THOMAS.) 



TENNESSEE. 



359 



the middle and upijer portions are consider.ably liifjlier, rising some 40 

 to 50 feet above low water. A plat of the island, showing the respec- 

 tive positions of the nineteen mounds on it, is given in Fig. 23S. These, 

 as will be seen by the figure, are arranged in three groups, the group 

 a containing five mounds, being near the extreme lower or western 

 point on the lowest land of the island; group 6, also containing five 

 mounds, near the middle ; and group c, containing nine mounds, near the 

 upper or eastern end, the two latter groups being on the higher land. 

 The mounds are lurmbered from 1 to 19, though all these numbers do 

 not appear in the figure. 



Mound 1 of group a (the one next the northern branch) is by far the 

 largest, being about IGO feet from east to west, 90 feet north and south, 

 and IS feet high. It is known as the Brakebill mound, and was par- 

 tially explored by Rev. E. (). Dunning on behalf of the Peabody 

 Museum. As Mr. Johnson, the owner, has since built a corn house on 

 it, permission could not be obtained to make further explorations in it. 



Jiottom^ Ltzrui^. 



Flo. 2U8. — Plat of groups on Long islancj, Koanc county. Tennessee. 



Mounds 2 and 4, being covered at the time with growing corn, were 

 not disturbed. 



Mounds, measuring 93 feet from north to south, 105 feet east and west, 

 and 5 feet high, having been under cultivation for sixty years and 

 partially examined by a previous explorer, is considerably h)wer than it 

 originally was. 



The body of the mound was composed of dark, sandy soil similar to 

 that of the surrounding surface of the island, with numerous small 

 patches of yellow clay scattered through it without any apparent order 

 or arrangement. In it were five skeletons near the original surface of 

 the ground, arranged as shown in Fig. 239. In the center, atw, was a 

 large, boat-shaped vessel of clay, 9 feet long, 4 feet wide in the middle, 

 but tapering to each end, and about 15 inches deep. This vessel, which 

 was probably only sun-dried, was watersoaked to such an extent that it 

 crumbled into minute fragments when an attempt was made to remove 

 it. It lay northwest and southeast and contained an adult skeleton 



