These references, which might be indefinitely multiplied, are
sufficient to bear out the assertion that history testifies that
the southern tribes were accustomed to build mounds.

It is a matter of surprise that so little is to be found regarding
the mounds in the older records of the Northern States. There is
but one statement in the Jesuit Relations and no mention in the
writings of the Recollects, so far has been found, and yet one of
the missionaries must have passed a good portion of the winter of
1700 in the very midst of the Cahokia group. Colden notes that "a
round hill was sometimes raised over the grave in which a corpse
had been deposited." [Footnote: Hist. Five Nations, introd., vol.
1, London, 1755, p. 16.] Carver noticed ancient earthworks on the
Mississippi near Lake Pepin, but knew nothing of their origin.
[Footnote: Travels, ed. 1796, Phila., p. 36; ed. 1779, London, p.
57.] Heckewelder observed some of these works near Detroit, which
he was informed had been built by the Indians. An account of them
was published in a Philadelphia periodical in 1780 or 1790. This
description was afterwards given briefly in his "History of the
Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations."

These older records mention facts which afford a reasonable
explanation of some of the ancient monuments found in the northern
section of the country; as for example the communal or tribal
burials, where the bones and remains of all the dead of a village,
region, or tribe, who had died since the last general burial
(usually a period of eight to ten years) were collected and
deposited in one common grave. This method, which was followed by
some southern tribes, has been described by Bartram, [Footnote: