110 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



utensils placed beside the dead. When children were 

 buried in stone-lined graves, an earthen cup and shell 

 spoon were placed on one side of the head. 



It is easy to speculate upon the uses of the mounds, 

 as places of sepulture for the chieftains, look-out sta- 

 tions, elevations for the distinguished at noted gather- 

 ings, and for a thousand other objects equally plausi- 

 ble, but all is the merest conjecture. These tumuli 

 may have served several purposes, though erected 

 with a single object in view. One prominent theory 

 is that the Mound Builders were sun worshipers, and 

 that the people or priests assembled on these elevated 

 places to welcome the rising luminar}^, arid to bid him 

 a reverential adieu at evening. The early settlers con- 

 jectured that these artificial earth works had treasures 

 deposited in them, hence many tumuli were opened 

 solely through avaricious motives. At present a 

 mound is rarely opened except by an association of 

 reliable men whose chief object is to make archaeolog- 

 ical discoveries; and the work is so conducted that 

 little opportunity is given for the practice of deceit. 

 The country is thronged with relic hunters, and some 

 of them can not be trusted to make honest reports of 

 "finds." Although a curiously wrought pipe, vase, 

 weapon, or utensil possesses no intrinsic value, as a 

 relic the article may sell to collectors of such things 

 for several dollars. It is not uncommon for ten dol- 

 lars to be paid for a rare specimen. Common stone 

 axes, hatchets, and skin dressers, will not command 

 more than a dollar or two, and if the lot is somewhat 

 indifferent, two or three pieces may be obtained for a 

 dollar. I have known fancy and highly wrought relics 

 to sell for twenty -five dollars, but such sales are ex- 

 ceedingly rare. In all large cities there are parties 



