e found in the mounds has given rise to the theory that
being used at the time of the funeral rites the vessel was dashed to
pieces as was done by some ancient nations in the burial of the dead.
This theory is made very doubtful indeed by the discovery of the

[Illustration: FIGURE 2.]

(_b_.) _Complete Pottery Cup_. So far as I know this is the only
complete cup now in existence in the region northwest of Lake
Superior, though several others are said to have been discovered and
been sent to distant friends of the finders. This cup, belonging now
to the Historical Society was found in the grand mound, in company
with charred bones, skulls, and other human bones, lumps of red ochre,
and the shells just described. The dimensions of the cup are as
follows:

Mean diameter at top of rim 2.09 inches.
Greatest mean diameter 3.03 "
Height 2.49 "
Thickness of material 0.092 "
Weight ---- oz.

Whether the cup was intended for use as a burial urn, or simply for
ordinary use it is difficult to say.

Now, in endeavoring to sum up the results a few points need some
discussion.

1. Who were the people who erected the mounds? Judging from the
following considerations, I should say they were

NOT AN INDIAN RACE.

Whoever built the mounds had a faculty not possessed by modern
Indians. Building instincts seem hereditary. The beaver and the musk
rat build a house. Other creatures to whom a dwelling might be
serviceable, such as the squirrel, obtain shelter in another way. And
races have their distinctive tendencies likewise. It never occurs to
an Indian to build a mound. From what has been already said as to the
fertile localities in which the mounds are found we are justified in
believing that their builders were agriculturists. Dr. Dawson in
Montreal by the use of the microscope detected grains of charred corn
in the remains of Hochelaga. I have examined a small quantity of the
dust taken from one of the shells found in the grand mound, with the
microscope, and though I am not perfectly certain, yet I believe there
are traces of some farinaceous substance to be seen. On skirting the
shores of the Lake of the Woods into which Rainy River runs, at the
present time, you are struck by the fact that there are no Canadian
farmers there, and likewise that there are no mounds to be seen, while
along the bank