mark sufficiently clear of the hope of a future life which nature seems
to furnish us in the minds of these people, as a good means of making
them understand the promises of Jesus Christ. Is there not reason to
hope that they will do this, and that as soon as possible? Certainly I
dare to assert that with this prospect we have reason to fortify our
courage and to say of our Hurons what St. Paul wrote to the
Philippians: "_Confidens hoc ipsum, quia qui c[oe]pit in vobis opus
bonum, perficiet usque in diem Christi Iesu._" These poor people open
their ears to what we tell them of the kingdom of heaven; they think it
very reasonable, and do not dare to contradict it. They are learning the
judgments of God in the other life; they are beginning to have recourse
with us to His goodness in their necessities, and our Lord seems to
favor them sometimes with some particular assistance. They procure
baptism for those who they think are about to die; they give us their
children to be instructed, even permitting them to come three hundred
leagues for this purpose, notwithstanding the tender affection they have
for them; they promise to follow them one day and show us that they
would not give us such precious pledges if they did not desire to keep
faith with us. You would say that they were waiting only to see some one
among them to be the first to take this bold step and dare to go
contrary to the custom of the country. They are, finally, a people who
have a permanent home (demeure arrestée), are judicious, capable of
reason, and well multiplied.
I made mention, the past year, of twelve nations entirely sedentary and
harmonious, who understand the language of our Hurons; and the Hurons
make in, twenty villages, about 30,000 souls; if the rest is in
proportion, there are more than 300,000 who speak only the Huron
language. God gives us influence among them; they esteem us, and we are
in such favor with them, that we know not whom to listen to, so much
does each one aspire to have us. In truth we would be very ungrateful
for the goodness of God if we should lose courage in the midst of all
this, and did not wait for Him to bring forth the fruit in his own time.
It is true that I have some little apprehension for the time when it
will be necessary to speak to them in a new way of their manners and to
teach them "à clouër leur chairs" and restrain themselves in the honesty
of marriage, breaking off their excesses for fear of the judgment of God
upon their vices. Then it will be a question of telling them openly,
"_Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum Dei non possidebunt._" I fear that they
will prove stubborn, when we speak to them of assuming Jesus Christ,
wearing his colors, and distinguishing themselves in the quality of
Christians from what they have been formerly, by a virtue of which they
scarcely know the name; when we cry unto them with the Apostle: "For
this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain
from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his
vessel in sanctification and honor: not in the passion of lust, like the
gentiles that know not God." There is, I repeat, reason to fear that
they may be frightened with the subject of purity and chastity, and that
they will be disheartened with the doctrine of the Son of God, saying
with those of Capernaum, on another subject, "_Durus est hic sermo et
quis potest eum audire?_" Nevertheless, since with the grace of God we
have already persuaded them, by the open profession we have made of this
virtue, neither to do or say in our presence anything which may be
averse to it--even to threaten strangers when they forget themselves
before us, warning them that the French and especially the "black
robes," detest these intimacies--is it not credible that if the Holy
Spirit touches them once, it will so impress upon them henceforth, in
every place and at all times, the reverence which they should give to
His divine presence and immensity, that they will be glad to be chaste
in order to be Christians, and will desire earnestly to be Christians in
order to be chaste? I believe that it is for this very purpose that our
Lord has inspired us to put them under the charge of St. Joseph. This
great saint, who was formerly given for a husband to the glorious
Virgin, to conceal from the world and the devil a virginity which God
honored with His incarnation, has so much influence over the "Sainte
Dame," in whose hands His Son has placed, as in deposit, all the graces
which co-operate with this celestial virtue, that there is almost
nothing to fear in the contrary vice, for those who are devoted to Him,
as we desire our Hurons to be, as well as ourselves. It is for this
purpose, and for the entire conversion of all these peoples, that we
commend ourselves heartily to the prayers of all those who love or wish
to love God and especially of all our fathers and brothers.
Your very humble and obedient servant in our Lord,
JEAN DE BREBEUF.
From the residence of St. Joseph, among the Hurons, at the village
called Ihonatiria, this 16th of July, 1636.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Ancient Monuments, p. 161.
[2] It is somewhat strange that Rev. J. P. MacLean, who has long resided
in Ohio and has studied the mounds and other works of the southern
portion of that State with much care, should follow almost word for word
this and the next statement of Squier and Davis (Mound-Builders, p. 50)
and adopt them as his own, without modification or protest, when in the
appendix containing his exceedingly valuable notes on the "Archæology of
Butler County" nearly all the facts given bearing on these points show
them to be incorrect.
