Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley / Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I.

by E. G. Squier; E. H. Davis

CHAPTER XI. IMPLEMENTS OF METAL.

The first inquiry suggested by an inspection of the mounds and other earthworks of the West, relates to the means at the command of the builders in constructing them. However numerous we may suppose the ancient people to have been, we must regard these works as entirely beyond their capabilities, unless they had some artificial aids. As an agricultural people, they must have possessed some means of clearing the land of forests and of tilling the soil. We can hardly conceive, at this day, how these operations could be performed without the aid of iron; yet we know that the Peruvians and Mexicans, whose monuments emulate the proudest of the old world, were wholly unacquainted with the uses of that metal, and constructed their edifices and carried on their agricultural operations with implements of wood, stone, and copper. They possessed the secret of hardening the metal last named, so as to make it subserve most of the uses to which iron is applied. Of it they made axes, chisels, and knives.

The mound-builders were acquainted with several of the metals, although they do not seem to have possessed the art of reducing them from the ores. Implements and ornaments of copper are found in considerable abundance among their remains; silver is occasionally found in the form of ornaments, but only to a trifling amount; the ore of lead, galena, has been discovered in considerable quantities, but none of the metal has been found under such circumstances as to establish conclusively that they were acquainted with the art of smelting it. No iron or traces of iron, except with the recent deposits, have been discovered; nor is it believed that the race of the mounds had any knowledge of that metal. The copper and silver found in the mounds were doubtless obtained in their native state, and afterwards worked without the intervention of fire. The locality from which they were derived seems pretty clearly indicated by the peculiar mechanico-chemical combination existing, in some specimens, between the silver and copper, which combination characterizes only the native masses of Lake Superior. In none of the articles found is there evidence of welding, nor do any of them appear to have been cast in moulds. On the contrary, they seem to have been hammered out of rude masses, and gradually and with great labor brought into the required shape. The lamination, resulting from hammering the baser metals while cold, is to be observed in nearly all the articles. But, notwithstanding the disadvantages which they labored under, the mound-builders contrived to produce some very creditable specimens of workmanship, displaying both taste and skill.

No articles composed entirely of silver have been discovered: the extreme scarcity of that metal seems to have led to the utmost economy in its use. It is p197 only found reduced to great thinness, and plated upon copper. By plated, it should not be understood that any chemical combination, or a union produced by heat, exists between the two metals, but simply that thin slips of silver were wrapped closely around the copper, their edges overlapping, so as to leave no portion exposed. This was done so neatly as, in many cases, almost to escape detection.

Fig. 81. AXES.—Among the implements recovered from the mounds, are several copper axes, the general form of which is well exhibited in the engravings herewith presented. They are well wrought, and each appears to have been made from a single piece,—showing that the metal was obtained in considerable masses. The largest of these, Fig. 81, weighs two pounds five ounces. It measures seven inches in length, by four in breadth at the cutting edge, and has an average thickness of about four tenths of an inch. Its edge is slightly curved, somewhat after the manner of the axes of the present day, and is bevelled from both surfaces.

Fig. 82. Fig. 82 is less in size, but of heavier proportions. It weighs two pounds, and p198 measures six and one third inches in length, by three and one third in width on the edge. Unlike the other, it has a nearly straight cutting surface; the blade, however, is curved or gouge-shaped, closely resembling the adze at present used in hollowing timbers, and it was probably applied to a similar purpose with that instrument. Its head is slightly battered, as if it had sustained blows from a hammer, or had itself been used in pounding.

It may seem incomprehensible to many per­sons, how these axes, be­ing des­ti­tute of an eye for the insertion of a handle, and not even possessing the groove of the Indian stone axe, for the reception of a withe, could have been used with any effect. They were doubtless fitted in the same manner with those of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, with which, from all accounts, they seem to be identical in form.

“The Mexicans,” observes Clavigero, “made use of an axe to cut trees, which was also made of copper, and was of the same form with those of modern times, except that we put the handle in an eye of the axe, while they put the axe in an eye of the handle.”[128]

The Pacific Islanders have a sort of adze, which is formed by firmly lashing a blade of stone, with its cutting edge at right angles, to a handle, having a sharp crook at its extremity. This mode of fastening would enable the axe with the curved blade to be used with the greatest efficiency as an adze. That it was designed to be so used, seems apparent from the fact that the edge is not formed by bevelling from both sides, but from the inner surface only, precisely in the manner that the adze of the present day is ground. Fig. 83 exhibits the probable manner in which these instruments were fitted for use.

Fig. 83.

The circumstances under which these interesting relics were discovered, are detailed in the chapter on the Mounds. (See page [154].) It will be seen they were not found where, as a general and almost invariable rule, we must look for the only authentic remains of the mound-builders, viz. at the bottom of the mound. They are nevertheless classed as undoubted relics of the ancient race. The implements of the modern Indians are found, whenever they occur in the mounds, in p199 connection with human remains, in the position in which they were deposited with the dead. We have no evidence that the northern tribes of Indians possessed copper articles of this description, and but slender evidence at best that they were in use among the Indians along the Gulf.[129] A positive argument in favor of the origin imputed to them, is presented in the fact that many of the articles found both in the sepulchral and sacrificial mounds are of copper, and of similar workmanship, denoting that the mound-builders possessed the metal in considerable abundance, and were very well acquainted with its capabilities. That they have an antiquity higher than the date of the first European intercourse, is established by their form; but if this were insufficient, the evidence may be found in the fact that from immediately over them was removed the stump of a tree, originally of the largest size, which had long since fallen and decayed.

