■iHojiAs.] ARKANSAS. 227 



has not beeu disturbed by the plow, the strata of sand and vegetable 

 reinaius are quite distiuct. The Mississippi is one-fourth of a mile dis- 

 tant; this land seems therefore to have beeu made since the river ran 

 by the field. The old river bed is probably the former channel of the 

 Wa])iianoke creek which now runs some distance back of the field in 

 which the mounds are situated. Many of the trees on this land are 

 5 feet in diameter and 80 feet high. The human and other remains 

 found in this field are from 3 to 5 feet deej). The mounds occm^y the 

 highest point and the greater the distance from them the deeper are 

 the remains, as would be the case with deposits made by overflows. 



The mounds had already been worked over, so attention was turned 

 to the house sites scattered over the area around them. A number of 

 these had also been previously examined, but several remained undis- 

 turbed. As au almost universal rule, after removing a foot or two of 

 top soil, a layer of burnt clay in a broken or fragmentary condition 

 would be found, sometimes with impressions of grass or twigs, which 

 easily crumbled but was often hard and stamped apparently with an 

 implement made of split reeds of comparatively large size. This layer 

 was in places a foot thick and frequently burned to a brick red or even 

 to clinkers. 



Below this, at a depth of 3 to 5 feet from the surface, were more or 

 less ashes, and often 6 inches of charred grass, immediately covering 

 skeletons. The latter were found lying in all directions, some with the 

 face up, others with it down, and others on the side. With these were 

 vessels of clay, in some cases one, sometimes more. 



From the excavations made here about seventy whole vessels and 

 numerous fragments were obtained; also rubbing stones, hammer 

 stones, celts, cupped stones, horn and bone implements, etc. 



ST. FRANCIS COUNTY. 



The surface of this county is quite level, with the exception of Crow- 

 ley's ridge, which runs through the western portion north and south. 

 East of the ridge is the broad region of alluvial lands of the White 

 and Mississippi rivers. 



About 4 miles southeast of Forest city, and near Crow creek, some 

 singular remains were discovered, called by the people of the neighbor- 

 hood the "Old Brick House," or "Fort," from the quantity of brick- 

 like material or burnt clay found there. These appear to be house sites. 

 There are three of them, rectangular in form, the larger one 30 feet 

 long by 10 feet wide, consisting of a floor of burned clay 8 inches thick. 

 The outer edges consisted of broken fragments forming ridges and pre- 

 senting the appearance of being the remnants of a clay wall which had 

 fallen down during the destruction of a building by fire. The area 

 occupied is about 2 feet higher than the surrounding level. Immedi- 

 ately below the clay floor was a layer of ashes 6 inches thick, and below 



