The resting-place of my craft was upon a muddy slope in the rear of a citizen’s yard which faced the river; but when the storm ended, on Monday morning, my personal effects were hidden from the gaze of idlers by securely locking the hatch, which was done with the same facility with which one locks his trunk—­and the former occupant was at liberty to visit the “Big Grave.”

I walked through the muddy streets of the uninteresting village to the conspicuous monument of the aboriginal inhabitant of the river’s margin.  It was a conical hill, situated within the limits of the town, and known to students of American pre-historic races as the “Grave Creek Mound.”  This particular creation of a lost race is the most important of the numerous works of the Mound Builders which are found throughout the Ohio Valley.  Its circumference at the base is nine hundred feet, and its height seventy feet.  In 1838 the location was owned by Mr. Tomlinson, who penetrated to the centre of the mound by excavating a passage on a level with the foundation of the structure.  He then sank a shaft from the apex to intercept the ground passage.  Mr. Tomlinson’s statement is as follows: 

“At the distance of one hundred and eleven feet we came to a vault which had been excavated before the mound was commenced, eight by twelve feet, and seven in depth.  Along each side, and across the ends, upright timbers had been placed, which supported timbers thrown across the vault as a ceiling.  These timbers were covered with loose unhewn stone common to the neighborhood.  The timbers had rotted, and had tumbled into the vault.  In this vault were two human skeletons, one of which had no ornaments; the other was surrounded by six hundred and fifty ivory (shell) beads, and an ivory (bone) ornament six inches long.  In sinking the shaft, at thirty-four feet above the first, or bottom vault, a similar one was found, enclosing a skeleton which had been decorated with a profusion of shell beads, copper rings, and plates of mica.”

Dr. Clemmens, who was much interested in the work of exploration here, says:  “At a distance of twelve or fifteen feet were found numerous layers composed of charcoal and burnt bones.  On reaching the lower vault from the top, it was determined to enlarge it for the accommodation of visitors, when ten more skeletons were discovered.  This mound was supposed to be the tomb of a royal personage.”

At the time of my visit, the ground was covered with a grassy sod, and large trees arose from its sloping sides.  The horizontal passage was kept in a safe state by a lining of bricks, and I walked through it into the heart of the Indian sepulchre.  It was a damp, dark, weird interior; but the perpendicular shaft, which ascended to the apex, kept up an uninterrupted current of air.  I found it anything but a pleasant place in which to linger, and soon retraced my steps to the boat, where I once more embarked upon the ceaseless current, and kept upon my winding course, praying for even one glimpse of the sun, whose face had been veiled from my sight during the entire voyage, save for one brief moment when the brightness burst from the surrounding gloom only to be instantly eclipsed, and making all seem, by contrast, more dismal than ever.