Fig. 84.

This implement (Fig. 84) was found in a mound near one of the great works on Paint creek. It resembles a double-bladed hatchet, and was perhaps used as such. It measures six inches in length, and is three inches broad at each end; across the middle it measures but two and a half inches. It weighs about one pound and a half. The hole through the centre may have been designed for the insertion of a rivet, so as to fasten it firmly in a handle, as represented in the reduced sketch, number 2. p200

Fig. 85.

Copper axes similar in all res­pects to those here de­scribed have been found at various places in Ohio. One of them, now in the pos­ses­sion of a gentle­man of Hills­boro’, is of the same shape with Fig. 82; it weighs two pounds. It was found near the great hill-work in High­land county (Plate [V]). Another, cor­res­pond­ing with the above, is in the pos­ses­sion of R. Buch­anan, Esq., of Cinc­in­nati. It was found, in con­nec­tion with six others, a few miles north of Yellow Springs, in the val­ley of the Little Miami river. They were dis­cov­ered in ex­cava­ting a cel­lar, three or four feet beneath the surface. Large trees had been growing on the spot. Another axe, of dif­fer­ent shape, was found not many years since, in a mound near Deer­field, on the Little Miami. It was worked up by the vil­lage black­smith. Still another, of comp­ara­tive­ly rude work­man­ship, is de­pos­ited in the Cin­cin­nati Museum. The cir­cum­stan­ces under which it was dis­cov­ered are unknown.

DRILLS OR GRAVERS.—Among the remains on the sac­ri­fi­cial altars, have been found graving tools or rude chi­sels of cop­per. These were formed by ham­mer­ing the cop­per into rods, with sharp tap­ering points or with chisel-shaped edges. Full size sketches of several of these are pre­sented, Fig. 85. Nos. 1 and 2 were found in the long mound, No. 3 “Mound City,” in con­nec­tion with num­er­ous other re­mains.

An implement of copper, identical in shape with No. 1, although somewhat larger in size, is deposited in the Philadelphia Museum. It was taken from a mound in Alabama.

Nos. 3, 4, and 5, were discovered in making excavations in the works at Marietta. The character of each of these is sufficiently well explained by the engravings. No. 1 measures eight inches in length, and weighs about two ounces. No. 2 is less in size, and seems to have been used as a graver. It cuts the softer varieties of stone with facility. Whether those found at Marietta were designed for similar purposes, or were intended to be bent together for ornaments, it is not undertaken to say. That some instruments, of similar character with these, were used by the mound-builders, in their carvings in stone, will be apparent when we come to speak of their sculptures. p201

Fig. 86.

Fig. 86. No. 1 is a greatly reduced sketch of a copper spear or lance-head, found three miles north-west of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was discovered about two feet below the surface, at the base of a small hill, which was crowned by an Indian grave. The original is eight inches in length.[130]

No. 2 is a reduced sketch of a rude copper knife found in the summer of 1847, on Isle Royal, Lake Superior. It was discovered three feet below the surface, by the uprooting of a tree, which had grown above it. It has the lamination of surface already referred to, in a marked degree, and was evidently hammered from a single piece of native copper.

Fig. 87.

The copper articles above represented (Fig. 87) were all found, in connection with other relics and some human skeletons, in excavating the St. Lawrence canal, Canada West. The drawings, from which the engravings are reduced, were kindly furnished, together with a full description, by T. REYNOLDS, M.D., of Brockville, in whose possession the originals now are. “The spot where they were discovered, is a picturesque point on the banks of the river St. Lawrence, near the head of the first rapid or cascade met with in descending the river. They were found deposited fourteen feet below the surface, in a soil composed of blue clay and sand. A score of skeletons were found p202 arranged around them, their feet pointing to the spot where they were placed. The bones crumbled upon exposure to the air. A few yards from this place, and at about the same depth from the surface, another circular space was exposed to view; but strange to say, here the organic remains had been subjected to the action of fire, and the half-burned bones with the charcoal and ashes, evinced the fact that natural decomposition had been anticipated by the hand of man.

“Numbers 1 and 2 were evidently designed for spears, and intended to fit into handles. The blades are of considerable thickness, not much corroded, but of rude proportions. They are pointed, and have a double cutting edge, and were undoubtedly weapons of some service. No. 1 is a foot in length. No. 3 is a copper knife, engraved of half size. One edge is sharp, and has marks of considerable use. The point is broken off. No. 5 is also a knife, less in size, and has a hooked extremity, as shown in the engraving. It was probably designed to be used without a handle. No. 4 is an implement ten inches in length. It has a hollow or socket for the reception of a handle, with a corresponding convexity on the back. The chisel-shaped extremity is blunt, but capable of receiving a sharp edge. It may have been used as a chisel, or gouge,—perhaps as a sort of spade.

“With respect to the question whether these remains are of European origin or manufacture, I have merely to remark that their workmanship is very rude; that no traces of iron or of European implements were found with them, and that the copper corresponds exactly with the specimens of native metal obtained from Lake Superior. The nature of the soil at this spot is favorable for the preservation of organic remains; the fact, therefore, that the bones found with these relics were in so advanced a stage of decomposition, induces me to believe that they were deposited long before the discovery and occupation of Canada by Europeans. We might expect here to find relics bearing the stamp of French manufacture; but there is nothing in the form or composition of these which would lead one to suppose them to be of French origin. This spot was not the usual burying-place of the Indians. Their cemetery seems to have been some distance back from the river, upon a high sandy ridge, where their remains, apparently of very ancient deposit, are now found in abundance.”

