BUSHNELL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 135 



fire." Many implements and ornaments were found associated with 

 the burials. These included stone celts and one of iron, and shell and 

 cojjper beads of different forms, while resting upon one skeleton was 

 a copper ornament 4 inches in diameter and perforated through the 

 center. Pieces of galena were met with in different burials. Pipes 

 of stone and some of pottery were likewise found. The area ad- 

 joining the cemetery was evidently occupied by the village, and 

 many objects of stone and copper, fragments of pottery vessels, 

 beads, and broken pipes are found scattered about, " and in every 

 direction calcined stones are plentiful." This was evidently the site 

 of an important town of two centuries or more ago. 



In the far southeastern section of the region once occupied by 

 Siouan tribes, in Duplin County, North Carolina, are several burial 

 mounds which may have been erected by these people long before 

 the coming of the colonists to the Cape Fear. The mounds were 

 carefully examined some years ago by the late Dr. J. A. Holmes, 

 and one in particular recalls the burial mounds of piedmont Vir- 

 ginia, likewise attributed to a Siouan tribe. This stood al)out one- 

 half mile southwest of the court house at Kenansville, Duplin 

 County, on a dry, sandy ridge. When examined it was only 3 feet 

 in height and 35 feet in diameter. Its height was probably much 

 reduced since erection. It was found to contain 60 burials, and with 

 few exceptions the skeletons had been closely flexed. " In a few 

 cases the skeletons occurred singly, while in other cases several 

 were found in actual contact with one another; and in one portion 

 of the mound, hear the outer edge, twenty-one skeletons were found 

 placed within a space of six feet square. Here, in the case last men- 

 tioned, several of the skeletons lay side by side, others on top of 

 these, parallel to them, while still others lay on top of and across 

 the first. When one skeleton was located above another, in some 

 cases the two were in actual contact, in other cases they were sepa- 

 rated by one foot or more of soil. Many fragments of j)ottery, and 

 small pieces of charcoal were scattered throughout the mound. No 

 implements of any form were found. Near the skull of one skeleton 

 were discovered about seventy-five small shells, Marginella roscida, 

 which had served as beads. The apex of each one had been ground 

 off obliquely so as to leave an opening passing through the shell from 

 the apex to the anterior canal." (Sprunt, (1).) A-s stated above, 

 this mound is suggestive of others discovered northward in piedmont 

 Virginia. 



THE BILOXI AND PASCAGOTJLA 



The " Siouan Tribes of the East," whose burial customs so far 

 as known are detailed on the preceding pages, were carefully 

 studied some years ago, at which time all available notes were gath- 



