THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 235 



ginal row of indentations showed to be of aboriginal workmanship, while not of 

 necessity contemporary with the mound, we believe to be of considerable antiquity 

 from what we have stated, and from what we shall proceed to show. 



We are indebted to Dr. Pulaski F. Hyatt, United States Consul at Santiago de 

 Cuba, for specimens of native copper obtained by him especially for us by means 

 of a messenger sent to the Cobre (copper) mountains, at that point about ten miles 

 distant from Santiago de Cuba and from the sea. The specimens, boxed by Dr. 

 Hyatt, in Cuba, were delivered by that gentleman to us in person. 



A portion of this copper was submitted to Dr. A. R. Ledoux for analysis, to 

 whom was also entrusted a section of the copper disc from Tick Island. The 

 reader may draw his own conclusions from the striking results as given below : — 



Copper Disc, Tick Island. Native Copper, Cuba. 



"Copper . . . 99-835 per cent, 99-880 per cent. 



Silver . . . Trace. 0-0056 " 



Arsenic . . . 0-0089 per cent. 0-0087 " 



Antimony . . . Trace. Trace. 



Iron . . . 0072 per cent. 0019 per cent." 



The samples were especially tested for bismuth, lead, tin, zinc, nickel, and 

 cobalt with negative result. In each case a certain amount of oxygen was present, 

 doubtless due in the case of the Cuban copper to oxidation extending into irregu- 

 larities of the metal, which, in fact, was visible under the microscope. In the case 

 of the disc, deep oxidation on either side was doubtless found impossible to eliminate. 



Qualitative analyses of another portion of the disc and of the Cobre native 

 copper were made by Professor F. A. Genth, Jr., with confirmatory results, while a 

 qualitative analysis of the Cobre copper by Dr. Harry F. Keller was likewise cor- 

 roborative 



In view of all this testimony we consider it probable that the Tick Island disc, 

 whose high percentage of purity shows the copper to be native, was derived from 

 Cuba, and shall look with interest for reports of farther analyses of copper from 

 the mounds of other sections of Florida, 



Sotithei'u, Middle, and Eastern States. — The geology of Florida precludes the 

 idea of any deposit of copper within its limits. 



The late Colonel C. C. Jones, authority on the archeology of the Southern 

 Indians, tells us 1 " Native copper exists in portions of Cherokee Georgia, Tennessee, 

 North Carolina, and Alabama, but it is generally found in combination with sulphur 

 and not in a malleable form." In this instance, however, this able writer is in 

 error. Copper in union with sulphur becomes the sulphide, an ore and beyond the 

 reach of aboriginal endeavor. 



Professor Spencer, State Geologist of Georgia, informs us that native copper, 

 if any, in his State, is too limited in quantity to justify the theory of an aboriginal 

 source of supply. 



1 "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," page 228. 



