28 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



less destructible than other parts of the skeleton, may be the 

 reason why these are so often found; yet, I suspect, that, by 

 examining the earth around where the teeth are procured, 

 whole skeletons might be discovered'— or nearly whole ones. 

 It is true, that teeth of the mastodon are frequently found in 

 and about Pickaway Plains, lying on the present surface of the 

 earth; but these were doubtless brought and left where they 

 are now found, by the Indians. These teeth, thus found, were 

 near the dwelling houses of the aborigines, and no search has 

 been made for the remaining -parts of the skeletons. 



Where teeth are found in situ, further search ought always 

 to be made, which would doubtless lead to the discovery of 

 other relics, highly valuable. At the time when our wet prai- 

 ries were cedar swamps, and presented almost impenetrable 

 thickets, it is evident enough, that they were frequented by 

 the great mastodon and other wild animals ; and that man was 

 here also, then, or very soon afterwards, appears equally evi- 

 dent, from the marks which he has left, of his labor and his 

 art, on the fragment of a tree, above mentioned. 



The fear of rendering myself tedious to the reader, admon- 

 ishes me to quit the ancient abode of the mammoth, and 

 describe 



The Dry Prairies. — They are not, as in Kentucky, under' 

 laid with limestone; nor have we, in this part of Ohio, any 

 barrens thus underlaid. Ours are, so far as we know and be- 

 lieve, in appearance like the bottom lands along our streams. 

 The surface is a rich, black, deep loam, underlaid with peb- 

 bles, which are water worn, rounded and smoothed. Manv 

 of these natural meadows, lie high above any stream of water, 

 now, or probably ever in existence. — If we have any tracts in 

 Ohio, very properly denominated Dilu vi um, Pickaway Plains, 

 three miles below Circleville, belong to that class of forma- 

 tions. This is a dry prairie, or rather was one not many 

 years since. This prairie is about seven miles long, and near- 

 ly three miles broad. It was in this plain, that a human skel- 

 eton was dug up, which circumstance was mentioned by me 

 jn a former vojume of Sillimaij's Journal, to which I refer the 



