228 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Keys, though what entitles it to this high sounding name, I could not 

 discover. But that there are plenty of excellent people here besides the 

 mound-builders, and the best oysters in the world, I will not deny. 

 Arriving in the night. I was not prepared for the surprise that awaited 

 me on the next morning, when arising early, I strolled out for a walk, 

 and saw not more that fifty rods from my hotel what seemed an immense 

 hill gradually sloping upwards. This was so unusual a feature in Florida 

 scenery as to arrest attention. It appeared to be fifty feet or more in 

 height, and was surmounted with a dense growth of vegetation, the 

 stately Chamerops Palmetto and live oak, with the Saw Palmetto and 

 Yucca aloifolia being prominent features in the landscape. This was 

 the famous "Mound." It extends for the distance of a quarter of a 

 mile along the shore of a shallow bay known as " Goose Cove," on which 

 it fronts abruptly, while on the other side it slopes downward towards the 

 town, of which the whole mound may be called a suburb, numerous squat- 

 ter sovereigns having fixed their residences on its summit, while several 

 gentlemen with whom I became acquainted, are located on the slope. 

 Small patches have been cleared of the underbrush for garden purposes. 

 The whole mound covers at least ten acres, but portions of it have, from 

 the changes of time, been worked down ; soil and sand have, with the 

 vegetation, given a modern appearance to these parts. But excavations 

 reveal the fact that underneath is the buried mound. My friend, Lieut. 

 Vogdes, chanced to arrive a few days after myself, and during his short 

 stay we made some examinations on Goose Cove, where there were the 

 best exposures. The mound here has an elevation of thirty to forty 

 feet, with an almost perpendicular face, against which the tides wash. 

 At the base, where they had been casting off shells to make roads in the 

 town, we fomid some pieces of pottery, plain and ornamented. A little 

 higher up, on digging into the side, more pottery was found ; also char- 

 coal ashes and bones of the bear and deer. Some of the.se were made 

 into awls or needles ; others had holes drilled into them as if for orna- 

 ment. We found some of these relics at about fifteen feet from the 

 base — the bones near the old fire-places. I saw no human bones at this 

 point. 



The mound proper, that is without the natural accumulations on its 

 surface, of soil, sand, debris, etc., is composed of marine shells. Two- 

 thirds, perhaps, are ihe Ostrea Virginica, occurring broken and the 

 valves never in pairs. There are plenty, also, of the large clams, Merce- 

 naria Mortoni. These and many other species, all common in a living 

 state in the adjoining waters, make up the mound. Among the more 

 noticeable species are Cassidulus corona, Natica duplicata, Sycotypusper- 

 versus, S. pyrum, S. papyraceus, Fasciolaria distans, _Fasc. tulipa, 

 Fasc. gigantea, Callista gigantea, Pecten dislocatus, P. irradians, Strom- 

 bus yigas, S. alatus, Cancellaria reticulata, all edible species. Some of 

 these are common to the Post Pliocene also. During my visit I exam- 

 ined every part of the mound, making excavations on the surface at 

 several points. The part fronting on Goose Cove was evidently the 

 kitchen department. Here the mound-builders cooked the oysters. 



