tStlLL. 30] 



MOUNTAIN CROWS MOURNING 



951 



the same as that of the more advanced 

 tribes found inhabiting this region at tiie 

 advent of the whites. Moreover, Euro- 

 pean articles found in mounds, and the 

 statements by early chroniclers, as those of 

 De Soto's expedition, ])rove beyond ques- 

 tion that some of these structures were 

 erected by the Indians in post-Columbian 

 times. The conclusion, reached chiefly 

 through the investigations of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, and now gener- 

 ally accepteil, is that the mound builders 

 were the ancestors of the Indians found 

 inhabiting the same region by the first 

 European explorers. The dearth of 

 mounds east of the Allegheny mts., n. of 

 Tennessee and North Carolina, seems to 

 mark the mountain range along this stretch 

 as a prehistoric boundary line. This 

 would seem to indicate that the mound 

 builders did not enter their territory from 

 the Atlantic coast n. of North Carolina. 

 The few ancient structures in New York 

 are now con- 

 ceded to be Iro- 

 quoian, but the 

 particular tribes 

 or groups to 

 which the other 

 mounds are at- 

 tributable can 

 not always be 

 stated with cer- 

 tainty. It is 

 known that some 

 of the tribes in- 

 habiting the 

 Gulf states when 

 De Soto passed 

 through their 

 territory in 

 1540-41, as the 

 Yuchi, Creeks, Chickasaw, and Natchez, 

 were still using and probably construct- 

 ing mounds, and that the Quapaw of 

 Arkansas were also using them. There 

 is likewise documentary evidence that the 

 "Texas" tribe ^till used mounds at the 

 end of the 17th century, when a chief's 

 house is descril)ed as being built on one 

 ( Bolton, inf'n, 1906) . There is also suffi- 

 cient evidence to justify the conclusion 

 that the Cherokee and Shawnee were 

 mound builders. No definite conclusion 

 as to what Indians built the Ohio works 

 has yet l)een reached, though it is be- 

 lieved that they were in yiart due to the 

 Cherokee who once inhabited eastern 

 Ohio. According to Miss Fletcher, the 

 Winnebago build miniature mounds 

 in the lodge during certain ceremo- 

 nies. 



The period during which mound build- 

 ing N. of Mexico lasted can not be de- 

 termined with certainty. That many 

 of the mounds were built a century or 

 two before the appearance of the whites 



is known from the fact that when first 

 observe<l they were covered with a heavy 

 forest growth. Nothing, however, has 

 been found in them to indicate great an- 

 tiquity, and the present tendency among 

 archeologists is to assign them to the 

 period subsequent to the beginning of the 

 Christian era. 



For tlie literature of the mounds con- 

 sult the l>ibliography under Archeology ; 

 see also Thomas, (1) Catalogue Prehist. 

 Works E. of Rocky Mts., Bull. B. A. E., 

 1891, (2) in 12th Rep. B. A. E., 1894, and 

 authorities therein cited. See also An- 

 tiquity, Archeology, Cahokia Mound, Ele- 

 phant Mound, Etotcah Mound, Fort Ancient, 

 Fortifications, Grave Creek Mound, Newark 

 Works, Popular fallacies, Serpent Mound, 

 Shell-heaps. (c. t. ) 



Mountain Crows. A name applied to the 

 Crows who hunted and roamed in the 

 mountains away from upper Missouri r. 

 Thev separated from the River Crows 

 about 1859. 

 Essapookoon. — Hen- 

 ry, MS. vociib., B. 

 A. E., 1808 (Siha- 

 sajia name). Moun- 

 tain Crows. — Pease 

 111 Ind. Aff. Rep. 

 1871, 420, 1872. 

 Skois'chint. — 

 (J 1 or d a, Kalis- 

 peliu Diet., pt. 2, 

 81, 1879 (Kalispelm 

 name). 



Mountain Lake. 

 Officially men- 

 tioned as a body 

 of 800 Indians 

 under the East- 

 ern Oregon 

 (Dalles) agency 

 in 1861. The 

 name dropped 

 out of use after 1 862, and they have not I )een 

 identified. Si'e Ind. Aff. Rep., 220, 1861; 

 Taylor in Cal. Farmer, June 12, 1863. 



Mountain Snakes. A name used by 

 Ross (Fur Hunters, I, 250, 1855) for some 

 of the northern Shoshoni; otherwise un- 

 identified. 



Mount Pleasant. A former Yuchi town 

 in s. E. Georgia, on Savannah r. , probably 

 in Screven co. , near the mouth of Brier cr. 

 Mourning-. ]Mourning customs vary in 

 different triljes, but there are certain 

 modes of expressing sorrow that are com- 

 mon to all jjarts of the country, and in- 

 deed to all parts of the world, as wailing, 

 discarding personal ornaments, wearing 

 disordered garments, putting clay on the 

 head and sometimes on the joints of the 

 arms and legs, and the sacrifice of prop- 

 erty. Other practices are widespread, as 

 shedding one's l)lood by gashing the arms 

 or legs, cutting off joints of the fingers, 

 unbraiding the hair, cutting off locks 

 and throwing them on the dead or into 

 the grave, and blackening the face or 



