"After the fire died down, rude tools were used to dig a grave at the middle of the house. It measured ten feet in length, from east to west, by a little more than six in breadth. The sides were straight, slanting inward, with rounded corners. The bottom was nearly level, fourteen inches deep, but slightly lower at the center. Over the bottom, ashes had been thinly sprinkled, and on these a single thickness of bark had been laid. The sides had been lined with wood or bark from two to four inches thick. When this was done, two bodies were placed side by side in the grave, both extended at full length on the back, with heads directly west. One, judging from the bones and condition of the teeth, was a woman of considerable age. She was placed in the middle of the grave. Her right arm lay along the side, the left hand being under the pelvic bones of the other skeleton. This was apparently of a man not much, if any, past maturity. The right arm lay across the stomach, the left across the hips. This skeleton was five feet ten inches in length; the other, five feet four inches.
"The space between the first skeleton and the south side of the grave was covered with the ashes that had been removed from the fire. Beginning at the feet in a thin layer—a mere streak—they gradually increased in thickness toward the head, where they were fully six inches thick. The head was embedded in them. They extended to the end of the grave, reaching across its entire width and coming almost, but not quite, in contact with the other head. A considerable amount of the burned bones lay in the southwestern corner of the grave, and the ashes along this part curved up over the side until they merged into what remained of the ash bed. This had extended to the west slightly beyond the end of the grave.
"As the earth removed from the grave had been thrown out on every side, the bodies were in a hole that was nearly two feet deep. The next step was to cover them. There was no sign of bark, cloth, or any other protecting material above them. They were covered with a black sandy earth, which must have been brought from the creek not far distant. This was piled over them while wet, or at least damp enough to pack firmly, as it required the pick to loosen it, and, besides, was steeper on the sides than dry dirt would have been. It reached just beyond the grave on every side, and was about five and a half feet high, or as high as it could be conveniently piled.
"So far, all was plain enough; but now another question presented itself that puzzled me not a little; and that was, What became of the house? That there had been one, the arrangement of the numerous post holes plainly showed; but the large earth mound above the tumulus or grave was perfectly solid above the original surface, giving not the slightest evidence that the posts or any part of the house had ever reached up into it. I incline to the opinion that the great fire near the middle of the house had been made from the timbers composing it; that the upper timbers had been torn down, and the posts cut off at the surface, the whole being a kind of votive offering to the dead. At any rate, it is plain that a house stood there until the time the mound was built; and it was not there afterward.
"For the purpose of covering the grave, sand was brought from a ridge a short distance away. There was no stratification, either horizontal or curving. Earth had been piled up first around the black mass forming the grave mound, and then different parties had deposited their loads at convenient places, until the mound assumed its final conical arrangement. The lenticular masses through almost the whole mound showed that the earth had been carried in skins or small baskets. The completed mound was thirteen feet high, and about one hundred feet in diameter.
"Two and a half feet above the original surface was an extended skeleton, head west. It lay just east of the black earth over the grave. Sixteen feet south of the grave, on the original surface, and within the outer row of post holes, were two skeletons extended, heads nearly west. It would seem that the flesh was removed before burial, as the bones were covered with a dull red substance, which showed a waxy texture when worked with a knife blade.
"No relics of any description were found with any of the skeletons; but a fine copper bracelet was picked up in a position that showed it was dropped accidentally."
A CHINESE IMPERIAL CEMETERY.
By Lieut. Hon. H. N. Shore, R.N.