THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 583 
this house is full a general solemn funeral takes place. When the 
nearest kindred or friends of the deceased, on a day appointed, repair 
to the bone-house and take up the respective coffins, and following one 
another in order of seniority, the nearest relations attending their re- 
spective corpse, and the multitude following after them, all as one 
family, with alternate voice of Allelujah and lamentation slowly pro- 
ceeding on to the place of general interment, where they place the 
coffins in order, forming a pyramid; and lastly, cover all over with 
earth, which raises a conical hill or mount.” * 
The third and last class of mounds that we shall consider are the 
truncated, or, as they are sometimes called, temple mounds, with graded 
ways to their tops. They are comparatively numerous south of the 
Ohio, and are also found, though less frequently, as far north as the 
middle of the tier of States that lie along the northern bank of that 
river; but beyond this point they are believed to be unknown. Of 
their origin and use in the Southern States, and especially along the 
line of De Soto’s march, there is abundant proof. The chroniclers of 
that enterprise are in full accord upon these points; and though it is 
not possible to make out the itinerary of that expedition, yet there is 
but little hazard in asserting that he was on both sides of the Missis- 
sippi, and visited not only the Muscogees and Choctaws of the Gulf 
States, but also the Cherokees (‘ Achalaqué”) and Chickasaws of Ten- 
nessee, and the Quapaws (Capahas-Kappas) of northeastern Arkansas. 
Among all these tribes there was a general uniformity in the methods 
of building the cabins of their chiefs, and in laying out and fortifying 
their villages. La Vegat tells us that the town and house of the 
Jacique Ossachile were like those of all the other Caciques in Florida, 
and assigns this as the reason why, instead of describing this particular 
town and house, it was better to give one general account that would 
answer for all. He then goes on to say that the Indians always en- 
deavor to place their villages on elevated sites; but as such situations, 
with the conveniences for building, are not always to be found in Florida, 
* they themselves throw up elevations in this manner. They choose a 
spot to which they bring a quantity of earth, and this they pile up in the 
shape of a platform, two or three pike’s length in height, and large 
enough on top to hold ten or twelve, fifteen or twenty houses, in which 
are lodged the Cacique and his attendants. At the foot of this mound 
’ they lay out a square, proportioned to the size of the intended town, 
* Travels through Florida, p. 516. On p. 139 he speaks of ‘“‘sepulchres or tumuli 
of the Yamasees, who were here slain by the Creeks in the last decisive battle, the 
Creeks having driven them to this point, between the doubling of the river, where 
few of them escaped the fury of the conquerors. These graves occupied the whole 
grove, consisting of 2 or 3 acres of ground; there were nearly thirty of these ceme- 
teries of the dead, nearly of an equal size and form; they were oblong, 20 feet in 
length, 10 or 12 feet in width, and 3 or 4 feet high, now overgrown with orange 
trees, live oaks,” ete. 
t Histoire de la Floride, premiere partie, livre 2de, chap. xxvii: Paris, 1709. 
