n which the body was placed. That after the
body was consumed, any fragments of bones remaining were gathered,
placed in a pot, and buried, and that the ashes and cinders were
covered by a layer of sand brought from the immediate vicinity for
that purpose. This view is further supported by the fact that only
the shafts of the long bones are found, the expanded extremities,
which would be most easily consumed, having disappeared; also, by
the fact that no bones of children were found. Their bones being
smaller, and containing a less proportion of earthy matter, would be
entirely consumed. * * *

At the Santa Rosa mound the method of burial was different. Here I
found the skeletons complete, and obtained nine well-preserved
skulls. * * * The bodies were not, apparently, deposited upon any
regular system, and I found no objects of interest associated with
the remains. It may be that this was due to the fact that the
skeletons found were those of warriors who had fallen in battle in
which they had sustained defeat. This view is supported by the fact
that they were all males, and that two of the skulls bore marks of
ante-mortem injuries which must have been of a fatal character.

Writing of the Choctaws, Bartram,[22] in alluding to the ossuary, or
bone-house, mentions that so soon as this is filled a general inhumation
takes place, in this manner:

Then the respective coffins are borne by the nearest relatives of
the deceased to the place of interment, where they are all piled one
upon another in the form of a pyramid, and the conical hill of earth
heaped above.

The funeral ceremonies are concluded with the solemnization of a
festival called the feast of the dead.

Florian Gianque, of Cincinnati, Ohio, furnishes an account of a somewhat
curious mound-burial which had taken place in the Miami Valley of Ohio:

A mound was opened in this locality, some years ago, containing a
central corpse in a sitting posture, and over thirty skeletons
buried around it in a circle, also in a sitting posture, but leaning
against one another, tipped over towards the right, facing inwards.
I did not see this opened, but have seen the mounds and many
ornaments, awls, &c., said to have been found near the central body.
The parties informing me are trustworthy.

As an example of interment, unique, so far as known, and interesting as
being _sui generis_, the following description