INDIANS MOUNDS AND CANALS. 313 



have ascended these streams and described an unknown, 

 but, we have reason to believe, an interesting section. 

 Reluctantly we turned the prow of the Spray northward. 

 En route we visited the northern end of Pine Island, 

 situated three miles north of Useppi. Here we found a 

 Yankee named Ham, who had resided there for twenty- 

 four years. At the landing we found two luxuriant 

 cocoa-nut trees in fruit, and back of the hut, roasting 

 ears, garden vegetables, and several hundred lemon trees 

 loaded down with their golden fruit. At this point will 

 be found four of the largest mounds on the coast, and 

 the archaeologist will be pointed to something interesting 

 and calculated to puzzle him. The island is three miles 

 wide, and, with the exception of a few hundred feet on 

 each side, is traversed by a canal forty feet wide and 

 eight feet in depth. Mr. Ham assured me that a similar 

 excavation existed on the main land, and could be 

 traced in a direct line toward Okeechobee for a distance 

 of fourteen miles. On the north side of Caloosahatchie 

 river, near its source, a similar canal is found, and of 

 about three miles in length. I was assured by a reliable 

 party familiar with the locality, that a similar one ex 

 isted on one of the Thousand Islands. The question 

 arises, Who excavated these canals, or for what purpose 

 were they dug ? It is a well-known fact that the In 

 dians were too indolent to engage in such an under 

 taking. There cannot be a question regarding these 

 excavations having been made by man, but why made, 

 or by whom, is the question. An examination of the 

 live-oak trees growing in and on the sides of the exca 

 vation negatives any argument that they could have been 

 the work of the early Spaniards or the Seminoles. From 

 our knowledge of the Indian tribes it is not probable 



