122 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
loam, and filled around the bodies with white or yellow sand, which I suppose was 
carried from the river-bank, 200 yards distant. ‘The skeletons approximated the walls 
of the grave, and contiguous to them was a dark-colored earth, and so decidedly dif- 
ferent was this from all surrounding it, both in quality and odor, that the line of the 
bodies could be readily traced. The odor of this decomposed earth, which had been 
flesh, was similar to clotted blood, and wonld adhere in lumps when compressed in 
the hand. 
This was not the grave of the Indian warriors ; in those we find pots made of earth 
or stone, and all the implements of war, for the warrior had an idea that after he arose 
from the dead he would need, in the “ hunting-grounds beyond,” his bow and arrow, 
war-hatchet, and scalping-knife. 
The facts set forth will doubtless convince every Mason who will carefully read the 
account of this remarkable burial that the American Indians wers in posession of at 
least some of the mysteries of our order, and that it was evidently the grave of Masons, 
and the three highest officers in a Masonic lodge. The grave was situated due east 
and west; an altar was erected in the center; the south, west, and east were occu- 
pied—the north was not; implements of authority were near each body. The difference 
in the quality of the beads, the tomahawks in one, two, and three pieces, and the dif- 
ference in distance that the bodies were placed from the surface, indicate beyond doubt 
that these three persons had been buried by Masons, and those, too, that understood 
what they were doing. 
Will some learned Mason unravel this mystery and inform the Masonic world how 
the Indians obtained so much Masonic information ? 
The tomahawks, maxillary bones, some of the teeth, beads, and other bones, have 
been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., to be placed 
among the archives of that institution for exhibition, at which place they may be seen. 
Should Dr. Spainhour’s inferences be incorrect, there is still a remark- 
able coincidence of circumstances patent to every Mason. 
In support of this gentleman’s views, attention is called to the descrip- 
tion of the Midawan—a ceremony of initiation for would-be medicine 
men—in Schooleraft’s History of the Indian Tribes of the United States, 
1855, p. 428, relating to the Sioux and Chippewas. In this account are 
found certain forms and resemblances which have led some to believe 
that the Indians possessed a knowledge of Masonry. 
BURIAL BENEATH, OR IN CABINS, WIGWAMS, OR HOUSES. 
While there is a certain degree of similitude between the above-noted 
methods and the one to be mentioned subsequently—lodge burial—they 
differ, inasmuch as the latter are examples of surface or aerial burial, 
and must consequently fall under another caption. The narratives which 
are now to be given afford a clear idea of the former kinds of burial. 
Bartram* relates the following regarding the Muscegulges of the 
Carolinas: 
The Muscogulges bury their deceased in the earth; they dig a four-foot, square, 
deep pit under the cabin, or couch which the deceased laid on in his house, lining the 
grave with cypress bark, when they place the corpse in a sitting posture, as if if were 
alive, depositing with him his gun, tomahawk, pipe, and such other matters as he 
* Bartram’s Travels, 1791, p. 515. 
