E'OWKE] ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 163 



unfavorable condition. They are found everywhere — on high, well- 

 drained levels ; on sloping ground, sometimes so steep that it may well 

 be called a hillside ; in low " crawfish land " ; in swamps where, in 

 the driest weather, even after a prolonged drought, they can be 

 reached only by wading through water or muck. The last, however, 

 may have been more easily accessible when built, their present con- 

 dition being due to the general subsidence of this region during the 

 earthquake period of 1811. The existing sloughs and sluggish bayous 

 are the widenings and extensions of streams which at the time these 

 mounds were constructed were no doubt bordered by banks above 

 ordinary overflow and readily reached by canoes. Manifestly the 

 country was well populated, and therefore presumably practically 

 timberless; consequently the flood water would rapidly pass away 

 and the streams not be choked by drift and other debris as is the case 

 at present. 



Various theories, most of them advanced by persons who are but 

 slightly, if at all, familiar with the country, have been propounded 

 to account for mounds of this character. Their vast number has led 

 some writers to believe that they can not be artificial but must be 

 due to natural phenomena ; as, for instance, that these, as indeed all 

 mounds, were piled up by floods, Noachic, glacial, or local; or that 

 they result from the industry and energy of burrowing animals, such 

 as foxes, badgers, ground hogs, rabbits, prairie dogs, gophers, chip- 

 munks, or even ants; the character of the assumed flood or the 

 species of the supposed burrower depending to some extent upon 

 locality, but principally upon the theorizer's insufficient knowledge 

 of animal industry or of the action of torrential waters. Others 

 are convinced they are formed by the piling up of earth around a 

 bush, clump of grass, stone, or other object acting as a nucleus about 

 which wind-borne material may accumulate — overlooking the fact 

 that clay, gravel, or gumbo soil can not be carried by wind, and that 

 lighter soil or sand will form elongated instead of circular masses. 

 Another supposition is that they are due to stream erosion; flood 

 waters washing away the soil between them and thus leaving the 

 earth composing the mound in its original position. The same ob- 

 jection applies to this as to the wind-blown theory, namely, that we 

 can not imagine water acting with such mathematical regularity and 

 intelligent discrimination, especially upon slopes which lie at all 

 sorts of angles with the trend of the current. 



Persons who recognize their human origin have suggested that 

 they were erected as stands for hunters, from which they could de- 

 tect game at a greater distance, or could take better aim as the 

 animal passed; or perhaps as camping places while waiting; but in 

 many places more than half the area of the ground over several 



