64 Expedition to the 



■ On the summit of one of the large hillocks, near St. Louis, 

 (No. 27, described in the foregoing note,) are several of these 

 graves; we opened five of them, but in one only, were we for- 

 tunate in finding any thing interesting, and all that this con- 

 tained, was a solitary tooth, of a species of rat, together with 

 the vertebrae and ribs of a serpent of moderate size, and in 

 good preservation; but whether the animal had been buried 

 by the natives, or had perished there, after having found ad- 

 mittance through some hole, we could not determine. If they 

 were buried by the Indians, they are probably the bones of a 

 species of Crotalus, as it is known that many Indians of the 

 present day have a sort of veneration for animals of that genus. 

 The circumstance of the discovery of these bones renders it 

 somewhat probable, that rattlesnakes were formerly worship- 

 ped by the natives of America, and their remains, like those 

 of the Ibis of Egypt, religiously entombed after death. 



Whilst we were at Cincinnati, Dr. Drake exhibited to us, 

 in his cabinet of Natural History, two large marine she)ls, 

 that had been dug out of ancient Indian tumuli in that vi- 

 cinity. These shells were each cut longitudinally, and the lar- 

 ger half of each only remained. From this circumstance it 

 seems probable that they had been used by the aborigines as 

 drinking cups; or, consecrated to superstition, they may have 

 been regarded as sacred utensils, and either used in connec- 

 tion with the rites of sacrifice, or m making libations to their 

 deities; they may, however, like the Cymbium of the Ar- 

 chipelago, have served a more useful and salutary purpose in 

 bathing. 



One of these specimens seems to be a Cassis cornutus, of 

 authors, or great conch shell, though it is proper to observe, 

 that of the three revolving bands of tubercles, characteristic 

 of that species, the inferior one in this specimen is double. 

 In length it is about nine inches and a quarter, and in breadth 

 seven inches. 



The other specimen is a heterostrophe shell of the genus 

 Fulgur of Montfortj and, as far as we can judge, in every re- 



