MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 563 



eoutliwestto northeast. iSo. 7 is 75 feet west-nortliwest of No. G, and is 104: 

 feet long, 2i feet high, and 18 feet wide, with the greatest length from 

 southwest to northeast. No. 8 is 100 feet from No. 7, and is 140 feet long, 

 3 feet high, 20 feet wide. Fifty feet from the south end of this is a 

 black-oak tree, 3 feet in diameter, standing in the middle of the mound. 

 {In ac(;ordance with the usual rule in this vicinity of (;omi)uting sixteen 

 growths to the inch, measuring on one side of the center, this tree was 

 nearly three hundred years old.) This mound is 100 feet Mest of the 

 blulf of Spoon Eiver. The bluff is 40 feet high at this place, and very 

 precipitous. In company with Mr. W. J. Morris, I made a cross cut in. 

 this mound to the original soil. At every spadeful we would bring up 

 flint chips, and we found several pieces of trap-rock, some of them be- 

 ing polished on one side. Around the mound where the surface is bare 

 great quantities of flint chips are picked up. We made a slight exam- 

 ination of Nos. 6 and 7, and found nothing, excepting traces of ashes 

 and charcoal. On opening No. 3, at a depth of 2 feet, we found ashes ; 

 at 2^ feet, C to 8 inches of charcoal and ashes; at 3 feet, Lard-packed 

 earth ; at 3 feet 3 inches, two skeletons, all the bones very much de- 

 "Cayed, except the teeth, and these were not worn, showing the owners 

 to have been not over thirty years of age. We opened Nos. 1 and 2, 

 and found nothing. All the mounds appear to have been built at the 

 same time, by the same people. 



Si)oon River at this point is 100 feet wide. AYe found no depressions 

 whence the material of which these mounds are built was taken. 



BUEIED FLINTS IN CASS COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



By J. F. SxYDER, M. D., of Virginia, III. 



Prof. Joseph Jones has well said that " the fabrics of a people unlock 

 their social history; they speak a language which is silent, but yet more 

 <jloquent than the written page." 



To every thoughtful i)erson there is a i)eculiar interest in the remains 

 of nations that have fulfilled their destiny, and passed away; and this 

 interest grows to fascination when studying the works of art, however 

 rude, of people who have disappeared, and left no other legible records 

 of their history and characteristics. 



The origin and language of the prehistoric occupants of this region 

 may remain forever unknown to us, and their color and i)ersonal appear- 

 ance be onlj^ conjectured; but their implements, utensils, and ornaments, 

 which have escaped the ravages of time, when properly interpreted, 

 rei)e()ple our hills and prairies with their ancient inhabitants, and tell 

 us, in language as plain as the written page, the story of their domestic 

 pursuits and arts of life; of their customs, superstitions, and habits of 

 ithought. 



