48 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF 



24) ; three flint flakes, various depths ; implement 

 of deer horn 5*5 feet down, much resembling the 

 wedge of elk horn figured in Plate XVIIT, Smith- 

 sonian Report, 1886, Part I. 

 Fig. 24. Tubular bead of shell (full Pottery.— With the exception of two frag- 



size). ments on the immediate surface, no pottery was met 



with during the entire excavation. The shell deposit 

 of Bluffton is the largest in area of any on the river, covering in all about 35 acres, 

 attaining at one point a thickness of 25 feet. In the shell deposits north of the 

 mound, pottery is sparingly met with. It is abundant in the great orange grove to 

 the south. In the immediate neighborhood of the mound a number of excavations 

 had a negative result in respect to the pottery. A natural desire on the part of the 

 owner to avoid injury to his trees prevented a more extended excavation, or a total 

 demolition of the mound subsequent to which conclusions could be more accu- 

 rately drawn. The entire absence of pottery and of burials other than superficial 

 in a stratified mound would be an anomaly on the river. 



Small Sand Mound in Pine Woods, Lake County. 



Immediately opposite Bluffton about a quarter of a mile from the western bank 

 of the river is a small mound of white sand. Previous investigators have made 

 exploration useless. 



Tick Island, Volusia County. 



This interesting mound has been four times investigated by us, the results of 

 the first three investigations having been embodied in two articles in the American 

 Naturalist, February and July, 1892, respectively entitled "A Burial Mound of 

 Florida " and " Supplementary Investigation at Tick Island." In all sixteen entire 

 days have been devoted to Tick Island, exclusive of considerable time given to the 

 shell deposits in the vicinity of the mound. 1 



Tick Island is reached from the St. John's River by turning east and crossing 

 Lake Dexter to the mouth of Spring Garden Creek, and by following the course of 

 this creek until a tumble-down wharf of palmetto logs is reached, whence a 

 path half a mile in length leads to the burial mound. 



Tick Island is separated from the mainland by a narrow waterway, its other 

 boundaries being Lake Woodruff and Spring Garden Creek. The Island presents 

 in parts a wild appearance, covered as it is with gnarled live oak and towering 

 palmetto, with trailing vine and tangled undergrowth, where the presence of the 

 rattlesnake imparts a certain risk to exploration. With the exception of one small 

 house upon the island, at intervals occupied by the hired man whose care it is to 

 look after the orange grove, the nearest point where quarters can be secured is at 

 Astor, eight miles distant on the river. 



1 The description of Tiek Island and of the earlier investigations are condensed from the articles referred 

 to above. 



