14 
REVIEWS. 
garded as the remains of mud villages. Mr. Dille # has examined and 
described some small tumuli observed by him in Missouri. He dug 
into several, but never succeeded in finding anything except coals 
and a few pieces of rude pottery, whence he concluded that they 
were the remains of mud houses.f The Mandans, Minatarees, and 
some other tribes also built their huts of earth, resting on a frame¬ 
work of wood. 
On the other hand, there are some tumuli to which it would seem 
that this explanation is quite inapplicable, and which are full of 
human remains. This was long supposed to be the case with 
the great Grave Creek Mound, which indeed was positively de¬ 
scribed by Atwater,{ to be full of human remains. This has 
turned out to be an error, but the statement is not the less true as 
regards other mounds. In conjunction with them may be mentioned 
the “ bone pits,” many of which are described by Mr. Squier.§ “One 
“ of these pits discovered some years ago in the town of Cambria, 
“ Niagara county, was estimated to contain the bones of several 
“ thousand individuals. Another which I visited in the town of 
“ Clarence, Erie county, contained not less than four hundred skele- 
“ tons.” A tumulus described by Mr. Jefferson in his ‘ Notes on 
Virginia,’ was estimated to contain the skeletons of a thousand indivi¬ 
duals, but in this case the number was perhaps exaggerated. 
The description given by various old writers of the solemn 
“ Eestival of the Dead,” satisfactorily explains these large collections 
of bones. It seems that every eight or ten years the Indians met at 
some place previously chosen, that they dug up their dead, collected 
the bones together, and laid them in one common burial place, de¬ 
positing with them fine skins and other valuable articles. 
Sacrificial Mounds. 
“ The name of Sacrificial Mounds,” says Dr. Wilson, “ has been 
“ conferred on a class of ancient monuments, altogether peculiar 
“ to the New World, and highly illustrative of the rites and cus- 
“ toms of the ancient races of the Mounds. This remarkable 
“ class of mounds has been very carefully explored, and their most 
“ noticeable characteristics are, their almost invariable occurrence 
“ within enclosures; their regular construction in uniform layers of 
“ gravel, earth, and sand, disposed alternately in strata conformable 
“ to the shape of the mound; and their covering a symmetrical altar 
“■ of burnt clay or stone, on which are deposited numerous relics, in 
“ all instances exhibiting traces, more or less abundant, of their 
“ having been exposed to the action of fire.” The so-called “ altar ” 
* Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. i. p. 136. 
f Archseologia Americana, Vol i. p. 223. 
j See also Lapham, 1. c. p. 80. 
§ L. c. p. 25, 56, 57, 68, 71, 73, 106, 107. Squier and Davis, 1. c. p. 118, &c. 
