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 Mississippi,{56} 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 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 porter-bottle; 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 {57} obliterated, leaving the sharp edge of the jaw-bone. From this the neighbouring settlers had inferred the existence of a race of men without teeth, having their jaws like those of the turtle. Having satisfied themselves that all the bones found here were those of men of the common size, Mr. Say and Mr. Peale "sold their skiff, shouldered their guns, bones, spade, &c. and bent their weary steps towards St. Louis, (distant sixteen miles,) where they arrived at eleven o'clock P. M., having had ample time, by the way, to indulge sundry reflections on that quality of the mind, either imbibed in the nursery or generated by evil communications, which incites to the love of the marvellous, and, by hyperbole,