, and then covered over by many feet of
earth. We may not wonder, however, at this, as even now many old
churches are abandoned to the fate of being turned into dwelling
houses or barns.

It may be, however, that after the decease of the priest who performed
his sacred functions before the altar for many years, the people, to
whom he had so long ministered, laid, or burned his remains on the
altar which they so much revered, and then, like the ancient builders
of the pyramids, erected a monument to departed worth, and during the
strange ritual deposited beside the respected remains whatever
implements or ornaments they could part with, in honor of the dead.

_Burial Mounds_.--As in modern days, a place of sepulture is usually
selected some distance from the city or town, so the burial mounds may
be expected without the enclosures. In our own time we find some
cemeteries densely populated with graves, and others have but few. So
it was in the days of the Mound-builders; for we find in some places
groups of burial mounds, and in other places only a few may be found
scattered over the plain.

Burial mounds are of various sizes, I presume, according to the
dignity of the individual entombed. Sometimes one large mound is found
to possess a skeleton, and some interesting relics, which indicate the
position of the departed, while a group of smaller mounds is situated
around it. The large one perhaps contained the skeleton of a leader,
surrounded by a few of his intimate followers. Or perhaps it was that
of a patriarch, surrounded by his numerous progeny, much as, in our
own day, burial plots are set apart for families.

Grave Creek burial mound, which stands at the junction of Grave Creek,
Virginia, with the Ohio, is one of the largest and most important
burial mounds in America. It is 70 feet in height and at its base it
is 1,000 feet in circumference. When this mound was opened, two vaults
were found, one at the base contained two skeletons, one of them a
female. The logs of which this vault was composed were all decayed,
and the earth and stones lay upon the skeletons. In the upper vault
there was a single skeleton very much decayed. Within these vaults and
beside the illustrous dead, were found more than 3,000 shell-beads,
ornaments of mica, copper bracelets, and other stone carvings. Around
the lower vault were found ten much decayed skeletons, all in a
sitting posture.

The skeletons in the vaults, doubtless, were