[3] Ancient Monuments, p. 161.
[4] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 9.
[5] Smithsonian Report 1879, p. 337.
[6] Smithsonian Report 1879, p. 343.
[7] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 28.
[8] Pioneer Life.
[9] Potherie, Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, II, p. 43.
[10] History of Indian Tribes of the United States, Part III, p. 193.
[11] As Dr. Yarrow has described the burial customs of the North
American Indians in the first Annual Report of the Bureau, I will omit
further quotations and refer the reader to his paper.
[12] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 89.
[13] Pp. 90-92.
[14] Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, Vol. I, pp.
118-122.
[15] I wish it distinctly understood, that I do not by the use of this
term, commit myself to the theory that these mounds or any others
contain altars in the true sense of the term, as I very much doubt it.
[16] Brevis Narratio, Plate XXX. Admiranda Narratio, Plate XIX
[17] M[oe]urs des Sauvages, II, p. 4.
[18] See "Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio" by M. F. Force, pp.
18-20.
[19] According to Drake, "Indians of North America," he died October 3,
1838.
[20] Ancient Monuments, p. 162.
[21] Brevis Narratio, Tab. XI.
[22] American Antiquarian, October, 1881, p. 14.
[23] Pages 533-6.
[24] Smithsonian Report 1881, p. 537.
[25] Counting from the southern end of the line.
[26] Ancient Monuments, p. 161. It may be remarked here that the
statement that "urn burial appears to have prevailed to a considerable
extent in the Southern States" cannot be sustained by facts.
[27] Smithsonian Report 1866, p. 359.
[28] See, also, Smithsonian Report 1881, p. 596.
[29] Smithsonian Report 1877, p. 264.
[30] Page 598.
[31] Page 35.
[32] See 17th Report Peabody Museum, pp. 339-347.
[33] 17th Report Peabody Museum, pp. 342-343.
[34] 17th Report Peabody Museum, p. 344.
[35] Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio, by M. F. Force, 1879, p. 3.
[36] The circles and parallelograms in Figs. 32 and 33 have no other
significance than to indicate the relative positions of the graves and
the positions of the skeletons.
[37] M[oe]urs des Sauvages Amériquains, II, pp. 447-445.
[38] Jesuit Relations for 1636, pp. 128-139. For a translation of the
lively description of the burial ceremonies of the Hurons by Father
Brebeuf, see "Supplemental Note," at the end of this paper.
[39] Smithsonian Report, 1871, pp. 404, 405.
[40] Smithsonian Report 1867, p. 401.
[41] Smithsonian Report 1870, p. 378.
[42] See, for example, Foster's "Prehistoric Races," p. 97; Squier and
Davis's, "Ancient Monuments," p. 30; Baldwin's "Ancient America," p. 57;
Bancroft's "Native Races," IV, p. 785; Conant's "Foot-Prints of Vanished
Races," p. 38; Marquis de Nadaillac's "L'Amérique Préhistorique," p.
185, etc.
[43] Sixteenth and Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 346.
[44] Referred to by Dr. Haven, Smithsonian Contributions, VIII, p. 25.
[45] Transactions of the American Philological Society, Vol. III.
[46] Archæology of the United States, Smithsonian Contributions, Vol.
VIII, p. 31.
[47] Page 253.
[48] Vol. I, p. 353, 3d edition.
[49] Ancient America, pp. 70-75.
[50] American Antiquities, p. 71.
[51] Prehistoric Races, p. 339.
[52] Tenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 75.
[53] Travels, p. 365.
[54] Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey, Vol. II.
[55] Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 225.
[56] Ramsey. Annals of Tennessee, p. 51.
[57] Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 223.
[58] Discoveries, etc., p. 3, London edition, 1672.
[59] Discoveries, London edition, p. 20.
[60] Pages 33-39.
[61] Jones, Southern Indians, p. 18.
[62] Page 169.
[63] History of Carolina, Raleigh, reprint, 1850, p. 315.
[64] History of Virginia, London, 1705, p. 58.
[65] Page 423.
[66] Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 400.
[67] Page 228.
[68] History of North America.
[69] Page 19.
[70] Page 324.
[71] History of Florida, edition 1723, Lib. III, Cap. XX, p. 139, and
edition of 1605.
