FOWKE] EXPLORATIONS IN RED RIVER VALLEY 423 
from erosive lowering. It would be desirable to have a heavy rainfall 
drain off quickly. 
Mounp 7.—This is the only mound within Inclosure B. It is 
“square,” flat-topped, 6 feet high, the sides much worn down, al- 
though the height has not been reduced. The base now covers a 
space 100 feet across each way, but this includes the earth that has 
washed down. The nearly level top is 40 feet across. Though much 
smaller, it is similar in form to Mound 6. 
Mounp 8.—A ravine 1,100 feet wide at its mouth enters Old River 
at Inclosure B. On the far side of this ravine, at a distance from 
it of about 2,000 feet, is the next mound in order. It is nearly 2 
miles north of east from Marksville, on the edge of the bluff. The 
owner, Alfred Greenhouse, states that it was once 15 or 16 feet high, 
with a basal diameter of 75 or 80 feet. A trench was made some 
years ago through the central part; and earth had also been removed 
from the sides to fill slight depressions around it from which material 
had been taken to use in its construction. None of these former 
excavations had been carried to the bottom of the mound. 
A trench 15 feet wide was started near the margin on the southeast 
side, extending into the subsoil. ‘This widened as it progressed until 
at the central portion it was 20 feet across from side to side. For 
the first foot below the surface the earth was soft; below that it was 
so firmly packed as to be difficult to loosen with a pick. 
At the beginning of the trench there was a deposit of white silt 
which dried into an impalpable dust. This disappeared at 14 feet 
from where it was first reached. All the material above this was a 
gray and yellow sandy clay, showing irregular stratification as if 
each load had been thrown or scattered instead of being dumped 
ina pile. (PI. 67, 6.) After passing the silt, the clay lay on the 
natural surface. It was of the same character as the subsoil, and was 
probably brought, in part, from the face of the bluff near by. A few 
fragments of charcoal, flint, and pottery, a small, much used quartzite 
hammer or flint flaker approaching a discoidal in form, with an 
occasional arrowhead, were found loose in the earth; but nothing 
of any consequence. 
The roughly stratified arrangement, rising as the trench progressed, 
showed that the mound had been built up from the center. In several 
places, at various depths, were found fragments of plaited stuff, 
apparently pieces of baskets. They were made of very thin strips 
of cane or of white oak one-fourth of an inch wide, laid close together 
side by side with interwoven cross strips an inch apart. Usually the 
cross strips lay at a right angle to the others, though some were 
placed bias. They were thoroughly carbonized and fell apart with 
the dirt. It is said by old residents that the Tunica Indians, living 