From what has been presented, it appears that the mound-builders were very well acquainted with the use of copper. They do not, however, seem to have possessed the secret of giving it any extraordinary degree of hardness. The axes above described were found, upon analysis, to be pure copper, unalloyed, to any perceptible extent, by other metals. The hardness which they seem to possess, beyond the copper of commerce, is no doubt due to the hammering to which they were subjected in their manufacture. As already observed, the metal appears to have been worked, in all cases, in a cold state. This is somewhat remarkable, as the fires upon the altars were sufficiently strong, in some instances, to melt down the copper implements and ornaments deposited upon them, and the fact that the metal is fusible could hardly have escaped notice.

It has already been suggested, upon the strength of the fact that some of the specimens of copper obtained from the mounds have crystals of silver attached to them, that a part of the supply of the ancient people was obtained from the p203 shores of Lake Superior, where alone this peculiar combination is known to exist. The circumstance that the mound axes are made of unalloyed copper, does not affect this conclusion; for a large proportion of the native metal found at this locality is pure. The conclusion is further sustained by the amount of the metal extracted from the mounds, implying a large original supply. Besides numerous small pieces, some large fragments are occasionally discovered. One of these, weighing twenty-three pounds, and from which portions had evidently been cut, was found a few years since near Chillicothe. Still, it does not appear that copper was sufficiently abundant to entirely supersede the use of bone and stone implements.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XI.
  • [128] “The copper axes of the Peruvians differ very little in shape from ours, and it appears that these were the implements with which they performed most of their works. They are of various shapes and sizes, the edge of some is more circular than others, and some have a concave edge.”—Ulloa, vol. i. p. 483.
  • [129] It is asserted by the Portuguese chronicler of De Soto’s ill-fated expedition, that copper hatchets were found in possession of some of the Indian tribes along the Gulf, “which were said to have a mixture of gold.” These, the Spaniards were told, were obtained in a province towards the north, called Chisca, “where there was a melting of copper, and of another metal of the same color, save that it was finer and far better to the sight, which they used not so much, because it was softer.” The Spaniards did not visit the province of Chisca; as they were informed high mountains intervened, which could not be passed with horses. This, it is believed, is the only account of anything of the kind occurring north of Mexico.
  • [130] In the cabinet of R. BUCHANAN, Esq., Cincinnati.

p204

CHAPTER XII. ORNAMENTS OF METAL.

Notwithstanding that it was often used for implements, copper seems to have been most highly valued by the mound-builders for purposes of ornament. The supposition is based upon the fact that ornaments of this metal are comparatively abundant. They are found of many varieties, comprising bracelets, pendants, beads, gorgets, etc., some of which display no inconsiderable degree of skill.

Fig. 88.

The bracelets are usually found encircling the arms of the skeletons, in the sepulchral mounds, but are not infrequent upon the altars. They consist of a simple rod of copper, hammered out with more or less skill, and so bent that the ends approach, or lap over, each other. Those which have been deposited under unfavorable circumstances are generally much corroded and appear ragged and rude. But some are found which are extremely well wrought. Such was the case with those obtained from a mound, within an enclosure, three miles above Chillicothe, (see page [156],) three of which of full size are shown in the engraving. These are smoothly and uniformly hammered, and seem to have been originally highly polished. They are bent with perfect regularity; and, it is a singular fact, are of uniform size and weight. They measure, between p205 the outer surfaces, two inches and nine tenths,—between the inner surfaces, two and a half inches in diameter; and weigh four ounces each. They correspond exactly with some of the ruder ones, of the same metal, found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians. They were but partially bent together before being placed upon the arm, after which they were closed as nearly as practicable.

Fig. 89.

The ornaments denominated, for want of a better name, gorgets, are frequently found, but only, so far as observed, with skeletons, in the sepulchral mounds. An engraving of one of these is presented, (Fig. 89,) which exhibits their general form. The original, in this instance, measures eight and a half inches at the lower, and seven and a half at the upper edge, and is four and a quarter inches broad. It weighs five ounces. This is considerably above the average dimensions. They are usually about the thickness of ordinary sheet copper; and are always perforated with two holes, placed at equal distances from the ends and somewhat above the longitudinal centre, as shown in the engraving. This feature, and the fact that they are uniformly found with skeletons, suggest that they were suspended around the neck, resting upon the breast. There is one circumstance, however, that seems inconsistent with this conclusion, namely, that none of the holes exhibit the slightest elongation from wear. On the contrary, their edges are sharp as if newly cut. Such could not have been the case with articles of this soft material and extraordinary thinness, had they been suspended in the manner suggested. The holes in the little silver crosses, found in the graves of the modern Indians, are frequently worn so as to be nearly a fourth of an inch in length; and yet they weigh less than half an ounce, and are cut out of thicker plates of metal than the broad copper ornaments here mentioned. Either these plates were worn only on extraordinary occasions, or in such a manner that little or no friction was produced by the cords by which they were sustained or fastened.[131] p206

Fig. 90.

Fig. 91.

