TWO SAND MOUNDS ON MURPHY ISLAND, FLORIDA. 



By Clarence B. Moore. 



Murphy Island, on the eastern bank of the St. Johns River, by water ten miles 

 south of Palatka, Putnam County, is separated from the mainland by a small 

 stream known as Murphy Creek. 



Two sand mounds and a considerable shell deposit on Murphy Island were 

 briefly noticed by us in Part I, " Certain Sand Mounds of the St. Johns River, 

 Florida." 1 



Unfortunately, during our investigation of the mounds of the St. Johns, we 

 were unable to come to terms with the owner of the property, but have, however, 

 availed ourselves of an arrangement subsequently made. 



Neither of the sand mounds on Murphy Island is believed to have sustained 

 any previous investigation, with the exception of a small hole in one, made by a 

 party of excursionists from Palatka during part of one day in the early " seventies." 



The northernmost mound, visible from the steamboat landing, was one of the 

 most symmetrical earthworks * we have encountered in Florida. Its shape was 

 almost a perfect truncated cone ; the slope of the sides being at an angle of thirty 

 degrees. The diameter of base was 80 feet ; that of the summit plateau, 21 feet ; 

 the height, 11 feet 9 inches. 



Large sweet-orange trees and towering palmettoes grew on the top and sides. 



The mound was totally demolished by us during four and one-half days of 

 June, 1895. 



The body of the mound was composed of the whitish sand of the surrounding 

 territory, with the marginal portions, 4 feet or 5 feet in, dyed a light pink through 

 intentional admixture of the red oxide of iron. Pockets of pink sand and of light 

 chocolate colored sand, some of considerable size, were encountered throughout the 

 mound. The material of the mound was notably cohesive as through a certain 

 admixture of clay. Although a considerable deposit of Paludince and Ampirilarice 

 with fire places, fragmentary bones of lower animals and all the usual midden 

 refuse, exists within a short distance of the site of the mound, no shells were 

 encountered at any depth beneath the immediate surface where cultivation would 

 not explain their presence. We were informed that superficial shells had been 

 hauled from the adjacent shell heap to serve as a fertilizer. 



1 Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. X. 

 63 JOURN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 



