THOMAS.] ARKANSAS. 225 



The first of these is about 3(K) feet in diameter, 7 feet high and cir- 

 cular in outline. It is covered over with the graves of the townspeople 

 to its very skirts, and hence could not be disturbed. It was ascer- 

 tained, however, that in digging the graves numerous articles had been 

 found, among them a very fine specimen of BiLsi/conperversum., engraved, 

 which was obtained from Mr. M. A. Mull, of Jacksonport, for the Na- 

 tional Museum, and is shown in Fig. 133. A figure or image of some 

 kind made of clay was taken out at the same time and sold to Messrs. 

 Dodd, Brown & Co., of St. Louis, Mo. ; also a number of shell beads 

 which were obtained by the Bureau. 



The second mound is much smaller, being only about i feet high and 

 50 feet in diameter. One foot below the surface a 6-inch stratum of 

 burnt clay was encountered, then 5 inches of ashes and charcoal. The 

 base was composed of clay and sand. Only a few broken vessels and 

 some fragments of pottery were obtained. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 



On the farm of Mr. Rindman, a mile and a half north of Jacksonport, 

 on a narrow strip of land bordering a slough, are evidences of an ancient 

 settlement. These consist of three small mounds and patches of burned 

 clay, or " brick-like substance," as the explorer terms it, immediately 



under the surface of the surrounding soil. 



An examination of this burnt day showed it /"^ 

 to be in patches, forming a layer from (J to 10 ^ 

 inches thick, much of it bearing the impres- 

 sions of grass, roots, and cane ; occasionally 

 mud-daubers' nests, burnt as hard as a brick, 

 were found still sticking to it, from which it fiq. 134.— stone spool from moand, 

 ^is evident that it had formed the plastering ^^0^^°'^ '^'"'"ty. Arkansas. 

 of dwellings. 



The mounds varied from 15 to 25 feet in diameter, and from 18 to 36 

 inches in height. In one, at the bottom, was a hard burnt clay floor, 

 very smooth, covered with ashes; in another, some broken pots with 

 ashes, and in the third only ashes. 

 'One mile east of Jacksonport, on the banks of Wbite river, there 

 stood, until last "year, a mound, but it was carried away by the flood, 

 which also washed off the top soil ft-om the land for a considerable 

 space around it, revealing fragments of pottery, bones, stone imple. 

 ments, and much burnt clay scattered about in patches. 



In a mound, 5 feet high and about 30 feet in'diameter, 6 miles south 

 of Newport, on the farm of Mr. G. R. Stevens, two skeletons were found 

 lying in opposite directions, face down, and with them two small stone 

 spools, one of which is shown in Fig. 134, marked with coj^per .stains; 

 also a shell i)in, and a clay pipe. 

 12 ETH 15 



