32 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



pottery itself were unavoidably included. Those three substances, with 

 silica, are the ingredients of the material used in the manufacture of 

 the pottery — the first two (carbonate of lime and magnesia) in the 

 form of pulverized shells. From the foregoing it would seem that the 

 mineral procured from the mine had been utilized (in part, at least) as 

 a pigment. 



Future explorations in the ancient mines and in the numerous 

 mounds of this State will, no doubt, give much additional light upon 

 this and other matters relating thereto; and from the success which 

 has attended the efforts of those engaged in such explorations here, it 

 is by no means improbable that when these extensive and, as yet, 

 almost unexplored fields of research are entered by those whose means 

 will permit them to diligently and systematically prosecute this branch 

 of scientific research, Arkansas will, in their hands, prove fruitful in 

 the yielding of invaluable and, perhaps, unexpected results having an 

 important bearing upon the elucidation of the history of the Mound- 

 builders. 



