CHAPTER III.

TUMULI AND INDIAN GRAVES ABOUT ST. LOUIS, AND ON THE MERAMEG. MOUTH OF THE MISSOURI. -CHARBONIERE.JOURNEY BY LAND FROM ST. CHARLES, TO LOUTRE ISLAND.

SAINT LOUIS, formerly called Pain Court, was founded by Pierre La Clade and his associates in 1764, eightyfour years after the establishment of Fort Crevecœur, on the Illinois river. Until a recent period, it was occupied almost exclusively by people of French extraction, who maintained a lucrative traffic with the Indians. The history, and present condition of this important town, are too well known to be dwelt upon in this place. Its population has been rapidly augmented within a few years, by the immigration of numerous families, and its wealth and business extended by the accession of enterprising merchants and mechanics from the Eastern States. As the town advances in importance and magnitude, the manners and customs of the people of the United States, are taking the place of those of the French and Spaniards, whose numbers are proportionably diminishing. As this place seems destined to be the depôt for such articles of merchandize, as are to be sent from New Orleans to the upper rivers, it is unfortunate, that no good harbour offers for the protection of boats against the impetuosity of the current, and from the danger occasioned by floating ice. In this respect, the site of a projected town, a few miles below, has a decided advantage over Saint Louis, as it possesses a good harbour. It was selected many years since, by some Canadian Frenchman, who formed a settlement there.

The horizontal strata of limestone which underlay the town of Saint Louis and the surrounding country,

have strongly attracted the attention of the curious, on account of having been found, in one or two instances, to contain distinct impressions of the human foot. There is now in the possession of Mr. Rapp, of the Society of the Harmonites, a stone, which has upon its surface marks that appear to have been formed by the naked feet of some human being, who was standing upon it while in a plastic state; also an irregular line, apparently traced by a stick or wand, held in the hand of the same person. This stone was taken from the slope of the immediate bank of the Mississippi below the range of the periodical floods. To us. there seems nothing inexplicable or difficult to understand in its appearance.

Nothing is more probable, than that impressions of human feet made upon that thin stratum of mud, which was deposited on the shelvings of the rocks, and left naked by the retiring of the waters, may, by the induration of the mud, have been preserved, and at length have acquired the appearance of an impression made immediately upon the limestone. This supposition will be somewhat confirmed, if we examine the mud and slime deposited by the water of the Mississippi, which will be found to consist of such an intimate mixture of clay and lime, as under favourable circumstances would very readily become indurated. We are not confident that the impressions above mentioned have originated in the manner here supposed, but we cannot by any means adopt the opinion of some, who have considered them as contemporaneous to those casts of submarine animals, which occupy so great a part of the body of the limestone. We have no hesitation in saying, that whatever those impressions may be, if they were produced, as they appear to have been by the agency of human feet, they belong to a period far more recent, than that of the deposition of the limestone on whose surface they are found.

The country about St. Louis, like that in the rear

waters are strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Cattle and horses, which range here throughout the season, prefer the waters of this spring to those of the creek in whose bed it rises, and may be seen daily coming in great numbers, from distant parts of the prairie, to drink of it.

Tumuli, and other remains of the labours of nations of Indians that inhabited this region many ages since, are remarkably numerous about St. Louis. Those tumuli immediately northward of the town, and within a short distance of it, are twenty-seven in number, of various forms and magnitudes, arranged nearly in a line from north to south. The common form is an oblong square, and they all stand on the second bank of the river. The statement given below of their forms, magnitudes, and relative positions, is the result of actual admeasurement taken with care, and with as much accuracy as their present indefinite boundaries, together with the dense growth of underwood, covering their surface, and tending to beguile and obstruct the vision of the observer, will admit.

It seems probable these piles of earth were raised as cemeteries, or they may have supported altars for religious ceremonies. We cannot conceive any useful purpose to which they can have been applicable in war, unless as elevated stations from which to observe the motions of an approaching enemy; but for this purpose a single mound would have been sufficient, and the place chosen would probably have been different.

Nothing like a ditch, or an embankment, is to be seen about any part of these works. [10]

Indian graves are extremely numerous about St. Louis, though none are found in the immediate vicinity of the town: they are most frequent on the hills about the Merameg and on the north side of the Missouri. On the 12th June, Mr. Say and Mr. Peale, accompanied by one man, descended the Mis

sissippi, in a small boat to the mouth of the Merameg, and ascended the latter river about fifteen miles, to a place where great numbers of graves have been explored, and have been represented to contain the bones of a diminutive race of men. Most of these graves are found near the bank of the Merameg. They do not rise above the general surface, but their presence is ascertained by the vertical stones which enclose them, and project a little at either end of the grave. When the included earth, and the numerous horizontal flat stones are removed, we find the sides neatly constructed of long flat stones, vertically implanted and adapted to each other, edge to edge, so as to a form a continuous wall. The graves are usually three or four feet, though sometimes six feet in length. The bones they contained appeared to have been deposited after having been separated from the flesh, and from each other, according to the custom of some tribes of Indians at the present day.

In the first grave opened by Mr. Say were found the fragments of an earthen pot, and the bones of an infantine skull; the second contained what appeared to be the remains of a middle aged man, of the ordinary stature, laid at full length; the bones much confused and broken. An inhabitant residing here informed them, that many similar graves had been found along the summits of most of the neighbouring hills. In one of these he had found two pieces of earthenware, one having nearly the form of a porterbottle; the other with a wide mouth; but this grave contained no bones. After spending a night at this place, they crossed the river to the town of Lilliput, (one of the projected towns here has received this name,) the place so often mentioned as the locality of the graves of a pigmy race. Appearances here are in general similar to those already described. One head that had been dug up was that of an old person, in whom the teeth had been lost, and the alveolæ