ANTIQUITIES OF THE OUACHITA VALLEY. 17 
MOUND ох THE Perrin PLACE, CATAHOULA Parisa. La. 
About six miles below Harrisonburg, on the property of Mr. T. W. Perrin of 
that place, on the right-hand side going up, is а mound partly eaten away by the 
river, which was not investigated by us. 
MOUNDS oN THE TAYLOR PLACE, CATAHOULA PARISH, La. 
About one mile below Harrisonburg, on property of Mr. A. G. Taylor, of 
Harrisonburg, is a group of mounds of moderate size, showing the effect of much 
cultivation. Nothing of interest was found at this place. 
MouNps AT PRITCHARD LANDING. 
At Pritchard Landing is an interesting group of mounds on the property of 
Mr. S. R. Oliphant, who resides on the place. 
This group, the site of an important center in aboriginal times, is an irregular 
ellipse in form, but is without the great central mound so often present in large 
groups of this kind. 
Pools of water here and there show whence material for the mounds was taken. 
There are believed to be fourteen mounds at this place, most of which, how- 
ever, are small and have been greatly spread by long cultivation. 
Of the five principal mounds of this group, all of which are rectangular and 
have summit-plateaus, one is small; one seems to have been greatly dug into, pre- 
sumably to serve a purpose in the Civil War, as it commands the river; and one, 
twenty-seven feet in height, is so very irregular in outline through wash of rain 
that measurements of its present dimensions would give no idea of its original size, 
The largest mound, which forms part of the ellipse, much eroded by wash of 
rain, has corners directed toward the four cardinal points. Its height is 40 feet. 
The present measurements of the basal diameters аге, from NW. to SE., 253 feet ; 
from NE. to SW., 236 feet. 
The summit-plateau in the same directions, respectively, is 88 feet and 59 feet. 
In Fig. 1 is a representation of this mound, which serves to illustrate the extent to 
which mounds sometimes suffer through wash of rain. The picture also shows how 
inadequate the camera is to convey a just idea of the height of a mound ; the one 
in question having, as we have said, an altitude of 40 feet. 
In a SW. by W. direction from the principal mound is one more symmetrical 
than any of the others, with a height of 31 feet, measured from the north. Its 
diameter E. and W. is 279 feet; N. and S., 243 feet. Respectively in the same 
directions the summit-plateau measures 126 feet and 100 feet. The sides of the 
mound face the cardinal points. 
' In our measurement of heights of mounds great care is taken to select the surrounding level as 
a starting point and to avoid ridges and depressions, which are often present in the neighborhood of 
mounds in the shape, respectively, of artificial causeways and places whence material has been (акеп. 
3 JOURN. A. N. 8. PHILA., VOL. XIV. о. foe 
