8 Indian Sepulchre. 



But the time is not distant, when this vast cabinet of natural history, 

 formed by a benevolent Creator for the study and admiration of man, 

 will be classed and arranged by our own naturalists. Amongst the min- 

 erals in the cabinet of Judge T. I observed a specimen of native cin- 

 nabar, or sulphuret of mercury, in acicular crystals, being a fragment 

 of a rolled mass of nearly a pound weight. This rare and beautiful 

 mineral was found on the waters of Paint Creek, amongst the debris 

 and rolled masses of primitive rocks, which abound through the ter- 

 tiary deposits,* from Chilicothe to the shores of Lake Erie, and must 

 have been brought from the region north of Lake Huron or Supe- 

 rior. 



Ancient Indian Sepulchre. — The day before I reached Steuben- 

 ville, an extensive cplh tion of human skeletons, in a fine state of 

 preservation, had been found on the opposite side of the Ohio 

 River, a few rods from the shore, and nearly against the lower part 

 of the town. They were very probably placed here by the Mingo 

 tribe of Indians, who for many years inhabited this spot and the 

 country below, which still retains the name of " the Mingo Bottom." 

 This natural sepulchre was accidentally discovered by a man who 

 was working in a stone quarry. The loose stones and earth had 

 slipped down from the side of the hill above, and covered the mouth 

 of the cavern. It had also been closed by the depositors of the 

 dead, with fragments of sandstone rock, not only to secure it from the 

 entrance of wild beasts, but also from the curiosity of the white man, 

 after they had been forced to leave the country of their forefathers. 

 The sepulchre, or rather natural grotto, in which the skeletons were 

 placed, was originally formed in the face of the cliff above, by the 

 action of the atmosphere decomposing the rock. Its constituent el- 

 ements, oxygen and nitrogen, either entered into combination, or, 

 the oxygen alone, by combining with the nitrogen of animal mat- 

 ter, thus formed nitric acid, and the latter, acting on the lime con- 

 tained in the sandstone, produced nitrate of hme; thus the cohesion 

 of the particles of sand was destroyed, which, as the minute crystals 

 shot into form, was detached and then fell down to the earth below, 

 forming large piles at the base of the cliffs. In these piles I have 



* I know no term, more appropriate, for the immense deposits of clay, sand, and 

 gravel, which compose the western prairies, than that of tertiary : they embrace 

 all the characteristics of this formation, and if they do not rest on chalk, and can- 

 not be called supercretaceous, they rest on lime rocks which belong to the seconda- 

 ry deposits, aud in a geological view, these unconsolidated beds are strictly tertiary. 



