38 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS
(as represented by the dotted lines in the section), from the west side, commencing at about one-third of the height of the mound from the top. At ten feet below the surface, occurred a layer of charcoal (a), not far from ten feet square, and from two to six inches in thickness, slightly inclined from the horizontal, and lying mostly to the left of the centre of the mound. The coal was coarse and clear, and seemed to have been formed by the sudden covering up of the wood while burning, inasmuch as the trunks and branches retained their form, though entirely carbonized, and the earth immediately above as well as below, was burned of a reddish color. Below this layer the earth became much more compact and difficult of excavation. At the depth of twenty-two feet, and on a level with the original surface, immediately underneath the charcoal layer, and, like that, somewhat to one side of the centre of the mound, was a rude timber framework (B), now reduced to an almost impalpable powder, but the cast of which was still retained in the hard earth. This enclosure of timber, measured from outside to outside, was nine feet long by seven wide, and twenty inches high. It had been con- structed of logs laid one on the other, and had evidently been covered with other timbers, which had sunk under the superincumbent earth, as they decayed. The bottom had also been covered with bark, matting, or thin slabs— at any rate, a whitish stratum of decomposed material remained, covering the bottom of the parallelogram. Within this rude coffin, with its head to the west, was found a human skeleton, or rather the remains of one; for scarcely a fragment as long as one’s finger could be recov- ered. It was so much decayed that it crumbled to powder under the slightest touch. Around the neck of the skele- ton, forming a triple row, and retaining their position, as originally strung and deposited with the dead, were several hundred beads, made of ivory, or the tusks of some animal (C). Several of these still retain their polish, and bear
