THOMAS.] KKNTUCKY. 281 



irregular curve, is very nearly 600 jiac^es, or about 1,800 feet. There is 

 no wall along the steep bluff facing east and south. Of these outlines the 

 southern end is so steep as to render ascent impracticable; the eastern 

 slope is almost equally so; the northern line was well defended by em- 

 bankment and ditch, and for the remainder of the circuit the embank- 

 ment follows the edge of the high bottom, including in the line the iso- 

 lated hillock c. Mound 3, in thcextreme southeast corner, is in a fine 

 position for observation and to prevent any attempted ascent at this 

 corner, the most accessible point on the unwalled line of the bluffs. 



The best, if not the only, ford of O'Byam's creek in this vicinity is a 

 rock or gravel bar where the road crosses at the lower end of the 

 bluff. . . 



In the i»lan of these works (Fig. 1"*^), 1, 2, and 3 are mounds within 

 the inclosure and 4 a mound outside; c, a natural mound or little hil- 

 lock; d, a cemetery, and eeeee excavations. The small circles, which 

 continue northward 

 beyond the wall, are 

 small saucer-shaped 

 depressions marking 

 the sites of ancient 

 dwellings. 



Mound No. 1, as 

 shown upon the plan 

 of the works, exteiuls 

 fully halfway across 

 a narrow portion of -fk,. 177.— MouikI No, 1, o'B.v.am'.s fort. 



the bluff", and is a 



true flat- topped or truncated mound (Fig. 177) in all respects similar in 

 appearance to and possibly of the same age and ])uilt by the sanu' peo- 

 ple as those across the Mississippi, which are now the only refuge of 

 white men and their stock during floods. But as this and the other 

 mounds on this side of the river are on high places, beyond the reach 

 of the greatest flood, the object in view in building them could not have 

 been to escape inundation. 



It is very nearly a true circle 78 feet in diameter on the top and so 

 steep on all sides that, although 23 feet high, it has a base of only 125 

 feet and has been covered and surrounded by a heavy growth of oak, 

 ash, and other timber. It stands on the margin of the upper level. 

 A number of white persons have been Iniried on the summit, so that 

 entensive exi)lorations could not be made; nevertheless enough was 

 ascertained to prove it to be composed chiefly of yellow clay, but in 

 successive layers and containing flre-beds of day burnt to a brick-red 

 color. These ttrebeds differed from those usually seen, in that, while 

 some were made of irregularly shaped little masses, approximately the 

 size of an ordinary brick, and well burned before being laid down, each 

 mass leaving an impression in the earth when removed, others were red 



