542 MOUND EXPLOKATIONS. 



towns of that vicinity, some of the historic examples of wliicli may 

 have nsed postholes. The valley is also without burial mounds or hone 

 ])its, unless, jiossibly, at its extreme western end. 



Westward of this valley to Canandaigua lake, stockades, earthen 

 walls, and inclosixres are found single or in small groups, but mounds 

 and ossuaries are rare. The monuments of the Susquehanna valley, 

 reaching south to Wilkesbarre, are connected with these, but are fewer 

 in number. The detached groiij) about Black river and Sandy creek, 

 in Jefterson county, New York, with its numerous earthworks, has also 

 plain relations to the monuments of central New York, but small ossu- 

 aries are more frequent. The ditch and bank are the rule in its defens- 

 ive works. The low, circular mounds, found near Perch lake, are now 

 considered hut-rings. 



West of Canandaigua lake, inclosures maintain much of the same 

 character, occurring singly, in clusters, or in lines, but burial mounds 

 and ossuaries are much more numerous and inclosures often larger. 

 The stockade is not rare east of the Genesee river, but earthworks 

 form the rule thence to the western border of the state. Allusion is 

 nuide, of course, to those which have been obliterated in recent times, 

 as well as those of which traces remain. 



W^est of New York there are few traces of sedentary occupation near 

 Lake Erie until the Aalley of the Cuyahoga river is reached, on both 

 sides of which works occur. Mounds and inclosures of earth extend 

 south into Summit and Ashland counties and thence westward ; most 

 of the works of Ashland county, however, pertain to the district south 

 of this. A few monuments, ai)i)arently of this district, are found in 

 northeastern Indiana. They closely resemble those of New York. 



Similar works occur in Michigan, mostly on the eastern side of that 

 state. The north line of Ogemaw county and thence northwestward 

 may be taken as a provisional northern line, though indications of 

 sedentary occupation, such as characterize the district, have been 

 reported trom Alpena and Antrim counties. In the extreme northern 

 part of the htwer ijeninsular nothing has been found excepting the 

 ossuary described by Schoolcraft.' This was on Isle Ronde, at the west 

 end of Lake Huron. The rock region about Lake Superior is destitute 

 of mounds and defensive works on all sides. 



In all this large district the mounds seem almost exclusively intended 

 for burial purposes, and in a large part of those opened remains of 

 several persons have been found. Stockades, earthen walls, and inclo- 

 sures vary in their outlines according to their situation ; cutting off 

 points of land, following the contour of hills or ridges, or taking more 

 regular forms where the surface allowed it. Some differences in design 

 occasionally appear, but their general uniformity makes it unnecessary 

 to give examples from all parts. Indications of agricultural pursuits 

 are everywhere found. 



* In Xo. 7 of his "Lettfrs on the Aiuiquitics nf the Western Country, " written in l>i43. 



