126 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 71 



woiiltl uiKloubtetll}' have ^c.Mllo^"L'd one or more strata of huniaii 

 remains. Siicli a mass of bodies, or ratlier parts of bodies, probably 

 represented an accnmulation during several generations. It nnist 

 have been a place of renown among the ancient inhabitants of the 

 valley of the Rivanna, and this may have been the site of the 

 town of M onasfiuhapanmigh. That it was an important place is in- 

 dicated by another statement by Jefferson (op. cit.), who, when writ- 

 ing of mounds in general, but of the " Indian grave " in particular, 

 said : " But on whatever occasion they may have been made, they 

 are of considerable notoriety among the Indians; for a party pass- 

 ing, about thirty years ago, through the part of the country where 

 this barrow is. went through the woods directly to it, without any 

 instructions or enquiry, and having staid about it some time, with 

 expressions which were construed to be those of sorrow, they re- 

 turned to the high road, which they had left about half a dozen 

 miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey." This visit prob- 

 ably took place about the time the land was granted to the settlers, 

 and the Indians who so well knew of the situation of this burial 

 place must have been some who had formerly lived in the near-by 

 A'illage. A plan of this interesting area is given in figure 15, the 

 approximate site of the " Indian grave " being indicated by the heavy 

 dot. In plate ll are shown several views of the same area. Looking 

 northward across the Rivanna, <?, the sites of the village and an- 

 cient mound are visible on the level lowland, just before reaching 

 the first line of trees which stands along the right bank of the 

 river. The second, &, is looking northwestward, along the cliffs 

 which bound the lowland, and c shows the Rivanna in front of the 

 land once occupied by the native village. At the present time the 

 surface upon which the settlement stood is covered by nearly 3 feet 

 of alluvium, deposited by the waters of the Rivanna during freshets. 

 During rex;ent years, floods have several times cut into tliis upper 

 stratum, and when the waters receded various objects of Indian origin 

 were discovered, thus proving the location of a native town. (Rush- 

 nell, (4).) And it is said that within a century other Indians 

 stopped here, a site known to them, while moving from place to place, 

 Init who they were, or whence they came, may never be revealed. 



Another great burial place, evidently similar to the "Indian grave," 

 stood on the right bank of the Rapidan about 1 mile east of the 

 boundary between Orange and (ireene Counties, Virginia, and in an 

 air line about 15 miles from the latter. A great part of the structure 

 had been washed away by the river, which, having formed a new 

 channel, reached to the base of the mound, a part bemg undermined 

 and carried away by the current. It was estimatetl to have been 

 originally not less than 12 feet in height, and the diameters of its 

 base were probably about 50 and 75 feet. When the remaining portion 



