almost as easy to dig as loose sand would be. Sometimes
there are flat limestones in or around the graves; similar slabs are
found not far away in the ravines.

Not far from this mound is a large lodge site, one of the so-called
"buffalo wallows" as they are commonly known. These are the ruins of
aboriginal houses. The general construction is the same, the only
practical difference being that some are square in outline, others
round. This difference is not always apparent prior to the excavation.
In the making, a pit was dug, square or round as desired, and the
earth thrown out on every side. Posts were then set around the margin
of the excavation, and the house built in the same manner as those
with which we are familiar from accounts of early travelers. Many of
them have been examined by Zimmerman and Park, who found masses of
hard-burned earth in which are cavities and depressions due to the
burning of straw, grass, twigs, and poles, used in the construction of
the houses. This results from the destruction of the houses by fire.
Sometimes the floor has a layer of this burned material which is
evidently due to the falling in of the roof. Most of these are on the
hilltops, but some of them are on narrow ridges leading from the high
land to the creek or river bottoms. In the latter event there is
always a village site on the low ground bordering the stream. The
relics gathered up on these village sites are in no wise different
from those found when the lodge sites are excavated; and also are of
the same character as those picked up on what are no doubt modern
village sites in the vicinity. This fact militates against the idea
that the lodge sites are extremely ancient.

IOWA POINT

On a low hill, cut off on every side by steep ravines, is a small
mound containing a cist grave. The bottom of this, which was dug
slightly below the natural surface, was covered with a pavement of
limestone slabs. The grave was roughly oval or triangular in outline,
measuring about 7 by 9 feet. Around it was a wall of similar stones,
set in contact and sloping outward at an angle of about 40 degrees
from the vertical. There was nothing whatever in this grave.

At the edge of the mound was a box grave 51/2 by 21/2 by 21/2 feet, the
longer axis on a radial line. It was made of small flat stones built
up like a wall, the only grave of which I could learn that had any
resemblance to the vault graves farther down the Missouri. In the
grave