CHAPMAN AN ANCIENT MINE IN ARKANSAS. 3 1 



proved to be the vein-stone. In it were pockets or cavities filled with 

 a black and a red mineral substance, both pulverulent in form. De- 

 scending a few steps farther, my progress was arrested by a large rattle- 

 snake, which I left unmolested in full possession of the lower depths of 

 the mine and the treasures it might contain, and hastily made my way 

 upwards. The black mineral substance proved, upon subjecting it to 

 a qualitative test, to be sesquioxide of iron, with traces of manganese. 

 That these minerals, in the form here found, were those sought for by 

 the miners is evident, as in the near vicinity of the mine are large quan- 

 tities, exposed, of hematite, limonite, pyrolusite, and psilomelane, which 

 could have been secured at a far less expenditure of labor. That these 

 minerals were of great importance in the domestic economy of the 

 mining people is none the less evident in view of the excessive labor 

 and hardships undergone in its acquisition. 



The peculiar method of mining, together with the absence of those 

 markings which would inevitably have followed the use of iron tools, 

 demonstrate that the work was not that of civilized man. Neither will 

 those who are conversant with the characteristics of Indian peoples 

 (applying the term in its generally accepted sense) admit that the ex- 

 cavation was the result of their labor. That the labor was that of some 

 aboriginal people is most evident, and that they were of those whom 

 we know of as Mound-builders is exceedingly probable, inasmuch as 

 there are, within a few miles of the mine, abundant traces of the 

 presence of that people in times past. To these evidences, which 

 seem to designate the Mound-builders as the miners, has been added 

 the following data, obtained while exploring a mound some eight miles 

 distant from the mine. This mound was apparently of very recent 

 origin. ("Sketches of it, with such data as I succeeded in collecting, 

 and some of the relics found in it and in the mine, were forwarded by 

 me to the Smithsonian Institution.) In construction it differed mate- 

 rially from all I had heretofore seen. In it, among other relics, were 

 fragments of pottery of a purple-black color. A portion of this color- 

 ing matter, when subjected to a qualitative examination, gave results 

 precisely the same as those derived through the analysis of the mineral 

 procured from the mine. The only difference in the two substances I 

 was able to detect, through means then at my command, was the pres- 

 ence of carbonate of calcium, magnesia, and alumina in the coloring 

 matter of the pottery. The presence of these substances, however, is 

 easily accounted for, as, in the endeavor to procure a sufficient quan- 

 tity of the coloring matter of the pottery for analysis, portions of the 



