CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF THE OCKLAWAHA RIVER, FLORIDA. 535 



purely aboriginal ornament made from native 1 copper, we have not determined by 

 analysis, which, however, could readily be done. 



It may not be out of place here to explain to the reader who may not have 

 seen our monograph on aboriginal copper, contained in Part II of our Report on the 

 St. Johns River mounds, that chemical analysis can readily distinguish native 

 copper from the product of smelting of any ores obtainable in Europe during any 

 possible mound-building period. In the first place, native copper, in use among 

 our aborigines, was purer than the copper resulting from early smelting processes. 

 And again, lead, almost universally present in the products of European smelting, 

 is never found in native copper. Moreover, any copper that has been in a state of 

 fusion contains a small percentage of combined oxygen which is entirely absent 

 from native copper. Still further, most native copper is free from arsenic, while in 

 Europe the copper supply was obtained from highly arsenical sulphide ores. Even 

 now, arsenic cannot be totally eliminated from copper and was much less readily 

 excluded in early times. 



To return to the mound. A large shell bead wrought from the lip of Slrombus 

 lay with a skeleton, while elsewhere in the mound were a Fulgur perversum and a 

 curved cylindrical ornament of shell, with tapering ends, possibly for use in the 

 lobe of the ear. 



On the surface of the mound was a copper or brass-coated convex bit of wood, 

 almost circular, with double perforation. 



Throughout the mound were four arrow heads and a number of chippings and 

 flakes, of chert; also a small chipped "celt" somewhat broken. 



With human remains was a small bowl with stamped decoration, the bottom 

 of which had been knocked out subsequent to manufacture. 



REMARKS. 



In this interesting little mound we have a good example of the tumuli raised 

 in undoubtedly post-Columbian times 2 for mortuary purposes. Here we have the 

 polished " celt" at the same depth in the mound as iron, and other objects probably 

 of European origin are found side by side with articles purely aboriginal. It 

 is interesting to note the survival of the perforation of the base in pottery — the 

 killing of the vessel — to a comparatively late period. 



Mound on Lake Eustis, Lake County. 



On the northern shore of Lake Eustis, about one mile west of Fort Mason, in 

 a field belonging to Mr. J. T. WofFord, were two low mounds about fifty yards 



1 The reader will recall that native copper is copper found in nature, with no elements in chemical 

 combination. 



2 In all the mounds examined by us in Florida, including virtually every known tumulus on the 

 St. Johns River, in addition to those described in this paper, we have encountered but two mounds — 

 this, and one near Bayard Point, Clay County, about 4 feet in height — where articles of European 

 make were other than superficial. July, 1895. 



66 JOURN. A. N. S. PHILA.. VOL. X. 



