File:Image from page 968 of "Bulletin" (1901).jpg

English: Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: tStlLL. 30] MOUNTAIN CROWS MOURNING 951 the same as that of the more advanced tribes found inhabiting this region at tiie advent of the whites. Moreover, Euro- pean articles found in mounds, and the statements by early chroniclers, as those of De Soto's expedition, ])rove beyond ques- tion that some of these structures were erected by the Indians in post-Columbian times. The conclusion, reached chiefly through the investigations of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and now gener- ally accepteil, is that the mound builders were the ancestors of the Indians found inhabiting the same region by the first European explorers. The dearth of mounds east of the Allegheny mts., n. of Tennessee and North Carolina, seems to mark the mountain range along this stretch as a prehistoric boundary line. This would seem to indicate that the mound builders did not enter their territory from the Atlantic coast n. of North Carolina. The few ancient structures in New York are now con- ceded to be Iro- quoian, but the particular tribes or groups to which the other mounds are at- tributable can not always be stated with cer- tainty. It is known that some of the tribes in- habiting the Gulf states when De Soto passed through their territory in 1540-41, as the Yuchi, Creeks, Chickasaw, and Natchez, were still using and probably construct- ing mounds, and that the Quapaw of Arkansas were also using them. There is likewise documentary evidence that the "Texas" tribe ^till used mounds at the end of the 17th century, when a chief's house is descril)ed as being built on one (Bolton, inf'n, 1906). There is also suffi- cient evidence to justify the conclusion that the Cherokee and Shawnee were mound builders. No definite conclusion as to what Indians built the Ohio works has yet l)een reached, though it is be- lieved that they were in yiart due to the Cherokee who once inhabited eastern Ohio. According to Miss Fletcher, the Winnebago build miniature mounds in the lodge during certain ceremo- nies. The period during which mound build- ing N. of Mexico lasted can not be de- termined with certainty. That many of the mounds were built a century or two before the appearance of the whites

Text Appearing After Image: is known from the fact that when first observeibliography under Archeology; see also Thomas, (1) Catalogue Prehist. Works E. of Rocky Mts., Bull. B. A. E., 1891, (2) in 12th Rep. B. A. E., 1894, and authorities therein cited. See also An- tiquity, Archeology, Cahokia Mound, Ele- phant Mound, Etotcah Mound, Fort Ancient, Fortifications, Grave Creek Mound, Newark Works, Popular fallacies, Serpent Mound, Shell-heaps. (c. t. ) Mountain Crows. A name applied to the Crows who hunted and roamed in the mountains away from upper Missouri r. Thev separated from the River Crows about 1859. Essapookoon.— Hen- ry, MS. vociib., B. A. E., 1808 (Siha- sajia name). Moun- tain Crows.—Pease 111 Ind. Aff. Rep. 1871, 420, 1872. Skois'chint.— (J 1 or d a, Kalis- peliu Diet., pt. 2, 81, 1879 (Kalispelm name). Mountain Lake. Officially men- tioned as a body of 800 Indians under the East- ern Oregon (Dalles) agency in 1861. The name dropped out of use after 1862, and they have not I )een identified. Si'e Ind. Aff. Rep., 220, 1861; Taylor in Cal. Farmer, June 12, 1863. Mountain Snakes. A name used by Ross (Fur Hunters, I, 250, 1855) for some of the northern Shoshoni; otherwise un- identified. Mount Pleasant. A former Yuchi town in s. E. Georgia, on Savannah r., probably in Screven co., near the mouth of Brier cr. Mourning-. ]Mourning customs vary in different triljes, but there are certain modes of expressing sorrow that are com- mon to all jjarts of the country, and in- deed to all parts of the world, as wailing, discarding personal ornaments, wearing disordered garments, putting clay on the head and sometimes on the joints of the arms and legs, and the sacrifice of prop- erty. Other practices are widespread, as shedding one's l)lood by gashing the arms or legs, cutting off joints of the fingers, unbraiding the hair, cutting off locks and throwing them on the dead or into the grave, and blackening the face or

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