[72] Jones's Antiquities of the Southern Indians, Chap. VI, Pl. 1.
[73] Smithsonian Report 1880, p. 624.
[74] Science, April 11, 1884.
[75] Science, April, 1884.
[76] The Human Species, English translation, p. 307.
[77] Referred to on p. 71.
[78] Translated from Relations des Jésuites, 1636, pp. 128-139, by Miss
Nora Thomas.
INDEX
Alexander, J. B., mounds on farm of 74
Allamakee County, Iowa, mounds 26
Altar mounds 57, 58
Anderson, W. G., opened Wisconsin mounds 16
Anderson Township, Ohio, mounds 49
Andrews, E. B., on Ohio mounds 47, 48
Appalachian mound district and mounds 10, 61-86
Arkansas mounds 11
Armstrong, Thomas, on Wisconsin mounds 16
Ashland County, Ohio, mounds 47
Athens County, Ohio, mounds 47
Baldwin, J. D., on mound builders 83
Bartow County, Georgia, mounds 96-104
Bartram, William, description of Cherokee council house 87
Beverly on shell ornaments 92
Black Hawk's grave 33, 34
Boulware, J. N., mounds on farm of 44
Branson, Judge, opening of Wisconsin mounds by 18
Brebeuf, Jean, on burial ceremonies of the Hurons 71, 110-119
Brinton, D. G., on a burial mound 39
--, on Indians as mound builders 84
Brown County, Illinois, mounds 39-41
Buffalo Creek, Worth Carolina, mounds near 68
Burial mounds of the northern sections of the United States, by
Cyrus Thomas 3-119
Burke County, North Carolina, mounds 73
Butler County, Ohio, archæology of 13
Caldwell County, North Carolina, mounds 61-71
Carr, Lucien, cited 84, 87, 88, 92
Cartersville, Georgia, mounds near 96-104
Case, H. B., on Indian burial customs 47
Charleston, West Virginia, mounds near 51, 53, 55
Chattanooga, Tennessee, mounds near 77
Chelaque identical with Cherokee 89
Cherokee, the, probably mound builders 60, 87-107
Cherokee and Tallegwi, relation of 60
Chillicothe, Ohio, mounds 46
Clarke, F. W., analyzed iron from mounds 91
Clarke County, Missouri, mounds 43
Clifton, West Virginia, mounds 55, 58
Conner, Rebecca, mounds on farm of 74
Copper in use among Indians 93, 94, 100-106
Courtois group of mounds 15
Cowe, description of Cherokee councilhouse at 87
Crawford County, Wisconsin, mounds 14, 17, 18, 20
Davenport, Iowa, mounds near 24
Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, explorations by members of 24
--, pipes found by members of 38
Davis, E. H., and Squier on mounds 12, 13, 38, 45, 48
De Bry on Indian burial customs 29, 39
Delaware Indian graves in Ashland County, Ohio 47
Des Moines River mounds 33, 34
Drake, Samuel G., advocates Indian origin of mounds 84
Dubuque County, Iowa, mounds 31, 32
Dunning, E. O., on stone grave mound in valley of the Little
Tennessee 78, 79
Eagle Point, Iowa, mounds 32
East Dubuque, Illinois, mounds 34-38
Eldon, Iowa, mounds 33, 34
Elk River Valley, West Virginia, mounds 55
Emmert, John W., explorations of 74-77
Etowah, Georgia, mounds 96-104, 106, 107
Florida mounds 12
Force, M. F., on distribution of Indians 59
Fort Defiance, North Carolina, mounds near 68
Garcilasso de la Vega on Indian mounds 95, 96
George Connet mound, Athens County, Ohio, description of 47, 48
Grant County, Wisconsin, mounds 19
Grave Creek, West Virginia, mounds 51
Gulf mounds 12
Hardy and Scheetz on Missouri mounds 42
Harris, Thaddeus M., on mound builders 82
Haven, S. F., quoted 82
Haywood, John, on location of Cherokee 89, 90
--, on European implements among Cherokee 94
Heart, Captain, on mound builders 82
Henderson, J. G., opening of Illinois mounds by 39
Henderson County, North Carolina, mounds 74
Holston Valley, Tennessee, mounds 75-77
Hoy, Philip, opening of mounds by 14, 20
Hunt, Charles, mounds on farm of 71
Hurons, burial ceremonies of 110-119
