102 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



brown. When dry it breaks with a somewhat conchoidal fracture ; has 

 a fat, unctious feel to the fingers, and becomes lighter in color. We do 

 not know its chemical composition. 



Peat. In the township of Bonus, near the residence of a Mr. Chap- 

 man, and partly owned by him, is a peat bog of about twenty acres in 

 extent. A Mr. Brown and Mr. Dana also own peat land in the same 

 slough. Perhaps the bog contains in all forty acres. It is in a swale 

 or slough running down into the Piscasaw creek in an east and west di- 

 rection. It is susceptible of easy drainage. I spent some time in ex- 

 amining this peat bed. It was covered with a dense growth of sedgy 

 grass ; quaked and shook as we walked over it ; had the usual carpet of 

 the sphagnum mosses spread over its moist floor, and permitted us al- 

 most anywhere readily to force a common pole down seven or eight 

 feet. The deposit is undoubtedly nine or ten feet thick in many places. 

 The quality of the peat is a little fibrous. It is grass peat rather than 

 moss peat, although grass and moss both enter into its composition. 

 The bed is in a splendid formation stage ; the peat is unripe peat. It 

 might be successfully used as a fertilizer ; but in the present stage of 

 the peat experiment would hardly make a successful fuel. When prop- 

 erly prepared and condensed it will make a good fuel, and it will only 

 be a few years, we hope, when peat machines will be brought to such 

 perfection that this, and all equally good peat deposits, will become 

 sources of material wealth and blessings to whole communities. 



In the township of Manchester I also heard of the existence of peat 

 of good quality, but did not succeed in finding the bed. Doubtless 

 about the little feeding streams of the Kinnikinniks many beds of value 

 exist, and will be brought to light when peat becomes of greater eco- 

 nomical value. 



Indian Antiquities. 



The Kishwaukee was a favorite stream with the aboriginal inhabit- 

 ants of this part of the country. No very conspicuous mounds were 

 noticed, but the usual arrow points and stone implements are often 

 picked up. Within a few feet of the northwest corner of the court 

 house in Belvidere the spot is yet pointed out where " Big Thunder," a 

 renowned Potawattamie chief, was buried. His grave was surrounded 

 with ash palisades, the bottoms of which may yet be traced in the 

 ground. He was buried in a sitting posture overlooking the beautiful 

 plain to the west. He had prophesied that a final great battle would 

 take place between his people and their pale-faced enemies, in which 

 the latter would be perfectly defeated ; and he caused himself to be 

 buried thus that he might view the bloody conflict, and with his voice 



