Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/192

182 earthen wigwams were seldom evacuated without a struggle, which generally ended in the massacre of the inmates, and the bones now discovered buried within them are the remains of these former occupants.

The few mounds in which have been discovered human bones regularly deposited, in a position facing the west, may probably be considered as burial mounds; though this, too, may be accounted for, from the fact that of later years the Indians have occasionally buried their dead within these mounds, though this may not be considered as a prevalent custom, as they treat all remains of this nature with great respect, as objects consecrated to the memory of by-gone people and by-gone times.

The Ojibways assert in behalf of their tribe, that they have never been forced to live in earthen wigwams as a defence against their enemies, and none of the mounds which are thickly scattered over the country which they at present occupy west of Lake Superior, originate from or are the work of their ancestors. The country in which they have lived for the past five centuries is covered with dense forests, and plentifully supplied with large lakes, on the bosom of which lay islands, where in times of danger they could always pitch their light wigwams in comparative safety.