FOWKE] MOUNDS IN LOUISIANA 435 
alluvial land belonging to the Marston plantation. The very positive 
statements as to their magnitude, form, and situation made them 
worth a visit. 
They were found to be of natural origin, solitary outliers, the only 
ones for many miles in any direction, of the geological formations 
found in the bluffs to the east and the west of the river; islands left 
by the drainage which cut the present river valley. Their appearance 
would easily deceive anyone who was not somewhat familiar with 
such deposits. 
Half a mile south of them, on Neil’s land, is a mound 10 feet 
high by 60 feet base. The sides are very steep, although it has 
been much cultivated. The form has been so changed that it is 
impossible to state whether it had a level top which has been rounded, 
or whether it was a dome-shaped structure whose top has been 
lowered and flattened. Permission to excavate could not be had on 
account of the growing crop. 
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Fic. 6.—Mound group north of Delhi, La, 
Half a mile south of the last mound, still on the Neil farm, is 
a group of eight mounds. Seven of them are flat-topped; the 
eighth, now reduced by plowing, is low and rounded, though prob- 
ably built flat like the others. It stands on the space enclosed by 
the other seven and is connected by a low embankment with the 
mound southwest of it. The arrangement of the group is shown 
approximately in the following diagram, which is not made to scale, 
the height, width of base, and distances being estimated. 
In every direction from these mounds, and in the adjoining fields, 
many flints and fragments of pottery have been found. Small 
nodules of hematite are abundant; a boy, in plowing, turned out a 
cache or “nest ” of them, numbering 51; at least that was the num- 
ber he gathered from the pile. Many others have been picked up. 
They are small, very few of them weighing over 4 ounces; most of 
them are only slightly if at all worked; some are rubbed to varying 
degrees of smoothness or symmetry; rarely, one is a fairly finished 
