THOMAS] TENNESSEE. 363 



Mound 10, 40 feet iu diameter aud 5 feet high, was simihir to No. lij, 

 except that iu this there were only twelve skeletons. 



Mound 17, similar in size and construction to No. 16, contained at 

 the bottom 4 skeletons, much decayed ; no relics with them. 



Mound IS, 3S feet iu diameter and 4 feet high, was composed through- 

 out of red clay ; not even a change in color was noticed until the bottom 

 was reached. Here, in tlie center, was a hearth of burnt clay aud 

 ashes about 5 feet in diameter and 5 or 6 inches thick. This layer or 

 bed of burnt clay was level on the top, and the ashes which lay on it 

 had some pieces of charcoal scattered through them. 



As already stated, all the mounds of the higher ground of the island 

 explored were made of red clay packed very hard, and the skeletons 

 found in them were in an advanced stage of decay, with the exceptiou 

 of those in mound No. 15, where, although iu a confused heap, they 

 were much better preserved. It will be observed also that the skele- 

 tons found on the low bottom land were in better condition than those 

 found iu the led clay mounds of the uplands. It is surmised from this 

 fact that the higher land formed at first the whole island, the lower 

 point being a subse(iuent addition, and that the mounds on the former 

 portion are much older than those on the lower jjoint. 



Some 2 or 3 acres of the lower point, which was washed bare during 

 the flood of April, 1886, is covered with fragments of pottery, broken 

 arrowheads, flint chips, broken celts, etc. At one point the soil was 

 all washed oft' down to the hard ground, exposing a floor of burnt 

 clay about 30 feet square and 1 foot thick. In this could be distinctly 

 seen the charred ends of i)osts which had been set iu the ground. An 

 examination of some of these proved them to be red cedar. They had 

 been set into the ground through the burnt clay to the depth of about 

 3 feet and some of them were still comparatively sound ; all were burnt 

 oft' at the top. Unfortunately the exjtlorer neglected to note at the time 

 their respective positions. 



MOUND ON THK HAGLER I'ARM. 



This stands on the lower bottom about 100 feet from the river bank 

 and 8 miles down the river from the preceding groups. It is imme- 

 diately opposite an island on one hand and a sjjur which runs down 

 from the hills on the other. A broad level bottom extends along the 

 river above the mound for half a mile and for 2 miles below it, but is 

 very narrow where the mound stands. 



Although quite large, being 142 feet in diameter and 11 feet high, it 

 is of the round conical type and quite symmetrical. At the depth of 2 

 feet was a layer of burnt clay from 6 to 8 inches thick, extending over 

 the whole mound, not horizontally, as usual, but conforming to the curve 

 of the upper surface. It must, therefore, have formed the upper layer 

 of the mound when it had reached this stage of its construction. 



