28 MOUND BURIAL— NORTH CAROLINA 



length, but was broken into three pieces, and was composed of much better 

 material, and better finished than the others. Beads were also found on 

 the neck of this, but much smaller and finer than those of the others. A 

 larger amount of paint than both of the others was found near this one. 

 The top of the cranium had been moved by the plow. The bones indicated 

 a person of 40 years of age. 



"There was no appearance of hair discovered; besides, the smaller 

 bones were almost entirely decomposed, and would crumble when taken 

 from their bed in the earth. These two circumstances, coupled with the 

 fact that the farm on which this grave was found was the first settled in 

 that part of the country, the date of the first deed made from Lord Gran- 

 ville to John Perkins running back about 150 years (the land still belong- 

 ing to the descendants of the same family that first occupied it), would 

 prove beyond doubt that it is a very old grave. 



" The grave was situated due east and west, in size about 9 by 6 feet, 

 the line being distinctly marked by the difference in the color of the soil. 

 It was dug in rich, black loam, and filled around the bodies with white or 

 yellow sand, which I suppose was carried from the river-bank, 200 yards 

 distant. The skeletons approximated the walls of the grave, and contigu- 

 ous to them was a dark-colored earth, and so decidedly different was this 

 from all surrounding it, both in quality and odor, that the line of the bodies 

 could be readily traced. The odor of this decomposed earth, which had 

 been flesh, was similar to clotted blood, and would adhere in lumps when 

 compressed in the hand. 



" This was not the grave of the Indian warriors ; in those we find pots 

 made of earth or stone, and all the implements of war, for the warrior had 

 an idea that after he arose from the dead he would need, in the " hunting- 

 grounds beyond," his bow and arrow, war-Hatchet, and scalping-knife. 



"The facts set forth will doubtless convince every Mason who will 

 carefully read the account of this remarkable burial that the American 

 Indians were in possession of at least some of the mysteries of our order, 

 and that it was evidently the grave of Masons, and the three highest officers 

 in a Masonic lodge. The grave was situated due east and west ; an altar 

 was erected in the center; the south, west, and east were occupied — the north 



