ARTIFICIAL SHELL DEPOSITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 357 



river, and ilong the shores of Tampa bay. The two most remarkable in the 

 State are near New Smyrna, on the Mosquito lagoon, and near the mouth of the 

 Crystal river, on the Gulf coast. Of the first of tliese I have a description 

 written by a gentleman of intelligence resident on the spot, and of the second a 

 report of an investigation made by the State geologist of Florida, Mv. F. L. 

 Dancy, to whom I am also indebted for the former account. That near New 

 Smyrna, called Turtle mound, is, says my informant, " thirty feet high, com- 

 posed almost altogether of separate oyster shells, it being rare to find the two 

 valves together. There Jire, also, conch and clam shells, both of which are, 

 however, exceedingly scarce. That it is artificial there is no doubt on my mind. 

 Some eight or ten years since we experienced a gale in this section of country 

 Avhich caused that portion of the mound facing the river, the steepest part, to 

 fall and be washed away. Being there a few days afterwards, I took consid- 

 erable pains to examine the face of it, and found, as low as the bottom and as 

 high up as I could observe, numberless pieces of Indian potteiy and quantities 

 of bones, principally of fish, but no human ones ; also charcoal and beds of 

 ashes. The one on which I reside, opposite New Smyrna, is precisely of the same 

 formation. Having had occasion some time back to dig a hole into it six or eight 

 feet deep, I found precisely the same contents that I have described at Turtle 

 mound, with the addition of some few flint arrow-heads." Of the remarkable 

 mound on Crystal river, four miles from its mouth, Mr. Dancy writes : '* The 

 marsh of the river at that point is twenty yards wide to the firm land, at which 

 point this mound commences to rise. It is on all sides nearly pei'pf'ndicular, the 

 faces covered with brush and trees, to which the visitors have to cling to effect 

 an ascent. It is about forty feet in height, the top surface nearly level, about 

 thirty fet- 1 in diameter, and covered with magnolia, live oak, and other forest 

 trees, some of them four feet in diameter. Its form is that of a truncated cone, 

 and, as far as can be judged from external appearance, it is composed exclusively 

 of oyster shells and vegetable mould. These shells are all separated. The 

 mound was evidently thrown up by the Indians for a lookout, as the gulf can 

 be distinctly seen from its summit. There are no oysters growing at this time 

 within four or five miles of it." This is evidently altogether different from the 

 mere refuse heaps referred to elsewhere. 



On both banks of the St. John's river, as far south as Lake Harney, the 

 traveller finds shell bluffs, sometimes closely simulating artificial erections, quite 

 regular in outline, not unfrequently twenty-five or thirty feet high. They are 

 composed almost exclusively of the helix, with a few unios. The Brock House 

 at Enterprise is budt upon such a natural deposit, and south of it, between the 

 large and small sulphur springs, some two hundred yards from the lake, there is 

 another, and a third on the left bank, near the exit of Lake Harney, about a 

 quarter of a mile from a very large and ancient Indian mound. The native 

 tribes chose the shell bluffs of natural formation as favorite burial spots, and hence 

 ancient relics are constantly found in them, but a practiced eye can readily 

 detect the disturbance of the natural deposition of the shells. This is strikingly 

 exemplified in the shell bluffs on. Tampa bay, at the mouth of Manatee river, com- 

 posed chiefly of a species of Pi/rula. The sea face has been washed away, and 

 the ancient graves, containing bones, charcoal, and unbroken utensils are dis- 

 tinctly seen cutting through the clean, original strata. On the contrary, in the 

 refuse shell-heaps human b(»ues are never seen, and very rarely unbroken arrow- 

 heads or pottery. 



While attached to the army of the Cumberland, during the late rebellion, I 

 had abundant opportunity of ascertaining the prevalence of shell-heaps along 

 the Tennessee river and its tributaries. They are very frequent at and above 

 the Muscle Shoals, and are composed almost exclusively of the shells of the fresh- 

 water muscle, ( Unio virginiana, La?fiarckl) Close to the famous Nick-a-jack 

 cave is the railway station of Shellmound, so called from an uncommonly large 