Fig. 90 represents an ornament, of something the same character with the above. It is formed of a copper plate of considerable thickness, which has been fashioned so as to present a con­vex sur­face. It is also per­for­ated with two holes, and is identical in this re­spect, as well as in shape, with a large class of stone or­na­ments or im­ple­ments found in the mounds, and of which no­tice will be ta­ken in another place.

A large number of discs or medals of copper have been obtained from the mounds. They resemble, to use a familiar illustration, the bosses observed on harnesses. Some of these are not less than two inches, but most are about one inch and a half in diameter. They are formed of thin plates of copper, are perfectly round, and concavo-convex in shape. They are found only on the altar-mounds, where they seem to have been placed with their edges together, in pairs. Owing to the great heat to which they have been subjected, and subsequent oxydation, nearly all of them are so cemented together that they cannot be separated without breaking them into fragments. Their present appearance is very well exhibited by Fig. 91. Some of them, of more elaborate workmanship than the rest, and which have been more favorably situated for preservation, have been separated.[132]

Fig. 92.

These articles, it will be observed, display more skill in working the metal, than any of those previously noticed. They present every appearance of having been pressed into shape, in the way in which similar articles are formed at this day. In opening one of the mounds, a block of compact sandstone was discovered, p207 Fig. 92, in which were several circular depressions, in all respects resembling those in the work-blocks of copper-smiths, in which plates of metal are hammered to give them convexity. These depressions are of various dimensions, and are evidently artificial. It seems more than probable it was in such moulds that these articles were formed. This block weighs between thirty and forty pounds.

Fig. 93.

Fig. 94.

Small tubes of copper, formed by wrapping together thin slips of that metal, are often found. They are not soldered, and though the edges overlap each other very closely, they can easily be separated with the blade of a knife. They were doubtless strung as beads. Another variety of beads, made of coarse copper wire, closely wound and hammered together, are occasionally found.

Among the articles that exhibit the greatest degree of skill in their manufacture, may be mentioned a sort of boss or button, several of which are shown in the engraving. These present a convex and a plane surface, and are identical in form with some of the old-fashioned buttons which still linger on the small clothes of our grandfathers. They are hollow; a portion of them are perforated from the sides, but most have the holes through which passed the thread, by which they were strung or attached, in the base. They bear a resemblance to some forms of the ancient fibulæ.

In addition to these, many small tubes, bands, and articles of wrought copper of various kinds have been found, the purposes of which are not apparent, and which it would be tedious to describe. Greatly reduced sketches of several of these are herewith presented.

Fig. 95.

The metal was sometimes very ingeniously used in repairing broken articles of stone, etc., as will shortly be seen. One or two stone pipes have been discovered which seem to have been completely encased, so as to present an unbroken metallic surface. The overlapping edges, in these cases, were so polished down as scarcely to be discoverable.

Silver, as has already been remarked, seems to have been possessed in very small quantities by the mound-builders. Indeed, within the entire range of these investigations, it has been discovered in but a single instance,—namely, in the remarkable “pipe mound,” numbered 8 in the plan of “Mound City.” It was here found, reduced to extreme thinness, (not exceeding in thickness ordinary foolscap paper,) and plated, or rather wrapped, over sundry copper beads and a few other ornaments of the same material. The whole amount discovered would probably not exceed an ounce in weight.

Fig. 96.

From the mound above mentioned were taken a number of large beads, the size and shape of which are accurately shown in the accompanying engraving. They are composed of shell, now completely calcined, and seem to have been carefully enveloped with sheet copper and afterwards with thin slips of p208 silver, so as to completely cover the surface. Some of the beads exhibit both the copper and silver partially melted off. The heat of the fire, upon the altar where they were found, had been sufficiently intense, towards the centre, to melt considerable masses of copper.

Besides these beads, several star-shaped ornaments were found. They are also composed of shell, bound together by an envelope of sheet copper, over which the silver slips are carefully folded, so as to leave their overlapping edges scarcely perceptible. A small hole passed through the centre of these unique ornaments, by which they were fastened in such positions as the taste of the possessor suggested.

Silver crosses, it has several times been observed, have been discovered with the recent deposits in the mounds. The accompanying engraving illustrates their

Fig. 97. general form. Some are considerably larger and heavier than that here represented; one found near Chillicothe weighed not less than one and a half ounces. They will readily be recognised as of European origin. The enterprising French passed frequently through the Mississippi valley, from a very early day, and maintained a constant intercourse with the natives, distributing amongst them vast numbers of these crosses, brooches, and other ornaments of silver; which, in accordance with the aboriginal custom, were buried with the possessor at his death. Numbers of these relics have been found in the mounds and Indian graves of the South. They are perhaps oftener composed of brass than of silver.

The instance first mentioned, it is believed, is the only one in which silver has been found in the mounds under such circumstances as to establish conclusively that it pertained to the builders. It is clear that, so far as the specimens here obtained are concerned, they did not understand the art of plating, in the proper meaning of the term. They had taken but the first step towards it. That art is certainly one which follows, instead of preceding, the knowledge of welding and of working metals through the assistance of fire, which knowledge does not seem to have been possessed by them. Their acquaintance with metallurgy appears to have been confined to working the native metals in a cold state; in which, it must be admitted, they evinced considerable skill. Further than this, little can be claimed for them.

