80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 37 
But Beck makes no mention of any on ‘‘Noyer creek’’ other than 
the one near Louisiana. 
Again, on page 263: 
[On] Buffaloe creek, a small stream of Pike county, * * * there are also the 
ruins of a number of ancient forts, similar to those on the Noyer creek and Osage river. 
On page 289: 
Loutre river, a stream of Montgomery county, * * *. On the headwaters of this 
stream are said to be ancient works, similar to those on the Mississippi, for a description 
of which the reader is referred to Noyer creek. 
It would seem from the text that Beck’s knowledge of these remains 
was derived entirely from reports made to him. Possibly, too, he 
confused ‘‘houses”’ and ‘‘cairns.”’ 
One of these ‘‘houses”’ is on a bluff overlooking the Osage, a mile 
from the ‘‘Painted Rock,” 16 miles nearly south of Jefferson City. 
A space approximately square and some 12 feet in diameter is sur- 
rounded by a heavy stone wall about 3 feet high. A similar smaller 
inclosure stands against one side of this ‘‘house,” or perhaps all con- 
stitute one structure of irregular form. As no excavation was 
allowed, its nature is uncertain, but it seems to be a vault, not covered 
with earth as is customary. 
If the reader will turn back to various illustrations herein, showing 
both the inside and the outside of vault-graves and will then consult 
anew Broadhead’s drawings of the Pike county and Platte county 
mounds, in which are represented the outside regularly laid up in hypo- 
thetical steps (figs. 14, 15, 16), and will finally compare these with the 
sketch by Mr. Giddings (fig. 17), he will probably infer that the 
‘‘TIndian House” of Pike county, as well as all the others mentioned, 
are simply walled graves built in conjunction, and not covered over. 
The fact that chamber E was ‘‘filled with rubbish,” that ‘‘inG * * * 
human bones have recently been found,” and the discoveries made 
by Mr. Reed in his excavations, are all in consonance with the view 
that such is their purpose. 
The explicit statements of Mr. Giddings and Colonel Hawkins that 
they saw the walls can not be set aside. Walls of some sort, though 
not as pictured, certainly existed. There is evidence in the illustra- 
tion in plate 14, 6, of a vertical outside face at the northeast corner. 
The bottom rocks here were never disturbed by relic hunters, conse- 
quently had brace rocks been piled against the outside they would 
still be in place; but there are none. Again, there is not now, and 
probably never was, enough earth on the upper part of McMoore’s 
hill to build a mound completely over this structure. 
Only one explanation offers itself. 
The aborigines made burial chambers in a series, whether all at 
one time or during a long period does not appear. These were rock- 
