244 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



verse curve some hundreds of feet in length and the southern segment 

 is quite uneven. 



In 1844, the period of the greatest overflow known in this section, 

 these mounds were clear of the water, and it is said that many people 

 came here for safety, bringing- their household eftects and stock with 

 them. 



The largest mound {a, PI. x.) is 48 feet high, 280 feet long from 

 north to south, and loO feet wide. The nearly level summit is about 50 

 feet wide by 90 long. The whole surface is densely covered by forest 

 trees and undergrowth. The slopes are even and rather steep, about 

 35 or 40 degrees. It stands in front, a little to the right, in Plate ix. 

 Permission was given by the owner to sink a shaft into this mound. 

 After descending 10 feet the clay became so hard that the work was 

 abandoned. The first 2 feet passed throirgh consisted of vegetable 

 mold, in which were some animal bones and fragments of pottery; then 

 8 feet of sandy loam mixed with clay, the proportion of clay increasing 

 until at this depth it became wholly clay, exceedingly hard and tough. 

 A tunnel was carried in the side for 10 feet with a like result. No 

 brick-like substance was found in it anywhere. 



Moutul h, the second in size, is oblong and slightly rectangular in 

 outline. The slopes are gentle, save where interfered with by the plow, 

 which has encroached upon the base at the sides and ends. The base 

 measures about 175 by 200 feet, and the height is 38 feet. A shaft 8 

 feet square and 10 feet deep was sunk in the top, showing the first 2 

 feet to be a black, waxy clay or muck, and the rest of the distance 

 a yellow, greasy clay. Nothing was observed except two fine quartz 

 crystals 2 feet beneath the surface and some fragments of pottery. 

 The top is about 80 by 100 feet in extent, and has been used as a 

 garden for a number of years. Fifty feet from the base is a shallow 

 depression about 200 feet long and 150 in width which is now over- 

 grown with trees and underbrush. This contains water during a part 

 of the year and may have been excavated by the ancient inhabitants 

 to contain a water supply. 



Mounds (', d, and e lie to the southeast of the large one. The largest 

 of these (c) is 12 feet high, about 100 feet long and 1)0 feet broad at the 

 base. A shaft 11 feet deep was made in the center of it. For the first 

 4 feet it passed through sandy loam, with here and there a piece of 

 pottery and an animal bone; at the depth of 5 feet, in yellow sand 

 which continued for 3 feet, was a broken pot; at a depth of 7 feet the 

 sand became very wet and continued so to the bottom. Nothing else 

 was found. 



Mound (I is 5 feet high, about 100 feet long, and 75 feet wide at the 

 base. In four places were patches of burnt clay, doubtless the remains 

 of former dwellings; in five other places were de-posits of ashes and 

 human bones, but no burnt clay. These were generally 1^ or 2 feet 

 below the point reached by the i>low in cultivating the soil. In these 