From the presence of galena in the mounds, it seems almost impossible that the builders could have been ignorant of the manufacture of lead. None of that metal has, however, been discovered under such circumstances as to place it beyond doubt that they were acquainted with it. A rude article, of pure lead, of the following form, and weighing about half a pound, was discovered, not long since, in sinking a well within the trench of the ancient works at Circleville. It was found about two feet p209

Fig. 98. below the surface, and was thickly encrusted with a carbonate. We shall not undertake to ascribe a date to it. Upon one of the altars within a mound in “Mound City,” (see page [149],) a quantity of galena was found. It had been exposed, in common with all articles found on the altars, to the action of fire, which had not, however, been sufficiently strong to reduce it, though some pieces seem to have been partially fused. Perhaps it may have been prized only for its brilliancy, and finally deposited, with other articles of use or ornament, as an offering.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XII.
  • [131] RIBAULDE, who visited the shores of Florida in 1562, speaks of a chief who “had hanging about his neck a round plate of red copper well polished, with one other lesser one of silver, in the midst of it, and at his ear a little plate of copper wherewith they use to stripe the swete from theyer bodyes.” Sir WALTER RALEIGH mentions, that the tribes, with which he held communication on the shores of North Carolina, wore copper plates on their heads, which were badges of authority and indicated the chiefs. These plates were so highly polished that they were, at first, mistaken for gold. It is not impossible that those found in the mounds were worn in a like manner by the ancient people. The one described in the text was found beneath the head of the skeleton with which it was buried.
  • [132] Dr. DRAKE, in his “View of Cincinnati,” describes several ornaments or instruments found in a mound at Cincinnati, which are somewhat analogous to those described in the text, if not identical with them. “Several copper articles were discovered, each consisting of two sets of circular, concavo-convex plates; the interior one of each set connected with the other by a hollow axis, around which had been wound some lint.” Articles, answering to this description, were found, a few years since, in removing a mound on Paint creek, ten miles distant from Chillicothe. In this case, we are assured by the individual who discovered them, that the axis was wound round with a well-twisted and compact thread, resembling fine linen pack-thread, which was stained green by the salts of the copper, to which its preservation is entirely attributable. It is possible that some of the larger discs, above described, were originally thus connected.

p210

CHAPTER XIII. IMPLEMENTS OF STONE, ETC.

In the absence of a knowledge of the metals, the ingenuity of man contrives to fashion from the different varieties of stone, from the tusks and bones of animals, and the harder kinds of wood, such rude implements as his necessities demand, and such ornaments as his fancy suggests. And even among nations who have a limited knowledge of the metals, we find these characteristic implements of a ruder state still adhered to. In Mexico and Peru, where the use of most of the metals, except iron, was well understood, the stone axe and flint-tipped arrow and lance were in common use, at the period of the discovery. The early explorers found all the American nations, from the squalid Esquimaux, who struck the morse with a lance pointed with its own tusks, to the haughty Aztec, rivalling in his barbaric splendor the magnificence of the East, in possession of them. We are not surprised, therefore, at their occurrence in the mounds. We find them with the original and with the recent deposits, and the plough turns them up to light on every hand. And so striking is the resemblance between them all, that we are almost ready to conclude they were the productions of the same people. This conclusion would be irresistible, did we not know that the wants of man have ever been the same, and have always suggested like forms to his implements, and similar modes of using them. The polished instrument with which the pioneer of civilization prostrates the forest, has its type in the stone axe of the Indian which his plough the next day exposes to his curious gaze. In the barrows of Denmark and Siberia, in the tumuli on the plains of Marathon, and even under the shadow of the pyramids themselves, the explorer finds relics, almost identical with those disclosed from the mounds, and closely resembling each other in material, form, and workmanship. We have consequently little whereby to distinguish the remains of the mound-builders, so far as their mere implements of stone are concerned, except the position in which they are found, and the not entirely imaginary superiority of their workmanship, from those of the succeeding races. We have, however, in the different varieties of stone of which they are composed, the evidences of a more extended intercourse than we are justified in ascribing to the more recent tribes.

