146 . BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



Davis as No. 2, Plate XXIX, in Ancient Monuments of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. The irregular work was compared "to the animal- 

 shaped mounds of Wisconsin." Its height was given as from 1 to 8 

 feet, and "of the form and relative size indicated in the plan." But, 

 unfortunately, no attempt was made to examine the interior. 



CONCLUSION 



With the development of the country beiAveen the Atlantic and 

 the Mississippi, the cutting away of the great virgin forests and the 

 cultivation of the soil, the erection of new towns and the expansion 

 of the older ones, all traces of the former period of aboriginal occu- 

 pancy are rapidly disappearing. The native villages no longer stand 

 and the sites of many are now covered by cities, each having a popu- 

 lation greater than that of all the tribes east of the Mississippi three 

 centuries ago. The ancient mounds and earthworks are being leveled 

 by the plow, and in the cemeteries the remains of the dead are fast 

 crumbling to dust. Thus is passing all evidence of those who occu- 

 pied the land when it was entered by Europeans. And although 

 much still remains to indicate the positions of Indian settlements, 

 nevertheless it is easily conceived that little will be discernible by 

 the close of the century. Considering this great change which has 

 occurred within a few generations it is interesting to study the 

 peculiar manners and customs of the native tribes of this part of 

 North America. 



On the preceding pages are revealed some of the burial customs 

 of the native tribes, as practiced by them when first visited by Euro- 

 peans, and as described and recorded in the journals and accounts 

 prepared by the early explorers and missionaries. 



The vast territory was the home of many tribes, some small, others 

 larger, forming groups in which the different tribes were connected 

 linguistically. Often the tribes of one linguistic family possessed 

 many customs in common, but this was not true of all. In every sec- 

 tion of the country it has been possible to identify the makers of a 

 large proportion of the ancient graves, although seldom did one tribe 

 follow a single method of disposing of their dead to the exclusion of 

 all others ; nevertheless every tribe appears to have had some charac- 

 teristic form of burial. But the identification of many burials in 

 some parts of the country is made especially difficult by reason of the 

 tribes having moved about from place to place. This is particularly 

 true of the region north of the Ohio, where, during the past two and 

 one-half centuries, the Algonquian tribes have seldom remained long 

 in any locality, but during the same period the southern tribes have 

 been more sedentary, and where many were discovered by the Span- 

 iards about the year 1540, they continued to dwell for three centuries. 

 Now, summarizing the many quotations brought together, it is evi- 



