''7 
common. The singular head-dresses of the mound-figures bear 
little resemblance to those of the present race of Indians, 
who usually only permit a single tuft of hair to grow, which 
hangs from the centre of the scalp ; the hair of the women was 
allowed to fall loosely upon the shoulders, or was simply clubbed 
behind. Plumes of feathers, or the dried skins of the heads of 
certain animals, form their only kind of head-dress. The prac- 
tice of wearing rings and pendants in the ears appears to have 
existed among the mound-builders ; it is likewise almost uni- 
versal among the Indians of North America and the Central 
American tribes. 
These sculptures do not represent features essentially different 
from those of the great American family, the type of which 
seems to have been radically the same throughout the extent 
of the continent, excepting, perhaps, a few of the tribes in- 
habiting the extreme northern and southern regions. 
C37. 
Upon Tablets Nos. 25 and 26 are objects found, with the 
stone smoking-pipes already described, in Mound No. 8, 
"Mound City." Upon Tablet 25 a are a number of copper 
beads molten together from the heat to which they have been 
exposed upon the ''altar." Upon Tablet 25 ^ to / are beads 
made of shell, coated with copper and then with silver. Silver 
has been found in very small quantities, and was evidently 
exceedingly rare among the mound-builders. Professor Church 
has analysed one of the fused masses found in this mound, and 
writes thus : — It contains '19 per cent, of metallic silver, and 
•45 per cent, of tin and antimony. Silver is found in American 
native copper, but only in the proportion of from '03 to "006 
per cent. ; the silver in the mound specimen analysed by me is 
probably due to a plating upon the copper. I do not think 
that tin ever occurs in native copper to the extent in which it is 
present in your specimen ; usually it is entirely absent. The 
mass, however, is copper, not bronze." Upon Tablet 25 m, 
n, 0, are some star-shaped ornaments of shell, coated with 
copper. 
Upon Tablet 26 is a stone, C,"^ gorget." This specimen 
has been much altered by heat ; the circular striae left by the 
drill in boring the hole can be distinctly seen. 
* See page 108. 
