ON SOME ANCIENT MOUNDS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE. 415 
After partially opening several mounds in the vicinity of those al- 
ready mentioned and with the same result as to géneral characteristics, 
we fortunately chose a mound which to all appearances had not been 
previously disturbed. Commencing upon the top of it and throwing 
out all the material from the centre of the work to the natural level 
of the soil beneath, we were enabled thoroughly to inspect its contents, 
and from very full notes made during the examination, the substance 
of what follows is taken. Figure 1, Plate I., presents a viewof a 
portion of the mound, and the excavation made, with the position of 
a perfect skeleton, found in a sitting posture, over the head of which 
stands an oak stump, now measuring eight feet in circumference, but 
from which the tree has been felled probably thirty years. A short 
distance from this stump stands a red cedar one, also represented in the 
sketch, measuring four feet two inches in girth, and from which the 
tree has likewise been cut a number of years. 
Figure 2, Plate I., is a diagram showing position of articles found 
during the examination. Figure 3, Plate I., shows a section of the 
mound exhibiting general features of construction. 
Upon breaking the surface of this work, at a point designated by 
figure 10 in diagram, we came upon a flat limestone lying horizontally 
a few inches beneath the surface, under which were found a few 
fragments of human bones, and pieces of birch bark, together with a 
sharpened bone implement,* worn smooth by use, and in its present 
state nearly eight inches long. 
About two feet from the surface, on removing a flat stone, three 
crania were exposed, in what appeared to be a rude box, composed of 
flat limestones. One of these crania, being uppermost, was broken by 
the carelessness of one of the labourers employed to excavate. It 
was smaller than the other two and rested upon them. Of the other 
heads, one laid upon its side, facing north, the body of which would 
lie due east and west, the feet being towards the east. The other one 
shewed the skull uppermost as if the body had been placed erect. 
On clearing away the broken stone and soil a great many bones were 
found, in fact almost entire skeletons; and from their positions, these 
evidently belonged to the heads in the box. The latter had probably 
been separated from them by the compression of the sides of the box 
* Similar implements are mentioned in Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. I. page 220 
Fig.119, Nos.1&3%. “They were obtained,” it is there stated, “from a mound in Cincinnati 
and were evidently formed from the tibia of the elk.” 
