354 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



laski Co. to Arkansas, in all the little valleys which wind in and 

 out among the flint-crowned hills of the Ozarks, are seen what 

 may be termed garden mounds. These are elevated about two 

 or three feet above the natural surface of the land, and are from 

 fifteen to fifty feet in diameter, varying thus in size according to 

 the amount of richer soil which could be scraped togetlier. Their 

 presence may always be detected in fields of growing grain by its 

 more luxuriant growth and deeper green. 



These Ozark mountains have preserved their treasures well, 

 and demand of tlie archaeologist serious examination and careful 

 study. These hills are honeycombed with caves, many of them 

 of unknown extent. Their openings may be seen in the precipi- 

 tous blufl's along the Gasconade river, in great numbers, on either 

 side, or the majestic arches of their openings span the divides 

 where the smaller hill ranges meet. Do these numerous caves 

 and channels evidence an ancient system of drainage, in operation 

 long before the Gasconade had asserted its " right of way" and 

 scooped for itself a course, and the rocks had melted away before 

 its ceaseless flow.^* 



In these caves the ancient dead were buried and the funeral 

 feasts were celebrated. The deep deposit of rich nitrogenous earth 

 in the larger chambers, and the bones of various animals, birds, 

 iind mussel shells — the refuse of the funeral feasts, — the alternate 

 layers of ashes and charcoal mingled with earthy matter, contain- 

 ing human bones in different degrees of preservation, tell of oft- 

 repeated visits and recurrence of the funeral rites. Here, too, are 

 found the mounds of stone, the largest on the highest and most 

 inaccessible elevations, and always where the prospect is most 

 ^delightful and commanding. Sometimes they are i^anged in con- 

 tinuous lines from the brow of the precipitous escarpment hun- 

 dreds of feet in height, along the barren ridges. Sometimes they 

 stand alone on the hillside which overlooks some pleasant valley. 

 Who built them.? Did the red man? Possibly. But it was no 

 child's play to climb up the mountain side carrying those great 

 stones, some of which might trouble a strong man to move far 

 from their place, and deposit them together until the heap should 

 cover a space thirty feet in diameter, with an elevation of five or 

 six feet. Of what was deposited there with such labor, nothing 



* See Sir Chas. Lyell's remarks upon the Valley of the Meuse, "Antiquity of Man," p. 7^. 