• The articles composed of stone and bone have a great variety of forms, which were probably suggested by the purposes for which they were designed. They will be classified, so far as their purposes seem apparent. p211
  • SPEAR OR LANCE HEADS.—Great numbers of flint points are found which, it is clear from their size and form, could not have been used for tipping arrows.
  • Fig. 99 Half size.
  • Fig. 99 presents several of these, greatly reduced from the original size. Nos. 1 and 2 were designed to be lashed to shafts, previously drilled or split to receive them. There are others, however, the manner of using which is not so
  • Fig. 100. obvious. No. 3 is an example. It measures eleven inches in length by two and a half in its greatest breadth. It has been suggested that it was fastened at right angles to a handle and used as a sort of battle-axe. In one of the mounds already several times referred to (page [149]) were found, amongst large quantities of fragments, several perfect specimens of rather remarkable character; one of which, beautifully worked from milky quartz, is herewith presented of half size (Fig. 100). The difficulty of accounting for the manner in which they were used is scarcely less than in the instance last mentioned. It has been suggested that they were perhaps designed to be used in the construction of swords, or offensive weapons, on the plan of those made by the ancient Mexicans. These were formed by slitting a cane or other slender piece of tough wood, and inserting blades of stone, usually slips of obsidian, upon either side. These were retained in their place by firmly lashing the separated wood together, and filling the cavities with some hard variety of gum.[133] The implement was wielded with both hands, and, with its sharp serrated edges, constituted a very formidable p212 weapon. This notion is favored by the order in which some of the specimens, near the edges and least disturbed portions of the altar, were found.
  • Some spear-points of obsidian have been found, which, judging from the fragments, must have been of large dimensions. The ready fracture of this mineral, upon exposure to strong heat, has been exceedingly unfavorable to the recovery entire of any articles composed of it. This is the more to be regretted, from the fact that it is believed to be found in place only in Mexico and the volcanic regions of the South-west, and a comparison of the articles found here with those of the same material obtained from that direction, might serve to throw some degree of light upon the origin and connections of the race of the mounds. A further notice will be taken of the mineral when we come to speak of the minerals and fossils found in the mounds.
  • Fig. 103.
  • ARROW-POINTS.—Arrow-points are abundant throughout the West, especially in the valleys where the mounds occur; but although frequently found, they are not plentiful in the mounds themselves. They are much less numerous than the lance-heads just noticed. Sketches of a number, exhibiting their predominant forms, are given in the engraving. It will be noticed that they possess a great diversity of form. Some are barbed and have a serrated edge quite as sharp and ragged as the edge of a saw; some are so chipped that the line of their edges forms a large angle to their planes, as if to give them a revolving or tearing motion; and others are narrow and pointed, as if particularly designed for penetrating deeply. If anything were to be gained by it, a classification of these relics might be attempted. We might designate those having serrated edges and barbs, as the war-arrow, intended not only to penetrate the flesh, but retain their hold and rankle and fester in the wound; those destitute of this feature, as the peace-arrow, or hunter-arrow.
  • Many, as has already been remarked, and as will be perceived from the p213 engravings, are delicately wrought, and from the richest materials within the reach of their makers. From one of the mounds in that, by this time, familiar locality, Mound City, (see page [149],) were taken a number of beautiful ones of transparent or hyaline quartz, which, from the brilliant play of colors upon their fractured surfaces, are real gems. It is not likely that these, and some others of like delicate material, were used for ordinary purposes, but rather for display and ornament.[134] From the same mound were also taken one or two arrow-points of obsidian.
  • Arrow-points, differing from each other only in the variety of stone of which they are composed, are discovered in all quarters of the globe. They have been found in the Scythian tumuli of Siberia, in the tombs of Egypt,[135] upon the plains of Greece;[136] and in the rude monuments of ancient Scandinavia. But whether obtained from Asia, from Europe, Africa, or America, they are almost identical in form and workmanship, and might readily be mistaken for the productions of the same people. Their prevalence seems to mark that stage of man’s progress which the antiquaries of the north of Europe have denominated the “stone age,” and which was followed by the “age of bronze,” and the “age of iron.” The manufacture of these arrow-points involves no inconsiderable degree of skill, as will be very apparent to any one who has the curiosity to attempt an imitation from the raw material. It has hence been inferred that it was anciently an art, like that of the potter, assigned to a class of armorers or makers of arrow-heads, whose skill was the result of long experience in the manufacture.
  • Fig. 104.
  • Arrow and lance heads, and cutting implements of the numerous varieties of quartz, embracing every shade of color and degree of transparency, from the dull blue of the ordinary hornstone to the brilliant opalescence of the chalcedonic varieties, are frequent in the mounds. Some are worked with great skill from pure, limpid crystals of quartz, others from crystals of manganesan garnet, and others still from obsidian (the itzli of the Mexicans, and gallinazo stone of the Peruvians). It is a singular fact, however, that few weapons of stone or other materials are discovered in the sepulchral mounds; most of the remains found with the skeletons are such evidently as were deemed ornamental, or recognised as badges of distinction. Some of the altar or sacrificial mounds, on the other hand, have the deposits within them almost entirely made up of finished arrow and spear points, intermixed with masses of the unmanufactured material. From one altar were taken several bushels of finely worked lance-heads of milky quartz, nearly all of which had been broken up by the action of fire. (See page [149].) In another mound, an excavation six feet long and four broad disclosed upwards of six hundred spear-heads or discs of hornstone, rudely p214 blocked out, and the deposit extended indefinitely on every side. (See page [158].) Some of these are represented in the accompanying engraving. They are necessarily much reduced. The originals are about six inches long and four broad, and weigh not far from two pounds each. Some specimens from this deposit are nearly round, but most are of the shape of those here figured. We are wholly at a loss respecting their purposes, unless they were designed to be worked into the more elaborate implements to which allusion has been made, and were thus roughly blocked out for greater ease of transportation from the quarries. With these relics, were found several large nodules of similar material, from which portions had been chipped off, exposing a nucleus, around which the accretion seems to have taken place. These nodules are covered to the depth of half an inch, with a calcario-silicious deposit, white, and of great hardness. Such nodules are found in the secondary limestone formations.
