unpublished reports of the Bureau show that this custom prevailed
to a certain extent in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina,
Missouri, Ohio, and West Virginia. Instances have also been
observed elsewhere. [Footnote: Jones's Antiq. So. Indians (Georgia
and Florida). pp. 183-185.] That the same custom was followed by
several of the Indian tribes is attested by the following
authorities: Bossu, [Footnote: Travels, vol. 1, p. 251.] Lawson,
[Footnote: Hist. Carolina, p. 182.] Bartram, [Footnote: Travels,
p. 515.] and Adair.[Footnote: Hist. Am. Indians, p. 182.]

The use of fire in burial ceremonies.--Another observance in which
the burial customs of mound-builders corresponded with those of
Indians was the use of fire in funeral ceremonies. The evidences
of this custom are so common in mounds as to lead to the
supposition that the mound-builders were in the habit of offering
human sacrifices to their deities. Although charred and even
almost wholly consumed human bones are often found, showing that
bodies or skeletons were sometimes burned, it does not necessarily
follow that they were offered as sacrifices. Moreover, judging
from all the data in our possession, the weight of evidence seems
to be decidedly against such conclusion.

Among the Indians fire appears to have been connected with the
mortuary ceremonies in several ways. One use of it was to burn the
flesh and softer portions of the body when removed from the bones.
[Footnote: Barnard Romans, Nat. Hist. Florida, p. 90.] Breboeuf
also mentions its use in connection with the communal burial of
the Hurons. [Footnote: Jesuit Relations for 1636, p. 135.]
According to M. B. Kent [Footnote: Yarrow's Mort. Customs N. A.
Indians, 1st Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnology (1881), P. 95.] it was the