708 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



frequeut evideuces of tire and partially i-ousuuied bouesj in both we 

 flud iustances where the mortar-like covering', common in this district, 

 has been used ; and in both we occasionally meet with those confused 

 masses of bones which seem to have been gathered from temporary 

 depositories and brought here as a final resting place. Moreover, the 

 transition from one to the other is so gradual as to leave nothing, save 

 the position in tlie mound and tlie xnesence of articles of civilized life, 

 to distinguish the former from the latter. 



A large number of these mounds, as already stated, are unstratitied, 

 each single mound having been thrown up and completed at one time, 

 as suggested by Dr. Hoy,' and not by successive additions; yet iu some 

 of these, as observed by the Bureau agents, skeletons were found at vari- 

 ous depths, some stretched out at full length and others folded up in the 

 same tumulus. In some cases the bones of all were so much decayed 

 that none could be preserved. Several instances of this kind were 

 observed ; in some cases those skeletons and accompanying articles near 

 the surface or top of the mound indicated hurinl after contact with 

 the whites. 



It is apparent from these facts that although some of the burial 

 mounds of this district must be attributed to the so-called "veritable 

 mound-builders,'' others were undoubtedly built by the Indians found 

 inhabiting it at the advent of the whites. There can scarcely be a 

 doubt that some of the small unstratifled tunnili are the work of 

 Indians. If tliis is conceded there would seem to be no halting place 

 short of attributing all of this class to the same race. The fact stated 

 by Dr. Hoy and verified by the Bureau agents, that in some cases there 

 is evidence that the bodies had been " covered by a bark or log roof- 

 ing,"^ is in exact accord with a well-known burinl custom of some of 

 the tribes of the l^orthwest.'' 



These facts fully justify Dr. Lapham's conclusion that they are to be 

 attributed to the Indians. Some, which varied from this type, he was 

 inclined to as(u-ibe to tribes which had migrated, been di'iven off by 

 or incorporateil into other tribes previous to the advent of the white 

 race. But he maintained, and, as the evidence shows, with good rea- 

 son, that the subsecpient tribes, or those found by the Europeans, 

 occupying the country, "continued the practice of mound-building so 

 far as to erect a circular or conical tumulus over the dead.'' He also 

 adds significantly: "This practice appears to bea remnant of ancient 

 customs that connects the mound-builders with the present tribes." ' 



If it be conceded that theunstratifted mounds are the work of Indians, 

 there would seem to be no escape from the conclusion that most of the 

 burial mounds of the same section are tobeascribed to them, for although 



■Lapham's AutiqiiiHes of Wiacoosiu, p. 10. 

 ■Loc. cit. 



3Dr. Yarrow s lldrliMn \ Ciisliii.is, 1st Aim. Kcji. Biireiiii Ethii., iiji. :i4;iiiil 141. Sili.i.ilinifl'.s Hist. 

 Inil. Trilie.**. Vol. ill, \t \'x\. 

 'Ibid., p. 89. 



