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Notice of an Ancient Mound. 167 
the top, and the form of other mounds in the neighborhood, 
it is reasonable to conclude that its perpendicular was once 
twenty or thirty feet higher. 
It is composed of a soil similar to that of the plain which 
surrounds it, but there are no local marks to determine 
from whence such a quantity of earth could have been 
taken, as the surface of the plain is nearly level. The 
mound itself is covered with trees, consisting of white and 
black oak, beech, black walnut, white poplar, locust, &. 
and many of them are of a large size. 
A white oak, in particular, on the verge of the summit, 
measures twelve feet in circumference, three feet above 
the surface of the ground. From its size, and the decayed 
appearance of some of its branches, it must have been the 
growth of four or five centuries. There are several others 
of nearly equal size. The vegetable mould in the centre 
of the basin, is about two feet in depth, but gradually di- 
minishes on each side. About one eighth of a mile distant 
on the same plain, in a northeasterly direction, are three 
smaller tumuli of similar construction; and several other 
small ones in the neighborhood. Near the three alluded 
to, on the most level part of this plain, are evident traces 
of ancient fortifications. The remains of two circular en- 
trenchments, of unequal size, but each several rods in di- 
ameter, and communicating with each other by a narrow 
pass, or gateway, are to be seen, and also a causeway lead- 
ing from the largest towards the hills on the east, with 
many other appearances of a similar nature, all exhibiting 
marks of a_race of men more civilized than any of the 
tribes found in this section of the country when first visited 
by Europeans. 
Several attempts have been made to open the principal 
mound, but they were arrested by the proprietor of the 
ground, , 
In stamping or strikmg with a club on the top of this 
huge heap of earth, a hollow, jarring sound may he heard 
and felt, similar to that which we feel in walking heavily 
ona large covered vault. 
With regard to the object of these structures, it is now, 
I believe pretty well agreed, that they were repositories 
for the dead. A good evidence of this is, that a substance 
resembling decayed bones has generally been found in 
those which have been opened, with implements of war 
