20 
THE LARGEST MOUND IN THE UNITED STATES. 
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still had their settlement, show, however, that the mound upon 
which the Monks were located was the smaller structure, of a 
similar shape, situated a short distance to the westward of the 
“great mound,” and that the apron of Cahokia 
Mound was used as a vegetable garden and its 
summit was then planted with wheat. While 
there is not the slightest evidence that the Ca- 
hokias of the time of La Salle were the builders 
of this, or of other mounds in the vicinity, it is 
a gratification to be able to perpetuate the name 
of an extinct tribe of American Indians in con¬ 
nection with this monument of an unknown 
I a American Nation, rather than that of a religious 
order of foreign origin. 
Fig. 1 represents the mound as it now appears, 
with its once level platform and even slopes gul¬ 
lied, washed, and worn away ; and Fig. 2 is in 
the form of a restoration, showing the mound as 
it probably existed before the plough of the white 
man had destroyed its even sides and hard plat¬ 
forms, and thus given nature a foothold for her 
destructive agencies. I have also in Fig. 3 
shown the elevation of the mound from the west 
as represented in Fig. 2. The projecting portion 
(A) from the apron (B) points nearly due south. 
Probably this immense tumulus was not erected 
prim aril 3 ' as a burial mound, though such may 
prove to be the case. From the present evidence 
it seems more likely that it was made in order to 
obtain an elevated site for some particular pur¬ 
pose ; presumably an important public building. 
One fact, however, which I observed, indicated 
that a great length of time was occupied in its 
construction, and that its several level platforms 
may have been the sites of many lodges, which, 
possibl 3 r , may have been placed upon such arti¬ 
ficial elevations in order to avoid the malaria of a district, the 
settlement of which in former, as in recent times, was likely due 
to the prolific and easily cultivated soil; or, more likel} 7 ', for the 
purpose of protection from enemies. The fact to which I allude, 
