CONSTRUCTION OF MOUNDS BY THE EXISTING- INDIAN TRIBES. 



We have, in the quotation from Bartram, on page 68, evidence (not the most 

 conclusive, it is true), that some of the mounds of the South were general ceme- 

 teries, and are not of a very high antiquity. Recent investigations have shown 

 that burials in these were frequent ; but this was seldom the primary purpose to 

 which they were dedicated. Most of the mounds of the South were of sacred 

 origin — the " high places" and temples of the aborigines. Among the Natchez, 

 the bones of the dead were placed in the temples of the tribe, and occasionally, if 

 not always, finally buried there. These temples are represented to have been 

 erected upon mounds or artificial elevations of earth ; but it is not stated distinctly 

 whether they were the work of this people, or simply appropriated by them. 

 Within these temples, upon the death of the Suns or religious heads of the nation, 

 were buried the victims which were put to death on the occasion. — (^Charlevoix, Vol. 

 II., p. 264; Du Pratz, p. 356.) These customs may account for the presence of 

 numbers of human skeletons in some of these structures. The custom of burying 

 in sacred places was of very general acceptance throughout the world : and the 

 peculiar veneration which attached to tombs, often led to their consecration as 

 temples. 



In a letter dated Mt. Sylvan, Mississippi, August, 1847, Mr. R. Morris presents 

 the following facts respecting the mounds of that region. " A mound which I 

 opened last summer, twelve miles southeast from this place, had in it not less than 

 fifty full skeletons, all pretty near the surface. They were packed without order, 

 with layers of pounded clay between them. Those nearest the top were black 

 and quite fresh, but lower down they were greatly decayed. No relics accompa- 

 nied them, although in the graves where the later races buried their dead, are 

 found many ornaments, utensils, and weapons. 



" A few miles from Panola, there is a mound quite full of human bones. Hun- 

 dreds may be thrown out with a sharpened cane. Another mound, about twelve 

 miles north of the place just named, was opened a year or two since. In the 

 centre was found a structure like a cistern, nearly round, four feet across, and 

 filled with soil. This being removed, an earthen vessel of singular form and 

 material was taken out." 



The burial-mounds of Florida, from what we can gather concerning them, have 

 peculiarities in the arrangement of the skeletons, not elsewhere observed. These 

 mounds are seldom of large size, and do not generally appear to be connected 

 with other works. They range from four to eighteen feet in height, and are usually 

 comprised of earth and sand, but are sometimes principally made up of decayed 

 shells. The skeletons, it is said, are found arranged in radiating circles, from top 



