BUSHNELLl NATH'E CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 111 



and warlike appendages are deposited with liim. The grave is then 

 covered Avith canes tied to a hoop round the top of the hole, and 

 then a firm layer of clay, sufficient to support the weight of a man. 

 The relations howl loudly and mourn publicly for four days. If the 

 deceased has been a man of eminent character, the family immedi- 

 ately remove from the house in which he is buried, and erect a new 

 one, with a belief that where the bones of their dead are deposited, 

 the place is always attended by ' goblins and chimeras dire.' They 

 believe there is a state of future existence, and that according to the 

 tenor of their lives they shall hereafter be rewarded with the privi- 

 lege of hunting in the realms of the Master of Breath, or of becoming 

 Seminolies [i. e. wanderers] in the regions of the old sorcerer. But 

 as it is very difficult for them to draw any parallel between virtue 

 and vice, they are most of them flattered with the expectation of 

 hereafter becoming great war-leaders, or swift hunters in the beloved 

 country of the great Hesakadum Esse." (Schoolcraft, (2), V, p. 

 270.) 



Several mounds of the greatest interest have been discovered in 

 the territory which was formerly the home of Muskhogean tribes, 

 and from their nature it is evident they were constructed long after 

 the coming of the Spaniards. One stood about one-quarter mile 

 from the left bank of Alabama Biver, G miles below the city of Mont- 

 gomery, in Montgomery Countj^, Alabama. This was in the midst 

 of the Creek towns. The mound was 9 feet in height, with a diameter 

 of 67 feet. Objects of iron, of glass, and other materials, all derived 

 from the Avhites, were encountered throughout the work, from the 

 summit to the base, which proves the entire work to have been 

 erected after the advent of Europeans. And, in addition to these 

 objects of foreign make, were associated others of stone, shell, and 

 earthenware of aboriginal workmanship. This was one of the most 

 remarkable of the many mounds examined hj Moore throughout the 

 South. Two others far south of the preceding, also discovered by 

 Moore, may be mentioned. Of these the first was situated about 200 

 yards north of Alligator Harbor and 1 mile from its lower end, in 

 Franklin County, Florida. When examined, 79 burials were dis- 

 covered, among them the flexed; the bunched, which sometimes in- 

 cluded several skulls together; and bones scattered. All the burials 

 were in the southeastern half of the mound, and in the same section 

 were encountered 62 pottery vessels and various objects of stone and 

 shell. The lack of European objects in this mound makes it appear 

 to be quite ancient, but in the adjoining county of Calhoun, on the 

 northern bank of Chipola cut-off, stood a mound which had un- 

 doubtedly been reared at a much later time, as glass beads and pieces 

 of brass, found at the base of the work, indicate the entire tumulus 