  • Several localities are known from which the material may have been obtained. One of these, named “Flint Ridge,” exists in the counties of Muskingum and Licking, in Ohio. It extends for many miles, and countless pits are to be observed throughout its entire length, from which the stone was taken. These excavations are often ten or fourteen feet deep, and occupy acres in extent. It is possible that the late, as well as the more remote races worked these quarries. Like the red pipe-stone quarry of the Coteau des Prairies, this locality may have been the resort of numerous tribes,—a neutral ground, where the war-hatchet for the time was buried, and all rivalries and animosities forgotten.
  • KNIVES AND OTHER CUTTING INSTRUMENTS.—Knives of flint and obsidian have been taken from several of the mounds. Some are identical with those of Mexico, most if not all of which were made of obsidian. That material, as also some varieties of flint, breaks with a very clear, conchoidal fracture. With skill and experience in the art, the mound-builders, as well as the Mexicans, succeeded in striking off thin, narrow slips, with edges sharp as razors. Clavigero states that so skilful were the Mexicans in the manufacture of obsidian knives, that a single workman could produce a hundred per hour. These answered many of the purposes for which the more delicate cutting instruments of the present day are used, such as shaving, and incising in surgical operations, not to mention the part which they p215 performed in the bloody observances of the Aztec ritual. Several knives of this description are represented in the following engraving, which also exhibits the absolute identity which sometimes exists between the remains of widely-separated people, and how, almost as it were by instinct, men hit upon common methods of meeting their wants.
  • Fig. 105 Half size.
  • No. 1 is of flint from a Scandinavian barrow; No. 2 is of hornstone from a mound in Ohio; and No. 3 is obsidian from the pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico. Some of these are not less than six inches in length and three-fourths of an inch in breadth; others are not more than two inches long, and of exceeding delicacy. Besides these, and constituting a much larger class, are found cutting implements chipped with great neatness, so as to produce as clear and smooth a cutting edge as practicable. In shape they somewhat resemble an old-fashioned table-knife. Some are composed of the beautiful hyaline before mentioned, others of obsidian. Some irregular chips of flint have been found, with one or more sharp edges, which, it is presumed, were used for like purposes.
  • Fig. 106.
  • There is another variety of cutting instrument which it may not be out of place to notice here. These consist of hard compact minerals, worked into a chisel shape. Some have a very sharp, smooth edge, and form quite a good substitute for metal. Engravings of two, of full size, are herewith presented. They are formed of very compact nodules of brown hematite, which have been ground into form and polished with great labor. They have a submetallic lustre, and very nearly the specific gravity of iron. A file produces a scarcely perceptible impression upon their rounded surfaces. Another variety is occasionally found in p216
  • Fig. 107. the Eastern States, of which Fig. 107 is an example. They are sometimes composed of slate, and are of various sizes, often measuring five or six inches in length. They are very well adapted for flaying animals, and other analogous purposes.
  • AXES.—The remark made in respect to the occurrence of the arrow-points, is equally true of the ancient axes. Although abundant in the valleys occupied by the mound-builders, they are not frequent in the mounds themselves. Those taken from the tumuli do not, however, differ materially from others found scattered over the surface of the earth from the St. Lawrence to Panama and the hills of Chili. They all have the same general features, and vary only in their materials and the style of their workmanship. Some of those found in the mounds and elsewhere at the West, are wrought with great skill, and from rare and beautiful materials, usually of the granitic or sienitic series of minerals. Amongst the Mexicans and Peruvians, axes of obsidian, and of basalt, greenstone, etc., were retained in common use, long after the discovery of the art of hardening copper.
  • Fig. 108.
  • The form of these relics seems to have been determined entirely by the manner in which they were designed to be used. Those intended for deadening trees or as war axes, have grooves for the adjustment of handles. There are many which are destitute of this feature, and which were probably designed to be used as chisels or gouges. Examples are given of each of these classes.
  • Fig. 108 is a fine specimen of the ancient axe. It was found within the large enclosure on Paint creek, noticed on page [58], and is regarded as a genuine relic of the mound-builders. Its form is almost identical with that of the forest axe of the present day. It is made of a very compact greenstone, and measures eight inches in length by five inches and a half in its greatest breadth, and weighs eight pounds. The marks of the pointed instrument with which it was chipped into form, are still discernible, notwithstanding the long use to which it has evidently been subjected.
  • The manner in which these instruments are mounted is apparent enough from their construction, and could hardly be mistaken even though the explanation were not furnished by the practice of the tribes still retaining their use.[137] A tough withe, or green slip of wood of proper size was bent into the groove and encircled the axe; the ends were then firmly bound together with ligatures of hide or other material. p217 Still further to fasten and render the instrument firm and immovable in the handle, it was wedged on the inner edge, which usually was slightly hollowed for that purpose.
  • It is clear, from the weight of many of these axes, that they were designed to be wielded with both hands. Some weigh not less than fourteen pounds, but most range from six to ten. The average weight of the ordinary wood-axe of the present day, is about six pounds.
  • Fig. 109.
