largest earthen mound, which I call the grand mound because all the graves are facing it, is about ninety feet in diameter, and at this time about 4 feet high; but when first discovered by whites it was 5 or 6 feet high. This mound has not yet been examined, but others in the valley, not so high but larger in diameter, have been looked into and were found to contain graves, pottery ware, pipes and arrow-heads made of dirt or cut out of rock. These are found in the graves in the mound and in those around it.
On a hill adjacent to the valley, about 200 feet high, are six stone mounds constructed of rough limestone rock. These mounds are situated about 300 yards east of the valley. They are about 20 feet in diameter and 2½ or 3 feet high. Four of them have been examined, and all of them were found to be full of human bones and pottery ware, but not so close together as the others. The graves were constructed, or covered over with rock, differently from the others. The corpse seems to have been put in first, and then rock slabs set up and placed together at the top in the shape of the roof of a house. In this way was the place filled with graves all over a certain spot, and then rough stone piled on until the mound was formed. I have spoken of only six mounds on this hill, of this kind, but there are many in this vicinity of this kind, but they have not been examined. Near the center of the mound examined by me, in a grave, were found bones of a human being charred perfectly black, around which were placed all the others.
On the west side of the creek is a bluff in which were found several holes, and on examination one of them was found to lead into a cave which has been explored for about 100 yards. This cave contains several apartments which are dry, and within this are found a great many human bones, some of which are still in a state of preservation.
A female skeleton was taken from a grave found about 80 yards west of the mound that I have designated in this letter as the grand mound. This skeleton was lying with the face towards the mound, with a pipe in her right hand resting on her right thigh. With this skeleton I found in opening the grave an infant child lying with its feet against the thigh bones of its mother. When first opened this child's skull-bone and other bones were in perfect form, but as soon as the air came in contact with it it broke into lime, or powder. This female evidently died in childbirth, the feet of the fœtus coming first. This female we are led to believe, from the pains taken in burying her, must have been of note amongst them, for I found in disinterring this skeleton that the remains were deposited in a wooden coffin, and then this one was put into one of neatly polished rock. A jug was found, with the mouth down and the bottom upwards, placed against the skull-bone. The stone with a hole in the center, which is called a corn-muller, I found about 80 yards from the grand mound. This was plowed up and found, among a large number of human bones in a decayed condition, upon the top of a small mound in the valley. The pottery, of the character sent, is found in all the graves and in a similar condition.
