THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 15 



covered but one pipe during his extended researches in Florida. 1 One other, of cor- 

 alline limestone, from a shell heap on the west coast is in his possession. Professor 

 Wyman found none in the shell heaps, and a small fragment from Mulberry 

 Mound 2 is the unique result of our researches in the shell deposits of eighty local- 

 ities on the St. John's. These pipes are now at the Peabody Museum, Cambridge. 

 Of all the mounds of the St. John's opened by us that of Dunn's Creek offers 

 most difficulties as to a conclusion looking to an approximate date of origin. Less 

 than half a score of skeletons were found by us, but how many were disturbed by 

 previous workers it is impossible to say. In no other mound on the St. John's, 

 intended for sepulture, have burials been found exclusively of superficial character, 

 and this would indicate an intrusive origin for the burials in the Dunn's Creek 

 mound. On the other hand, it was not the custom of the river Indians to put 

 sherds, arrow heads and vessels of pottery into mounds not intended for sepulchral 

 purposes. The presence of glass, of iron, of bells and of buttons indicates inter- 

 course with Europeans. If we regard the burials as contemporary with the mound 

 it is posf^Columbian. If, on the other hand, remembering that absolutely nothing 

 save of aboriginal manufacture came from below the upper layer where the bodies 

 were interred, we consider the interments of a secondary character, then the epoch 

 of the building of the mound remains an open question. 



Mukphy Island, Putnam County. 



Murphy Island, on the east bank of the river, ten miles south of Palatka, is 

 the property of H. L. Hart, Esq., of that place. This gentleman will permit no 

 investigation. 



In addition to a large shell deposit there are two sand mounds on Murphy 

 Island. The northernmost, almost on the river's edge, is the usual truncated cone 

 but much more symmetrical than the majority of the river mounds, ascending at 

 an angle of thirty degrees. Its height is eleven feet, nine inches ; its circumfer- 

 ence two hundred and forty feet. The diameter of the summit plateau is twenty- 

 one feet. 



About two hundred yards to the south at a short distance from the river is 

 another symmetrical mound, ten feet in height, having a circumference of two 

 hundred and ten feet. It is covered with a forest growth. 



Sand Mound near Norwalk Landing, Putnam County. 



In the pine woods, about one mile west of the landing, in sight of the road 

 leading to the town, was an unstratified mound of white sand. Its height was 

 3 feet, 8 inches ; its circumference 132 feet. Its form was unsymmetrical, the sum- 

 mit plateau being disproportionately great. This mound was totally demolished by 

 us during four days of January, 1893. 



x Mr. Douglass in private letter. 



2 American Naturalist, August, 1893, page 717. 



