152 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS, COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Larger Mound, Little Island, Beaufort County. 

 This mound, on the southeastern end of Little island, overlooking Whale 

 branch, an arm of Broad river, 1 occupied the most prominent point of the eastern 

 shore. The mound was investigated by us with the kind permission of James M. 

 Crofut, Esq., of Beaufort, S. C, under whose control the island now is. 



The mound measured from the north, where the ground sloped upward, had a 

 height of 11 feet; from the south its altitude was a trifle over 14 feet. From the 

 summit plateau to the base of the mound at the center was about 14 feet, showing 

 there was no extension beneath the general level. 



The base of the mound, elliptical in outline, had an east and west diameter of 

 100 feet, and a north and south diameter of 150 feet. The summit plateau had 

 diameters east and west and north and south of 38 feet and 61 feet, respectively. 

 Its outline also was elliptical. The plateau was markedly level, and the sides of 

 the mound ascended at so steep an angle that evidently no cultivation had ever been 

 attempted. No previous investigation had been undertaken so far as known. 



On the mound were a number of pines, 

 some large, and live-oaks of moderate size. 



To determine the nature of this mound a 

 large trench was dug along the base toward 

 the center resulting in the discovery of walls 

 on the bottom of the mound, the investiga- 

 tion of which required extensive digging. 



The material above was removed, the space 

 enclosed by the walls completely excavated, 

 parts of the exterior were laid bare and the 

 walls carefully shored by the aid of planks. 

 The work of excavation, irrespective of the 

 survey,, the artist's work and the filling, took 

 twelve days of seven hours each, much of the 

 material requiring quadruple handling. Dur- 

 ing the work an increasing force of men was 

 employed, the latter part requiring twenty- 

 eight, exclusive of four engaged in superinten- 

 dence. The walls, the area excavated and the 

 extent of the mound are shown on ground 

 plan (Fig. 1), and the structure as it appeared 

 looking down from the southeast corner of 

 the excavation is shown in the frontispiece, 

 which is drawn from a sketch made on the spot, from photographs and from sections 

 of the wall which were brought home. 



1 Broad river, the Grande of the Huguenots, A. D., 1562. For an interesting account of the 

 aborigines of this vicinity see " History of Jean Ribault's First Voyage to Florida," by Rene Laudon- 

 niere. Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, New York, 1869. 



Fig. 1.- 



