502 SOME ABORIGINAL SITES. 
Bandy Place thirty mounds spreading over the fields were counted by us. In 
fact an aggregation of mounds is said to continue down the Cypress and even 
into Arkansas. 
All the mounds examined by us, many of which have been under cultivation, 
have had circular bases, and none exceeded 7 feet in height, which was excep- 
tional, though in woods beyond the places visited by us some of the mounds are 
said to be larger than those we saw. 
Three mounds never under cultivation, in woods on the Bandy Place, were 
selected by us for examination. The mounds, respectively 4 feet 7 inches, 
4 feet 5 inches, 3 feet in height, had each a diameter of somewhat more than 
40 feet. All were of clay differing in shade from the underlying, undisturbed 
ground, and thus had base-lines easily distinguishable. 
In the largest mound a hole 8 feet by 10 feet was carried to the base, while 
excavations 8 feet square were put down in the others. 
In each instance, centrally in the base, a grave was reached, the largest 
being 9 feet 3 inches in length by 4 feet 6 inches in width and extending 2 feet 
below the base into the underlying soil. Тһе other graves were somewhat 
smaller. 
In each grave were faint traces of bones and of teeth, indicating a burial at 
length. No artifact of any kind was found, though great care was devoted to 
the search, the graves being dug out with a trowel, as it is our custom to do. 
MOUNDS ON THE Davis PLACE, New MADRID County, Mo. 
About 2.5 miles in a northerly direction from the settlement known as Stewart, 
on property of Mr. W. E. Davis, of Point Pleasant, Mo., adjacent to Double 
Bridges, a well-known crossing, and following the bank of Open Bayou, is a 
group of twenty-three mounds, most of which have been long under cultivation. 
These mounds range in height between 2 feet and 5 feet and are from 35 feet 
to 50 feet across their circular bases. There is no history of the discovery of 
artifacts or of bones during cultivation, and none of the mounds seem to have 
been dug. 
Two of these mounds on fallow land were selected for investigation. 
Mound A, 4 feet 9 inches in height, diameter 50 feet, proved to be of clay 
dry and hard when an excavation 10 feet square was carried to the base. Nothing 
was found in the body of the mound, but at the central part of the base was a 
grave having a length of 7 feet 8 inches, a width of 3 feet, and extending about 
1 foot below the line of the base, which was 5 feet 7 inches from the top of the 
mound. On the bottom of the pit were decayed remains of a skeleton, at full 
length on the back, the head ENE. 
Mound B, slightly smaller than the other, was similarly investigated. No 
grave or burial was encountered, nor was the presence of a pit below the base 
discovered. The composition of the mound was such that the determination 
of a pit would have been difficult, and it is very likely that a sub-basal burial 
in a shallow grave, which was not found, had decayed away. 
Ee RC 
