THOMAS.] MISSISSIPPI. 253 



MISSISSIPPI. 

 COAHOMA COUNTY. 



Col. P. W. Norris, who visited this section of the state, thinks that 

 at some fonner period the Mississiiipi river ran 6 or S miles southward 

 from Friars point, and then returned to where the present channel cuts 

 across the bend westward toward Old Town. Along the eastern bank of 

 the old channel, on the plantation of the Carson brothers, G miles 

 south of Friars point, is an interesting group of mounds and earth- 

 works. The illustrations are by Mr. Holmes, who subsequently visited 

 the group. 



The general plan of these works is shown in PI. xi. In the north- 

 west is an inclosure surrounded by an earthen wall and a ditch. Nos. 

 a to/ are mounds. There are also several excavations. The area em- 

 braced in the plat is about 1 mile east and west and something over half 

 a mUe north and south-. 



The inclosure fronts west for a distance of 738 feet on a cypresa 

 swamp, probably an open bayou or one channel of the Mississippi 

 when these works were constructed. It is in the form of a parallelo- 

 gram, the wall on three sides measuring 1,173 feet long, and embrac- 

 ing an area of about 5 acres. This wall is from 15 to 30 feet wide at 

 the base, and from 3 to 5 feet high. A ditch is distinctly traceable 

 along the whole length of the outside, but it is not exhibited on the 

 plate. 



Within this area, a little northwest of the center, is a circular mound 

 («), 192 feet in diameter at the base, 15 feet high, and 66 feet across the 

 nearly flat top. There appears to have been originally a platform some 

 5 or 6 feet high, on which the mound proper was built. Several exca- 

 vations made in the top and on the sides showed that it was composed 

 of earth from the bottom land, probably obtained from the excavation 

 near the southeast corner of the inclosure. A number of fire-beds of 

 burnt clay were found near the summit and at different elevations 

 throughout the mound. Charcoal, ashes, and fragments of pottery 

 and stone were also discovered, but no bones. It is i>robable, there- 

 fore, that these spots mark the sites of houses. 



Some slight elevations noticed within the inclosure were not ex- 

 plored but are shown on the plate. 



Just outside of the southwest corner is an artificial excavation 

 about 100 feet in diameter, but now partially filled and converted into a 

 bog. 



Mound 6, shown in detail in PI. xii, is double. There are at the bot- 

 tom indications of anoval platft>rm, probably 10 feet high, with a length 

 of 240 feet at the base. On this, two truncated cones, which occupy the 

 entire length, but not the entire width of the platform, rise jointly for 

 18 feet, and above the union rise separately 8 feet higher. The entire 



