12 MOUND EXPLORING OF THE 



the Indians. It is true that works and papers on American arclireoiof]jy 

 are full of statements to the contrary, which are generally based on the 

 theory that the mound builders belonged to a race of much higher cult- 

 ure than the Indians. Yet, when the facts on which this opinion is 

 based are examined with sober, scientific care, the splendid fabric which 

 has been built upon them by that great workman, imagination, fades 

 from sight. 



Fourth. That each tribe adopted several different methods of burial, 

 these difterences in methods depending, in all probability, to some ex- 

 tent, upon the relative position, social standing, and occupation of the 

 individuals. To justify this conclusion it is only necessary to mention 

 the frequent occurrence of two or three different modes of burial in a 

 single group of similar mounds. 



Fifth. That the custom of removing the flesh before the final burial 

 prevailed very extensively among the mound builders of the northern 

 districts and was not uncommon among those of the southern districts. 

 The proofs of this custom are so abundant and conclusive that it cannot 

 be doubted. Kot only are found the bones of the common people, which 

 have been gathered together and cast into a promiscuous heap with a 

 mound built over them, but graves formed of stone slabs are frequently 

 met with, of less than two feet in length and one in width and deptli, 

 containing the bones of an adult. The bundled skeletons and skeh'ton 

 burials alluded to by the old Jesuit fathers are frequently brouglit to 

 light during the exi)loration of the northerii mouiuls. It is a very com- 

 mon error to suppose that these bone filled mounds are the burial places 

 of warriors slain in some great battle ; the condition and the relations 

 of the bones show beyond question that they were buried after the flesh 

 had been removed, and sometimes after long exposure to the air. 



Sixth. That usually, or at least very often, some kind of religious or 

 superstitious ceremony was performed at the burial, in which fire played 

 a conspicuous part. Notwithstanding the very common belief to the 

 contrary, there is no evidence whatever that human sacrifice, in the true 

 sense, was practiced. It is possible that cremation may have been re- 

 sorted to, to a limited extent; yet the burning of body or bones appears 

 to have been oftener accidental than intentional. 



Seventh. That in the southern districts the large flat topped mounds 

 were occui)ied, as a general rule, by the council houses and the residences 

 of the chiefs aiul principal personages of the tribes. Mound testimony 

 and history are in perfect a«;cord in reference to this point. 



Eighth. That in some of these southern districts, especially those of 

 the valley of the Lower Mississippi, where the bottoms are low, it was 

 the custom to erect dwellings on low mounds apparently constructed 

 for this purpose, and when deaths occurred to bury in the floors of 

 these dwellings, burn the houses, and heap mounds over them before 

 they were entirely consumed or while the embers were yet smohlering. 

 The houses in these districts appear to have been constructed of upright 



