612 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS EELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



largest earthen mound, which I call the grand mound because all the 

 graves are facing it, is about ninety feet in diameter, and at this time 

 about 4 feet high ; but when first discovered by whites it was 5 or 6 feet 

 high. This mound has not yet been examined, but others in the 

 valley, not so high but larger in diameter, have been looked into and 

 were found to contain graves, pottery -ware, pipes and arrow-lieads made 

 of dirt or cut out of rock. These are found in the graves in the mound 

 and in those around it. 



On a hill adjacent to the valley, about 2'^0 feet high, are six stone 

 mounds constructed of rough limestoue rock. These mounds are 'situa- 

 ted about 300 yards east of the valley. They are about 20 feet in 

 diameter and 2 J or 3 feet high. Four of them have been examined, and 

 all of them were found to be full of human bones and pottery ware, but 

 not so close together as the others. The graves were constructed, or 

 covered over with rock, differently from the others. The corpse seems 

 to have been put in first, and then rock slabs set up and jjlaced together 

 at the top in the shape of the roof of a liouse. In this way was the 

 l)lace filled with graves all over a certain spot, and then rough stone 

 juled on until the mound was formed. I have spoken of only six mounds 

 on this hill, of this kind ; but there are many in this vicinity of this kind, 

 but they have not been examined. Near the center of the mound ex- 

 amined by me, in a grave, were found bones of a human being charred 

 perfectly black, around which were placed all the others. 



On the west side of the creek is a bluff in which were found several 

 holes, and on examination one of them was found to lead into a cave 

 which has been explored for about 100 yards. This cave contains sev- 

 eral apartments which are dry, and within this are found a great many 

 human bones, some of which are still in a state of preservation. 



A female skeleton was taken from a grave found about 80 yards west 

 of the mound that I have designated in this letter as the grand mound. 

 This skeleton was lying with the face towards the mound, with a 

 pipe in her right hand resting on her right thigh. With this skel- 

 eton I found in opening the grave an infant child lying with its feet 

 against the thigh bones of its mother. When first opened this child's 

 skull-bone and other bones were in perfect form, but as soon as the 

 air came in contact with it it broke into lime, or powder. This female 

 evidently died in childbirth, the feet of the foetus coming first. This 

 female we are led to believe, from the pains taken in burying her, must 

 have been of note amongst them, for I found in disinterring this skeleton 

 that the remains were deposited in a wooden coffin, and then this one 

 was put into one of neatly polished rock. A jug was found, with the 

 mouth down and the bottom upwards, placed against the skull-bone. 

 The stone with a hole in the center, which is called a corn-muller, I 

 foind about 80 yards from the grand mound. This was plowed up and 

 found, among a large number of human bones in a decayed condition, 

 upon the top of a small mound in the valley. The pottery, of the char- 

 acter sent, is found in all the graves and in a similar condition. 



