MOUITDS OF THE UNITED STATES — BUSHNELL 667 



as they did different manners and ways of life, erected works of 

 varying forms to serve well-defined purposes. 



THE " FORTS " OF THE NEW ENGLAND INDIANS 



The native tribes of New England, those to whom the shell heaps 

 have been attributed, did not erect burial mounds although they 

 often constructed low earth embankments, usually accompanied by 

 a ditch and surmounted by palisades, to surround and thus protect 

 their habitations. These were quite small when compared with 

 many similar works erected by tribes west of the Hudson, and now, 

 after the lapse of several centuries, few can be traced. Some were 

 square, others circular, and all designed for protection. These were 

 the " forts " of the natives, so often mentioned by the early histo- 

 rians. 



Many small inclosures, burial places, fish weirs, and other indica- 

 tions of Indian occupancy were encountered by the colonists, but 

 with the lapse of time great changes have been wrought and now 

 few of the ancient works remain. 



IN THE COUNTRY OF THE IROQUOIS 



Westward from New England, beyond the Hudson, lived the 

 Iroquois, so famed in history. About the year 1570 the five tribes, 

 Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca, formed a con- 

 federacy for mutual strength and protection, and in 1722 the kindred 

 Tuscarora, having moved northward from their earlier habitat in 

 Carolina, became the sixth nation of the league of the Iroquois. 

 Although the several tribes just mentioned had occupied or domi- 

 nated the region for a long period, it is quite evident that others had 

 preceded them and had, during their occupancy of the country, 

 erected many of the small burial mounds near the sites later occu- 

 pied by the Iroquoian tribes. This does not necessarily imply, how- 

 ever, that the Iroquois did not raise some of the mounds found 

 standing in the country which they so recently dominated. Mounds, 

 all quite small, are found in every county in the State of New York 

 west of a line running north and south through Oneida Lake, and 

 others, more scattered, are encountered east of this line. 



The French and Dutch were the first to reach the Iroquois, and 

 many objects derived from these sources have been recovered from 

 sites of the towns which were occupied during early historic times 

 or from burials dating from these years. A mound stood in Che- 

 nango County, near the mouth of Geneganstlet Creek, and when 

 opened nearly a century ago revealed a number of burials, together 

 with many stone objects, a ring or band of silver, and a heart-shaped 

 ornament of mica. This stood in the region occupied by the Tus- 



