400 ETHNOLOGY. 



arating from their kindred, the Dakotas. The Santena or Ojibois followed in 

 the wake of the traders from Canada, chiefly in the last decade of the last cen- 

 tury. If ever the Crus or the Assiniboines deposited their dead under mounds 

 of earth, they discontinued that mode of intennent long before the advent of 

 the whites, otherwise both missionaries and traders must have seen and recorded 

 the custom, or at least some traces of it. In the absence of all testimony we 

 are led to the conclusion that the}^ are monuments of considerable antiquity, 

 and that the race who constructed them, and whose remains they cover, have 

 passed away ages since or become mixed up with a race or races, if not more 

 barbarous, evidently less energetic and industrious, who did not manifest their 

 affectionate regard for the dead by performing so much labor in covering their 

 remains. May we not with some reason conjecture that the object for which 

 these mounds were heaped up with so much toil was to transmit to generations 

 then unborn the fame of some renowned patriot or chief who led the warriors 

 of his tribe to combat against encroaching foes, and who was victorious in the 

 strife ? The first thought that occurs to the mind in examining these tokens of 

 mortality is that they wei-e in course of erection during a long period of time ; 

 that succeeding generations took each a share in the work ; buried tlunr dead 

 over those who had been deposited before them, and added their share to the 

 earth until the mounds assumed their full dimensions, or the practice of this 

 mode of interment fell into disuse ; yet, on reflecting over the sul)ject, I am dis- 

 posed to come to the conclusion that these mounds were raised over the remains 

 of men who stood high in the esteem of their family and tribe ; who labored 

 to build their tombs from the laudable motive of perpetuating the memory of 

 friends and benefactors. The tombs might have lieen reopened from time to 

 time to receive the remains of the family or kindred of the first occupier to 

 whose memor\^ it had been erected, down to periods of time much more recent 

 than their origin ; or the Indians might prefer interring in these mounds, finding 

 them dry and easier to excavate than the surrounding soil ; such seems to have 

 been the case in regard to the great tumulus on the west side of this river. 

 Some time about 1786 the small-pox spread over what is now known as Hudson 

 Bay territory, carrying off the natives by thousands. The Crus at that time 

 occupied this vicinity. I have seen and spoken to an old man, the only sur- 

 vivor out of many tents, who stated that at the commencement of the mortality 

 the Indians, for some time, buried in the mound above described, but did not 

 erect it, and that at a later period of the disease the living did not attempt bury- 

 ing the dead. 



"Up to the last years of the last century the Indians on the western shores of 

 Hudson's bay occasionally disposed of their dead by placing them on scaffolds 

 or stages. I am not aware that they ever returned to look after the bones for 

 the purpose of interring them. The Indians occupying this part of the country 

 at present inter the dead, but never, to my knowledge, in a sitting posture. 

 They press the knees up towards the chin — in a word they roll up the dead into 

 the smallest possible space, open a shallow grave, lay the body on its side, with 

 the face generally towards the east. The Assiniboines still continue the custom 

 of laying their dead on stages. 



I trust that you will let me knoAv if the Institution is desirous of having any 

 of those antiquities of which I have written, viz : skulls, pipes, ornaments, &c. 

 If they are desired, I will search into some other mounds in this vicinity and 

 send whatever I find that may appear worth the cost of transportation. 



The winter has been late in setting in ; we had very little snow before the 

 beginning of January. We have had very little snow in the settlements ; but 

 it is spoken of as being very deep towards the Lake of the Woods and in the 

 plains towards the Missouri. The cold has not been extremely intense, but 

 very regular ; this is the 22d of March, and we have not had as much thaw as 

 to wet the soles of our moccasins. 



