INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 13 



never could have been designed for any such purpose. They are usually from 

 three to four, but sometimes from six to eight feet in depth, and of proportionate 

 size at the top. Their purposes become sufficiently evident upon excavation. 

 They were the caches in which the former occupants of these works deposited 

 their stores. Parched corn, now completely carbonized by long exposure, is to be 

 discovered in considerable abundance in many of them. Instances fell under my 

 notice where it had been found untouched to the amount of bushels, in these primi- 

 tive depositories. Traces of the bark and thin slips of wood, by which the deposits 

 were surrounded, are also frequently to be found. In many of these enclosures 

 the sites of the ancient lodges, or cabins, are still to be traced. These are marked 

 by considerable accumulations of decomposed and carbonaceous matter — stones 

 much burned, charcoal and ashes mingled with the bones of animals, with numer- 

 ous fragments of pottery, broken pipes, and occasionally rude ornaments, such as 

 beads of stone, bone, and shell. The pottery, I may observe incidentally, is of 

 very good material, and appears to have been worked and ornamented with con- 

 siderable taste and skill. It is found in great abundance ; and, in many of the 

 enclosures now under cultivation, bushels of fragments might, if desirable, be col- 

 lected without difficulty. The material, in common with that of all the aboriginal 

 pottery of the North, is composed of clay tempered (if I may use the term) with 

 pounded quartz and shells, or with fine sand, so as to prevent shrinkage, and resist 

 the action of fire. Most of it is well burned, but none exhibits any appearance of 

 glazing. The pipes are mostly composed of clay, regularly and often fancifully 

 moulded, and ornamented in various ways. Some bear the form of animals, the 

 distinctive features of which are well preserved ; others are moulded in the shape 

 of the human head, or are variously fluted and dotted with regular figures. They 

 are generally of very good material, the clay of fine quality, and well burned. 

 Some, indeed, are so hard, smooth, and symmetrical, as almost to induce doubts 

 of their aboriginal origin. Some of the terra cottas, other than pipes, are really 

 very creditable specimens of art, and compare favorably with any of the produc- 

 tions of the aborigines which have fallen under my notice. They are, with few 

 exceptions, representations of animals ; with the minutest features, as well as the 

 peculiar habits of which, the American Indians had, from long observation, a tho- 

 rough acquaintance. 



