ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 3 



ginia he learned of quite a number of mounds, none of which had 

 yet been opened, and suggesting that this would present a good 

 field for future investigators. The large number of stones referred 

 to in the paper seemed a curious coincidence with a discovery made 

 in New Mexico, consisting of a large stone erected near one of the 

 pueblos about which lie several wagon loads of stones, thrown there, 

 it is said, by passers by for "good luck." 



Dr. Reynolds presented some facts referring to his examinations 

 in various portions of the Potomac valley, and concluded by say- 

 ing that at the site of an " ancient" burial ground at Front Royal, 

 which had been partly washed down by high water at various times, 

 he had found, among other things, medals, &c., of perhaps colo- 

 nial times. 



Major Powell said that while in Minnesota last summer he in- 

 quired of a Sioux Indian their reason why they buried upon 

 scaffolds, and was informed that in ancient times the Sioux lived 

 among the lakes of Minnesota, and buried their dead in mounds ; 

 that when they left that country they expected some time to return, 

 and so buried their dead on scaffolds, that they might gather the 

 bones and bring them back and bury them in the grave mounds of 

 their ancesters. 



Prof. Mason stated in conclusion that many stone graves have 

 been found in localities which do not abound in stones, plainly in- 

 dicating that a strong motive caused them to be brought from great 

 distances. Probably the people had originally lived in a stony, 

 country, and in new fields had clung to old usages. 



Rev. J. Owen Dorsey then read a paper entitled "An Osage 

 Secret Society," which was further illustrated by a chart, enlarged 

 from an original pictographic representation obtained from an Osage 

 Indian. 



abstract. 



The writer has found traces of secret societies among the Omahas 

 and cognate tribes of the Siouan family. Such a society is still in 

 existence among the Osages. It must not be confounded with the_ 

 secret societies of the Indian doctors. Each gens in the Osage 

 tribe has a place in the order, the latter being the depository of the 



