﻿NO. 7 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS. I926 



255 



The low lands subject to overflow from the two rivers are, of 

 course, extremely fertile, but as a rule the soil on the uplands is not 

 productive, is so flat as to be swampy much of the time where not 

 artificially drained, and apparently is not of a nature to invite a 

 primitive people whose sustenance must depend in large measure on 

 agriculture. That there were, nevertheless, settlements of Indians 

 here and there is shown liy the tumuli, sometimes more than twenty 

 feet deep ; but these are few and far between, and point only to small 

 settlements with much ojien territory 1)etween them. It was a matter 



F"iG. 243. — Marksville. Trench partly excavated. Muuiid 4. 



of some surprise, then, to find, a mile east of Marksville, a group of 

 earthworks of such extent and character that they would be notice- 

 able even in a region where similar structures are abundant, in Ohio 

 or Georgia, for example. They extend for more than a mile along 

 a bayou known as " Old River." which opens at either end into Red 

 River, and. as its name indicates, is recognized by the present popula- 

 tion as having once been the channel followed by that stream. There 

 is little doubt that it flowed here at the time these earthworks were 

 constructed, although at present it is several miles away. This fact, 

 however, has no liearing on the age of the rem-iins : such changes are 

 frequent and extensive. 



