580 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
to the erection of burial mounds by certain tribes of this family, and 
the same fact may be inferred from the account given by Mr. Jefferson * 
of the opening of a mound that formerly stood on the low grounds of 
the Rivanna River, and which evidently covered a number of those com- 
munal interments of which we have already spoken. This mound was 
surrounded by a ditch, was about 40 feet in diameter, and had been 
about 12 feet high, before its height was reduced by cultivation. Trees 
were growing upon it that measured 12 inches in diameter. It is true 
that nothing is here said as to the time when, or the people by whom, 
this mound was built; but the circumstances under which it was re- 
visited by a band of Indians in Mr. Jefferson’s time,t taken in connec- 
tion with the size of the trees, the condition of the bones and the fact 
that the mound was in close proximity, or “just opposite to some hills 
on which had stood an Indian town,” affords strong evidence that some 
of the later interments found here must have taken place after the set- 
tlement of Jamestown in 1607. 
Tn regard to the practice of the Huron-Iroquois in this respect, our 
accounts differ. Gen. Parker, in answer to the question whether the 
Six Nations, after the arrival of the whites, ever erected mounds of 
earth or stone over single graves, or at their general interments, says 
positively that he had never heard of the existence of any such custom 
among them, but that on the contrary they had always asserted that 
the bone mounds were built by a race of people who had preceded them 
in the occupancy of the land. He also says that the reasons assigned 
for the erection of these tumuli, as well as the methods by which they 
erew to their present size, were always given with great uniformity. 
This is very high authority, and yet in the present instance it cau. 
hardly be regarded as decisive, for the reason that it is negative evidence, 
and must give way to the positive testimony we have of the fact. Thus 
for instance Colden, speaking of their single interments, tells us that 
the Iroquois deposit the body in a large round hole and raise the earth 
in a round hill over it,t and in this he confirms the statements previ- 
ously quoted of Lafitau and De Vries, the latter of whom (l. ¢., p. 154), 
describing the funeral ceremonies of tae tribes living near the mouth of 
the Hudson, tells us that “their manner of living is for the most part 
New York, 1846. Other accounts represent this battle as having been fought be- 
tween the Foxes on one side and the French and Menominees on the other. It is im- 
material to me who were the parties engaged against the Foxes. 
* Notes on Virginia, pp. 186 et seq.: Philadelphia, 1801. 
+ This visit took place about 1750, and is thus described: ‘‘On whatever occasion 
they,” the mounds, ‘‘may have been made, they are of considerable notoriety among 
the Indians: for a party passing, about thirty years ago through the part of the 
country where this barrow is, went through the woods directly to it, without any 
instructions or inquiry; and having staid about it some time, with expressions which 
were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the high-road, which they had 
left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey :” Jb., p. 191. 
t Live Nations, Introduction, p. 16. 
