136 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



The positions of tlie bodies in tlie graves were as follows : 



Grave No. 1: Skeleton on the back at full length, head to the 

 south, face up. 



Grave No. 3 : Skeleton on the back at full length. A small earthen 

 pot was buried with it, but was so soft when found that it could not 

 be moved before it had crumbled to pieces. 



Grave No. 4: Skeleton at full length on the back, head to the east, 

 but face turned over toward the south. 



Grave No. 6: Skeleton bundled, but the skull in the east side of the 

 cist with the face up. 



Grave No. 7 : Skeleton at full length on the back, head south, but 

 face tui'ned toward the west. 



Graves Nos. 8 and 9 : Skeletons at full length on the back, faces up, 

 heads to the south. 



Graves Nos. 11 and 2: Skeletons at full length on the back, heads 

 east. 



With the exception of that in grave No. G, the bodies appear to 

 have been biuied without removing the flesh. 



THE DE FRENNK STONE GRAVES. 



These graves are just outside of the limits of the village of Prairie 

 du Rocher, on the steep point of a ridge of dry, yellow clay, which ter- 

 minates at the junction of the two branches of the creek, about half a 

 mile below the graves previously mentioned. The ridge at this point 

 is about 30 feet higher than the road which runs along the side of the 

 creek. 



Although a plan of the cemetery and a section of the ridge was 

 obtained, as shown in Fig. 68, the respective positions of only a part 

 of the skeletons can be given, as several of the graves had been opened 

 by other parties. All the cists Avere built in the same manner as those 

 heretofore described, and differed from them only in having the head 

 and foot of the same width, and a few of them also contained more 

 than one skeleton. Five of them— Nos. 21, 22, 23, 26, and 28— were 

 graves of infants. The largest of these. No. 21, was only 15 inches 

 long; the smallest. No. 26, only 9 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 4 

 inches deep (inside measurement in all cases). Mrs. Morude, an old 

 Belgian lady, who lives here, informed Mr. Middleton that when they 

 were grading for the foundation of their house she saw skulls with 

 the hair still hanging to them taken from these graves. It is there- 

 fore more than probable, and, in fact, is generally understood by the 

 old settlers of this section, who derived the information from their 

 parents, that these are the graves of the Kaskaskia and other Indians 

 who resided here when this part of Illinois began to be settled by the 

 whites. 



At the point of the hill the graves were but slightly covered with 

 earth. In some instances this covering was not more than 6 inches 