Illinois mounds 10, 11
Illinois or Upper Mississippi burial mound district 24-44
Indiana mounds 10
Iowa mounds 10, 24
Iowaville, Iowa, mounds 33, 34
Iroquois burial customs 21
Jones, C. C., on Indian pipes 93
Jones, Joseph, on mound builders 83
Jones, W. D., mound on land of 66-68
Kanawha Valley, explorations in 51, 53, 57
Kent, M. B., on Indian burial customs 20
Kentucky mounds 10, 11
Kickapoo stone graves 30
Lafitau on Indian burial customs 29
Lane, H. P., mounds on farm of 26
Lapham, I. A., on Wisconsin mounds 14, 17, 21, 22
Lawson on shell ornaments 92
Lederer, John, on copper among Cherokee 91
Lee County, Virginia, mounds 87
Le Moyne de Morgues on burial mounds 39
Lenoir, R. T., burial pit on farm of 68-71
Little Tennessee Valley mounds 78, 79
Louisiana mounds 11
Lower Mississippi mounds 11
Lubbock, John, advocates Indian origin of mounds 84
McCulloch, J. H., advocates Indian origin of mounds 84
MacLean, J. P., on Ohio mounds 13
--, on mound builders 83
Madison, Bishop, on mound builders 82, 83
Madison, Wisconsin, mounds near 16
Madisonville, Ohio, mounds near 49
Metz, C. L., on burial mounds 49
Middle Mississippi mounds 11
Middleton, James D., explorations by 14
Middleton, Jeff, mound opened by 20
Mississippi mounds, Upper 10, 24-44
Middle and Lower 11
Missouri, mounds in 10, 11, 41-44
Mohawk burial customs 21
Mound builders, conclusions as to who were the 9, 58, 79, 80, 86, 97
--, probably Cherokee 87-107
Mounds, burial 3-119
Naples, Illinois, mounds 39
Nelson, T. F., mounds on farm of 61-66, 90
New Albin, Iowa, mounds near 26
Newark, Ohio, mounds 46
New York mounds 10
Norris, P. W., investigations of 17, 18, 26, 27, 32, 35, 39, 40,
52, 55
North Carolina, mounds in 10, 61-75
Ohio mound district 45-60
Ohio mounds 10, 12, 13, 45-60
Peru, Iowa, monnds near 31
Pike County, Illinois, mounds 39
Pike County, Missouri, mounds 43
Pipes, soapstone 93, 94
Potherie on Iroquois burial customs 21
Pottawattamie mounds 34
Powell, J. W., copper plate from Illinois mound obtained by 105
Powhatan, Virginia, site bought with copper 94
Putnam, F. W., on Ohio mounds 49-51
Quatrefages on appearance of Indians in the valley of the Missouri
109
Racine, Wisconsin, mounds near 14
Ralls County, Missouri, mounds 42
Read, M. O., on mounds near Chattanooga 77, 78
Ripon, Wisconsin, mounds near 16
Rogan, J. P., explorations of 61, 71, 72, 97, 98, 104
Sac and Fox, burial customs of 20, 21
Scheetz and Hardy on Slissouri mounds 42
Schoolcraft, H. R., on Indian burial customs 21
--, advocates Indian origin of mounds 84
School-house mound 48, 49
Shawnee, stone graves of 30
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, mounds 19
Short, John T., on mound builders 83
Smith, B. H., mounds on farm of 51
Spainhour, J. M., opening of North Carolina mounds by 61, 73
Spencer, J. W., on Indian burial customs 21
Squier and Davis on mounds 12, 38, 45, 48
Squier, E. G., on Indian antiquities 10
Sullivan County, Tennessee, mounds 75-77
Tallegwi and Cherokee, relation of 60
Tallegwi as mound builders 84
Tennessee mounds 10, 11
Tennessee River, mounds near 77
Thomas, Cyrus, paper by, on burial mounds of the northern section of
the United States 3-119
Thomas, Nora, translation of description of burial ceremonies of
the Hurons by 110-119
Tuscarora, neighbors of the Cherokee 91
Upper Mississippi mounds 10, 24-44
Vernon County, Wisconsin, mounds 14, 20
Virginia mounds 10, 87
Wapello County, Iowa, mounds 33
Waukesha, Wisconsin, mounds near 17
Welch, Edward, mounds on farm of 41
West Virginia, mounds in 10, 51-60
Wilkes County, North Carolina, mounds 71, 72
Wisconsin, mounds in 10, 14-23