 

 perhaps a quarter of a mile remote from the first six mentioned. The latter are 

 in an irregular line, generallj^ about forty feet apart. They are about twenty-five 

 feet across at the base, and are quite flattened, none being more than four or five 

 feet in height. These mounds as seen do not exactly correspond in number and 

 position with those described by Mr. McCoy, and other observations will be neces- 

 sary in order to identify the particular mounds. 



At the visit in June, an excavation was made into one of the mounds. The exca- 

 vation was commenced at about the center of the top, and an oblong opening made 

 towards the circumference, about two and one-half feet in width, and four and 

 one-half feet in length, and extending to the bottom, about four feet. Stones pro- 

 jected from the top of the mound, and stones of all sizes were closely intermingled 

 with earth to the depth of about two feet, causing much labor with pick to proceed 

 to that depth with the digging. After that, soft earth, easily thrown out with the 

 spade, was found, to near the bottom, when some more stones were found. 

 These had marks of fire, as did also the earth in some places near the bottom. 

 Fragments of bones were found intermingled with the stones and earth near the 

 bottom. The fragments are here exhibited. Some of them appear to be somewhat 

 charred. Some pieces of skull are evidently human remains. The others may 

 be. But here is a fragment of deer horn, apparently partially charred. One tooth 

 thrown from this mound, now in the possession of Dr. Fryer, was identified by him 

 as a human tooth. 



At the more recent visit spoken of, another of the mounds was opened in part. 

 This mound exhibited at the top an elliptical boundary line of projecting points of 

 stones ; the ellipse measuring twelve feet by nine feet in its axis. No stones ap- 

 peared at the surface, except in the curved bounds of this ellipse. The excavation 



