MAN. 77 



some in the clay near the bones. About fifty feet from the 

 skeleton, in the clay, an arrow-head was discovered at a 

 depth of two and a half feet from the surface. 



In the " Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Na- 

 tural Sciences," for July, 1859, Dr. Holmes, of Charleston, 

 S. C, gives an account of his having found pottery at the 

 base of a peat bog, on the banks of the Ashley River, in 

 close connection with the grinder of a mastodon. 



The existence of the mammoth or mastodon (probably 

 the latter) was known to the people of Central America. 

 On the walls of their stone-built palaces and temples have 

 been found, engraven with elaborate care, the form of one 

 of these animals. On one of the ruins at Palenque, State 

 of Chiapas, Mexico, there is the figure of a head resem- 

 bling the elephant, although the tusks are not represented. 



Ancient basket works, matting, etc., were found on 

 Petit Anse Island, Louisiana, at a depth of sixteen feet 

 below the surface of the soil. Two feet above the matting 

 were the remains of tusks and bones of the mastodon. 

 The fossils, baskets, pottery, etc., belonged to a layer which 

 rested upon a stratum composed of a gray mixture of salt, 

 clay, and sand. Since the layer containing the remains 

 was formed, fifteen others have been deposited, the greatest 

 thickness of which is one hundred and eighty feet. The 

 formation and position of the relics leave no doubt that 

 man and the mastodon existed at the same time on this 

 island. The bottom-layer of this island is rock salt of un- 

 known thickness, and the evidence shows that both man 

 and the mastodon, as well as other animals, resorted to 

 this place to obtain salt. The time or epoch to which these 

 remains belong is uncertain. A more careful study of the 

 formation is required. 



The report of the Smithsonian Institute, for 1872, gives 

 an illustration of an earth-work known as " The Big Ele- 

 phant Mound." This illustration is reproduced in Fig. 9. 



