106 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



sides to an edge; the other a triangular or canoe-shaped flint seven inches long, 

 one inch broad on the face, tapering to a point at one end and nearly so at the 

 other, the apex of all the angles ground off, and the less pointed end somewhat 

 rounded by the same process. I cannot conjecture the use of these implements. 

 I have since obtained from Mr. Wm. Kaut a fragment picked up in Fenton of 

 what seems to have been a precisely similar implement, but ground all over. 



Between the pottery ground and the hill, but at some little distance from the 

 former, many potsherds of the usual thickness are found ; and in one spot, on a 

 previous occasion, a companion (Dr. Chas. D. Stevens) and I dug into a deposit 

 of muscle shells, perhaps half a bushel. I am inclined to think ordinary pottery 

 was manufactured hereabouts. For some distance up the little valley already 

 mentioned, flint lances are thrown out by the plow, though rarely a fine specimen, 

 and once in a great while a small axe. 



On the terrace which extends around the hill to the west of the Spring and 

 on the hill itself, were once altogether five or six burial places; groups of stone 

 graves, each grave formed by placing flat stones edgewise in the earth as has 

 often been described. All that were situated on the terrace have been rooted 

 out long ago, and their stones used to build the foundations and chimneys of 

 neighboring farm houses. The burial place on the hill still remains, but every 

 grave has been opened. Mr. Wickersham, a grandson of Jacob Wickersham, 

 who settled on the Meramec in Spanish times, informed me on my way from' 

 Fenton that there was still one undisturbed cyst, and described the exact spot 

 where it could be found. Toward noon I turned my back upon the valley and 

 set out to follow up Mr. Wickersham's directions, though with strong misgivings 

 of the trustworthiness of his information. On entering the woods a rabbit started 

 under my feet, bounded away a few paces and then stopped and took a delib- 

 erate look at me. A little farther on my attention was attracted by a bright white 

 flower, peeping out from between the roots of a tree, the first greeting of spring, 

 its beauty greatly enhanced, like a maiden's in a locality where marriageable girls 

 are few, there being none others to be seen. I stooped down and plucked it, 

 and even brought it home pressed in my note book ; it was the blood root, but I 

 admired it none the less. Next day many were seen, and on Sunday they were 

 abundantly common. Having gained the top of the hill and being well acquaint- 

 ed with the locality, I had no difficulty in finding the spot to which I had been 

 directed ; but the grave was not an exception to the others. Presently I sat down 

 upon a slab, which had served as the cover of a cyst, surveyed the country around, 

 watched the movements of the clouds and mused. Around me were the ves- 

 tiges of ancient peoples — of men whose coming, whose sojourn, whose departure 

 are problems unsolved — the dead records of a past and almost its only records^ 

 still, awaiting an interpreter. My foot rested upon a fragment of limestone, 

 in which were imbedded a number of fossils. I took out the hammer and broke 

 off several, which, on my return to town, I gave to Dr. Hamback. Overhead 

 was a gourd depending upon a dead vine. I reached out and plucked it. This 

 species and others are indigenous. They grew in the days of the pottery makers 



