142 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



Lyell, etc., etc. On Saturday, May i6, I went with Mr. 

 Skinner to meet Mr. Warder at Valley Junction, about 

 twenty miles below Cincinnati, and he drove us in a light 

 waggon a few miles to see some old Indian mounds. One 

 very large tumulus, about twenty-five feet high, had been 

 opened by a pit in the centre down to the ground level. At 

 a farmhouse near we found that the farmer had opened it, 

 had found a skeleton, two copper bracelets, several large 

 stone weapons and tools, some very finely worked, and a 

 lump of pure graphite. Mr. Skinner thought that graphite 

 had never been found before in the mounds. On the way 

 back we saw a very large elongate mound, covered with trees 

 and close to a village. The valley of the Ohio was here 

 very pleasant, with its rich fields and low wooded hills of 

 varied outline. Many birds were seen, the brown thrush, 

 red-winged blackbird, and many others, all well known to 

 my companions. The American Judas tree (Cercis cana- 

 densis) was in full flower and very abundant, and the little 

 spring beauty {Claytonia virginiana) formed sheets of pale 

 pink blossoms on the skirts of the woods. We saw a few 

 patches of virgin forest on the hills, and here and there a 

 rather fine tree, but these are always scarce. 



The following day being very wet, our excursion to the 

 Madisonville Cemeteries was delayed a week. But on Sun- 

 day, the 24th, Dr. Dunn took me in his buggy, accompanied 

 by several other friends in a carriage, for a long drive to 

 the Turner group of mounds, which are very extensive, but 

 have been ploughed over. Near them is the cemetery, con- 

 sisting of a great number of small mounds in a wood, many 

 of which have been opened, and bones, with numbers of 

 stone weapons, ornaments, etc., found in them. Circular 

 plates of mica are common here. On the way back we 

 visited a field where quantities of pottery, flints, bones, etc., 

 have been found near to a small oval mound. The country 

 we passed through was very pleasant, and some of it quite 

 picturesque, with swelling hills, ridges, and valleys, often 

 finely wooded and park-like. 



During the week preceding this excursion I had spent 



