in the clay would be as perfect as one I found 51 years ago, a
fragment of which I presented to Colonel Jenkes, with the impression
of a part of the arm on one side and on the other of the fingers, that
had pressed down the soft clay upon the body interred beneath.' The
mound-builders of the Ohio Valley, as has been shown, often placed a
layer of clay over the dead, but not in immediate contact, upon which
they builded fires; and the evidence that cremation was often resorted
to in their disposition are too abundant to be gainsaid."

This statement is corroborated by Mr. Wilcox: [Footnote: Proc. Acad.
Nat. Soc. Phila., Nov 1874, p 168.]

"Mr. Wilcox also stated that when recently in North Carolina his
attention was called to an unusual method of burial by an ancient race
of Indians in that vicinity. In numerous instances burial places were
discovered where the bodies had been placed with the face up and
covered with a coating of plastic clay about an inch thick. A pile of
wood was then placed on top and fired, which consumed the body and
baked the clay, which retained the impression of the body. This was
then lightly covered with earth."

It is thought no doubt can attach to the statements given, but the
cases are remarkable as being the only instances of the kind met with
in the extensive range of reading preparatory to a study of the
subject of burial, although it must be observed that Bruhier states
that the ancient Ethiopians covered the corpses of their dead with
plaster (probably mud), but they did not burn these curious coffins.

Another method, embracing both burial and cremation, has been
practiced by the Pitt River or Achomawi Indians of California, who