CERTAIN MOUNDS OF ARKANSAS AND OF MISSISSIPPI. 597 
have existed, or that the mounds may have been much nearer the river (which, as 
all know, is ever changing its course) and were exposed in flood time to a deeper 
and fiercer current than is the case at present. 
The answer to this would be that Mound J (which is protected by bushes and 
shrubbery, and does not seem to be frequented by stock) is almost intact, and that 
this mound has suffered only to the extent of a partial leveling of its causeway, 
evidently through cultivation. 
A current that would wash away any of the mounds, presumably would eat 
into all of them. 
The height of a mound often depends on the side from which the measurement 
is made. The subjoined list gives the altitudes of the Blum mounds, as taken 
from within the enclosure. 
Mound А —55 feet. 
Mound B—13 feet 2 inches. 
Mound C—19 feet 6 inches. 
Mound D—17 feet 6 inches. 
Mound E— 6 feet 7 inches. 
Mound F— 9 feet 7 inches. 
Mound G— 4 feet. 
Mound H— 7 feet 7 inches. 
Mound I— 9 feet. 
Mound J—30 feet 10 inches. 
Mound K—12 feet 5 inches. 
Mound L— 7 feet 6 inches. 
Mound M— Т feet 3 inches. . 
Mound N— 8 feet. 
Mound O—10 feet 10 inches. 
The Blum mounds and surrounding territory have comparatively no history as 
to the discovery of artifacts or of human remains. No human bones were seen 
by us on the surface, though extensive ditching had been done, and much of the 
level ground and a number of the mounds are regularly plowed over; and only a 
limited number of fragments of earthenware lay around—all this lack of signs of 
former occupancy being in marked contrast with our experience at the great group 
of mounds at Moundville, Ala. 
Six days in November and December, 1907, were devoted by us to the Blum 
mounds, with five of our trained men to dig, it being impossible to engage additional 
help at the mounds owing to scarcity of men on account of the needs of the cotton- 
crop. However, as it turned out, a greater force was not urgently called for. 
A very long experience in mound-work in southern United States has led us 
to believe that domiciliary mounds and mounds built as places of worship (which 
classes of mounds are of considerable size and usually are rectangular in outline 
with summit plateaus) seldom contain burials. We know, however, there are 
noteworthy exceptions to this rule, some of which we have enumerated at length 
