412 ETHNOLOGY. 



of decayed bones, a layer of ashes and cliarcoal was found. Thirty feet 

 below this we reached bones, charcoal, and ashes again. The bones 

 here were very brittle, and could not be handled. A bed of calcinated 

 clay was then entered, which was too hard to excavate with the imi3le- 

 ments we were using. This we supposed to be either a sacrificial altar 

 or a place that had been used for cremation-purposes. No pottery or 

 implements of any kind were found in the shaft we sunk, which may 

 only indicate that this was not a burial mound and was erected for 

 some other and higher purpose; perhaps for a place of worship, or 

 for an observatory, or for military defense. Many varieties of small 

 shells were found, some of the specimens having no living representa- 

 tives in this locality or any climate as far north as this. Vincennes is 

 situated in 38° 43' north latitude and 87° 25' west longitude, and 450 

 feet above the level of the sea. 



Pyramid Mound is one mile south of the Sugar Loaf Mound, and 

 is named from its form being pyramidal. Its height is 43 feet and cir-- 

 cumference at base 714 feet ; the top is 15 feet wide and 50 feet in length. 

 I have had this mound opened in several x>laces, but no extensive or 

 systematic explorations have been made of it, owing to objections by the 

 owner. The first examination was attempted in January, 1872, by Pro- 

 fessor Tenny, of Williams College, Massachusetts, and myself; but the 

 weather being very cold, our excavations were not made sufQciently deep 

 to determine the character of the mound any further than its being 

 certainlj^ the work of art, and that it had been used as a burial-place 

 either by the mound-builders or the Indians, as we found parts of a human 

 skeleton only 3 feet below the surface at the top of the mound. The 

 long bones were in a fair state of preservation, but the cranium was 

 broken into fragments. In June and July last some imperfect exami- 

 nations were made by excavations extending 4 or 5 feet in depth. An 

 abundance of human bones were found, but all were very rotten. Two 

 or three arrow-heads were obtained, but no pottery or other relics were 

 found. 



The North Mound has never been examined except by curiosity-hun- 

 ters. Bones were found, but I can giv^e no information in regard to them. 

 The height is 3G feet ; circumference at base, 847 feet. One mile north 

 of this mound is another beautiful one, though not more than 25 feet in 

 height and 400 feet in circumference at base ; it has never been examined. 

 There are twelve small mounds within the city-limits, situated near the 

 bank of the river, but above the overflow. One or two of these mounds 

 have been explored, and human bones in large quantities have been 

 exhumed. There is a mound three miles below the city, the height of 

 which is 12 feet. The stump of a large walnut-tree 4 feet across the 

 center is standing on the top of it. The tree was removed about twenty- 

 live years ago ; it is impossible to determine the age of the tree by the 

 rings at present. I had an excavation made into this mound, but noth- 

 ing of special interest was revealed except large quantities of broken 



