mound-builders' dwellings. 



207 



of one dwelling', often wliilc yet sniouldeiiiig'. to the depth (if 1. 2, or 3 

 feet, aud subseiiuently use it as the .site of another dwelling, and .some- 

 times even a third, thus 

 increasing theheight of 

 the mound; each lay- 

 er becoming the burial 

 ])lace of some, at least, 

 of the occupants of the ; 

 dwellings destroyed. 

 In this way many, if not 

 most of the smaller and 

 medium-sized tumuli of 

 this region, then as now 

 subject to overflow, 

 have been built up. A 

 great majority of the 

 mounds of this charac- 

 ter in this region are 

 now and always were 

 subjecttooverflow; but 

 no instance is known 

 where the large, fiat- 

 topped mound of a 

 group is uot now above 

 all ordinary floods. Al- 

 though the latter also 

 contain tire beds, these 

 are not .so common as 

 in the smaller ones, 

 from which we may per- 

 haps Justly conclude 

 that the i)eople realiz- 

 ing tlieir situation, 

 built up more rapidly 

 one large cen tral 

 mound above the floods as a site for several dwellings or a large c(un- 

 niunal house, as well as a refuge for the villagers in times of floods. 



MII.LKU MOUNII.S. 



This group, which is shown in Fig. 119, is situated in Sec. 10, T. 10 

 N., R. 6 E. on land owned by Jlr. William Davis on the west side of the 

 St. Fiancis river. 



The large mound, No. 1 (probably in part a natural formation) and 

 part of the surrounding lands are under cultivation; the rest of the 

 group is yet in the forest, which consists of oak, i>ecaii, cottonwood, 

 hackberry, haw, gum, and hickoiy trees and scattering stalks of cane. 



-Chiy 



