all I should say within ten feet from the
original surface of the mound. As we penetrated the interior fewer
remains were continually found. The earth gave many indications of
having been burnt. At one point the pick-axe sank ten inches into the
hard wall. This was about fifteen feet from the outside. The excavator
then dug out with his hand from a horizontal pocket in the earth eight
or ten inches wide and eighteen or twenty inches deep, a quantity of
soft brown dust, and a piece of bone some four inches long, a part of
a human forearm bone. This pocket was plainly the original resting
place of a skeleton, probably in a sitting posture. As deeper
penetration was made brown earthy spots without a trace of bone
remaining were come upon. The excavation on the south side was
continued for thirty feet into the mound, but at this stage it was
evident that bones, pottery, etc., had been so long interred that they
were reduced to dust. No hope seemed to remain now of finding objects
of interest in this direction, and so with about forty feet yet
wanting to complete, the tunnel, the search was transferred to the top
of the mound.

THE UPPER CUT.

Beginning on the crest of the mound, the mould was removed over a
considerable space, and though some trouble was found from the
presence of the roots of the growing trees, yet three or four feet
from the surface human bones and skeletons began to occur. In some
cases a complete skeleton was found, in other cases what seemed to be
a circle of skulls, buried alongside charred bones, fragments of
pottery and other articles. Several different excavations were made on
the mound surface, and it was found that every part from the base to
the crest contained bones and skeletons, to the depth of from six to
ten feet as already said; bones and articles of interest were found
thus far; deeper than this nothing. I shall now describe the articles
found in this mound, and refer in some cases to what has been found in
the other mounds of the Takawgamis.

NATURAL PRODUCTS.

1. _Bones_. Of the bones found, the skulls were the most interesting.
In some cases it would seem as if they alone of the bones had been
carried from a distance, perhaps from a distant part of the mound
builders' territory, from a battle field or some other spot. In some
cases this was proved, by the presence in the eye-sockets and cavities
of clay of a different kind from that of the mound, showing a previous
interment. The