SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS. 219 



the case upon the above hypothesis, for the spear, the arrows, 

 the pipe, and the other implements, and personal ornaments 

 of the dead, would then be found in connection with each 

 other."* 



This conclusion does riot seem altogether satisfactory ; 

 and although these altar- containing mounds differ in so 

 many respects from the above-described tumuli, I still feel 

 disposed to regard them as sepulchral rather than sacrificial. 

 Not having, however, had the advantage of examining them 

 for myself, I throw this out as a suggestion, rather than 

 express it as an opinion. It is difficult to understand why 

 " altars" should be covered up in this manner ; I can call 

 to mind no analogous case. On the other hand, if Professor 

 Nilsson's suggestion with reference to ancient tumuli be 

 correct, the long continued fire will offer no difficulty. 

 Among the Buraets, for instance, the hearth is made of 

 beaten earth, on which a good fire is kept blazing at all 

 times, f Such a house, if used finally as a sepulchre, would 

 present an altar very much like those above described ; while 

 the wooden constructions and the burnt bones will all be ex- 

 plicable on the hypothesis that we have before us a sepulchre, 

 rather than a temple. 



Nor does the " homogeneousness" of the deposits found in 

 these mounds appear so decisive to me as to Messrs. Squier 

 and Davis. Take, for instance, the cases in which pipes are 

 found. The execution of these is so good that " pipe- 

 carving" was no doubt a profession; the division of labor 

 must have already begun. Exactly the same feeling which 

 induces many savage races to bury weapons with the dead 

 hunter, in order that he may supply himself with food in 

 Hades as on earth ; that feeling, which among some ancient 

 nations suggested the placing of money in the grave, would 

 account not only for the presence of these pipes, but also 

 * Squier and Davis, p. 160. t Eman. I.e. vol. ii. p. 408. 



