MISSISSIPPI. 



257 



form 5 feet high, which forms the base, projecting- as a narrow terrace 

 on all the sides except that next the river. 



Above this rises the monnd proper, 20 feet high, 153 feet long at the 

 base, and nearly 100 feet wide. The top is flat and level and on it now 

 stands the village chnrch, bnt formerly there stood on it a little conical 

 monnd 5 feet high and 25 feet in diameter, consisting as is stated 

 almost wholly of burnt clay, 

 charcoal, ashes, and fragments 

 ofpottery, beneath which were 

 found a fine scallop-edged, 

 double-eared pot and a skele- 

 ton. Every observable por- 

 tion of this mound bears evi- 

 dence that the mode of con- 

 struction and doubtless the 

 use made of it were the same ^ 

 as of those at Carson's i)lau- I 

 tation, though this group is ? 

 apparently less ancient. ^ 



The other four mounds (li, i 

 3, 4, and 5) are small, and of s 

 the ordinary conical form ; No. i 

 7 is but slightly elevated, and i 

 scarcely deserves to be called = 

 a mound. [ 



No. 4, though the smallest i 

 of the group, proved to be in = 

 some respects the most inter- I 

 esting. It is circular, 20 feet j 

 in diameter, and 3 feet high, ° 

 and little more than a heap of 

 ashes. A trench through it 

 showed that it consisted of 

 ashes, charcoal, and charred 

 animal bones, also abundant 

 stone cliips and fragments of 

 pottery, but no entire vessels. 

 There was still sufficient 

 strength in the ashes to 

 roughen the hands, affect the color of the boots, and be detected by 

 the sense of smell ; but this, though less frequent, is not unusual in the 

 heavj^ fire beds of this region. 



Human bones having been found in grading a roadway through the 



low, gravelly banks of a washcmt at No. G (Fig. 158), trenches were cut 



in both banks. Human bones, so hard as to be cut with difficulty by 



the sjiade, were found tlinmghout the 50 feet in length of the trench, 



12 ETH 17 



