200 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



which was i)enetrated with difificuUy by the spade. Plainly no musk- 

 rat or beaver tribe had left this monument of their industry and skill. 



Had the waters, which, through all the ages since the old-time in- 

 land sea was first drained, have been wearing down the great branch- 

 ing system of ravines leading to the Mississippi and on to the gulf — 

 had the tireless waters left here a dot of an island whose cohesion was 

 such as to withstand their force? This might have been; but the 

 branching stream would have left an island more or less pointed, both 

 at its upper and lower ends, and not the perfect circle of our mound. 



Had it perchance been formed by accumulation at the center of a 

 whirling eddy? Such an accumulation of clay is hardly to be sup- 

 posed, even if the configuration of the valley and bluffs and the strata 

 of the mound were not fatal to the theory. 



Did human hands construct here the foundation for a dwelling-place, 

 a sacrificial altar, or a burial mound? In either case, there would 

 have been evidences of .fire, relics of handicraft, or animal or human 

 remains, none of which were found. 



At the bottom of our trench was a hardened crust, some three inches 

 thick, of ferruginous clay intermixed with calcareous earth, and resting 

 on what was evidently a natural drift-bed of coarse sand and clay. We 

 had gone below the surrounding level and had found no evidence what- 

 ever of human agency, save that the side of our excavation, near the 

 center, showed the triangular section of a previous superficial opening 

 with its apex about three feet down, made, as our assistants stated, 

 some years before, by a curious but easily satisfied resident of the 

 vicinity. 



We had found no relics; indeed, although our g^ide, Mr. Hanna, 

 was quite confident to the last that we should come upon something of 

 importance, we, remembering the experience of Mr. Gass in the ex- 

 ploration of two mounds similarly situated, had little expectation of 

 doing so. No ]iositive answers were given to our toilsome question- 

 ings, but the negative replies may some day prove of value. 



