Four Months in a Sneak-Box: A Boat Voyage of 2600 Miles Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and Along the Gulf of Mexico — John Shaqi
Four Months in a Sneak-Box: A Boat Voyage of 2600 Miles Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and Along the Gulf of MexicoBishop, Nathaniel H. (Nathaniel Holmes)
General
Four Months in a Sneak-Box: A Boat Voyage of 2600 Miles Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and Along the Gulf of Mexico
Bishop, Nathaniel H. (Nathaniel Holmes)
Boats and boating; Mississippi River -- Description and travel; Ohio River -- Description and travel
"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.
It would not interest the general reader to give a description of the
few cities and many small villages that were passed during the descent
of the Ohio. Few of these places possess even a local interest, and
the eye soon wearies of the air of monotony found in them all. Even
the guide-books dispose of these villages with a little dry detail,
and rarely recommend the tourist to visit one of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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