  • Engravings of a number of axes analogous to that above described, but less symmetrical in form, are herewith presented, Fig. 109. The smaller varieties were probably designed for war-axes or hatchets. They weigh from one to two and three pounds, and frequently have rounded heads, as if to serve the double purpose of hatchet and club. Occasionally one is found with a double blade, as shown in No. 1 of the engraving.
  • Fig. 110.
  • Fig. 111.
  • Fig. 113. The Hand-axes are destitute of grooves, and, as already observed, seem designed to be used as chisels or gouges. They are more numerous than the other variety, and are of all sizes, from two inches to a foot in length. Some, like Fig. 110, are nearly cylin­drical; others, like Fig. 111, are gouge-shaped. Fig. 110 is re­mark­able as being the only spec­i­men of this kind of axe re­cov­ered from the mounds, under such cir­cum­stances as to es­tab­lish con­clus­ive­ly that it per­tained to the build­ers. It is com­posed of green­stone, and the marks of the tool, by which it was pecked into shape, are dis­tinct­ly vis­ible upon it. The sub­joined engraving (Fig. 112) presents examples of a number p218 of these axes. No. 3 is composed of tough sienite, is finely worked, and highly polished. No. 4 is of a species of variegated slate, and was found near Mid­dle­town, Con­nec­ti­cut.[138] Nos. 1 and 2 are mis­cel­lan­eous ex­amp­les; both are com­posed of green­stone. This form of the stone axe is not peculiar to America. Numbers, differing only in material, are found in almost all parts of the globe. Fig. 113 represents two, composed of flint, which were brought from Denmark, by the late J. F. WOODSIDE, Esq., U. S. Consul at Copenhagen, and are now in possession of his family, at Chillicothe, Ohio. They were obtained from a Scandinavian barrow. No. 1 seems to have been simply chipped into shape, and never used; No. 2, on the other hand, is well polished, and has evidently seen much use. Except in respect to material, they are undistinguishable from thousands found in the United States.
  • Fig. 112.
  • Fig. 114.
  • It will be observed that the various kinds of axes above described, are imperforate. A few implements have however been discovered, which are generally called hatchets, and which have holes for the reception of handles. Examples p219 are given, Fig. 114. It is clear nevertheless, both from their form and material, that they were not designed for use. They may be regarded as having been intended simply for ornament or display. No. 1 is composed of a beautiful talcose slate of a greenish brown color, slightly veined with dark lines. It measures six inches in length, is two inches and a half broad at the centre, and five inches between the tips.
  • No. 4 was found in South Carolina, and is composed of a dark steatite. The others were found in Mississippi, and are for the most part composed of soft and easily-worked stone.[139]
  • Fig. 115.
  • Fig. 116.
  • Fig. 117.
  • Fig. 115 is of similar material with No. 1, Fig. 114, is highly polished, and measures six inches in length. The hole is half an inch in diameter at one end, but less at the other.[140]
  • Fig. 116 is an example of a kind of hammer or club-head of stone. It weighs about two pounds. Articles of this kind are not frequent; and none have been found in the mounds. It is probable that a withe was passed around the groove in the middle, and the ends firmly bound together. By this means the implement might be very efficiently used as a hammer or war-club. Spherical stones are often found, weighing from half a pound to two pounds. The manner in which they were used is, no doubt, correctly explained by Lewis and Clarke:
  • Fig. 118. “The Shoshonee Indians use an instrument which was formerly employed among the Chippeways, and called by them pogamoggon. It consists of a handle, twenty-two inches long, made of wood, covered with leather, about the size of a whip-handle. At one end is a thong two inches in length, which is tied to a stone weighing two pounds, enclosed in a cover of leather. At the other end is a loop of the same material, which is passed around the wrist to secure the implement, with which they strike a powerful blow.” It is probable that the pear-shaped stones represented in the above engraving, Fig. 117, were used in like manner. Carver describes a weapon, in use by the tribes beyond the Mississippi river, which consisted of a curiously wrought stone, enclosed in leather as above, and fastened, like the slung-shot of the present day, to a thong, a yard p220 and a half long, which was also wound around the wrist. These weapons were often used in battle.
  • PESTLES.—A large number of implements have been dis­cov­ered, which have ev­i­dent­ly been used for pound­ing and re­ducing maize. Fig. 118 presents examples. These weigh gen­er­ally not more than four or five pounds, though some are much heavier. Oc­casion­ally they are elab­orate­ly worked, but most are rude. None of these have been found in the mounds. Sim­ilar ar­ticles were in com­mon use among the mo­dern In­dians. Rude mor­tars of various di­men­sions, com­posed of stone, were also fre­quent.
  • Fig. 119.
  • IMPLEMENTS OF BONE.—Pointed or sharpened bones of the deer and elk have been obtained from the ancient deposits in the mounds. Several are here represented, Fig. 119. They are reduced with entire regularity; and some of them, notwithstanding their decay, evince that they were originally highly polished. Nos. 1 and 3 were obtained from a mound in Cincinnati, and are evidently formed from the tibia of the elk.[141]
  • No. 2 was taken, together with several others, from a mound near Chillicothe, (see page [178],) and measures eight inches in length. It is formed from the ulna of the deer.
  • Fig. 120.
  • Some very delicate awl-shaped instruments have been found in the mounds, of which the above are full-sized sketches. They have been burned, and it is p221 impossible to tell of what description of bone they are made. They are as compact as ivory. Judging from the abundance of fragments, a considerable deposit must have been made where they were found. None were recovered entire; pieces were nevertheless found three inches in length. Some have round and tapering, others flat and chisel-shaped points; resembling in this, as in other respects, the different varieties of awls in use at the present day. They were probably used for similar purposes as needles and bodkins.[142]
  • Many implements made of elk and deer horns, and of the bones of the buffalo, have been found with the recent deposits in the mounds. These are all exceedingly rude.
  • Fig. 121.
  • DISCOIDAL STONES.—A few singular discs of stone have been discovered in the mounds, which seem related to a very numerous class of relics found scattered over the surface, from the valley of the Ohio to Peru. Those from the mounds will claim our first attention. Fig. 121, Numbers 3 and 5, are examples. They were taken, in connection with numerous other remains, from a mound numbered 1 within the great enclosure on the North fork of Paint creek. (See Plate [X], p222 and also page [157]). They are simple discs, (cut from plates of stone,) perfectly circular, but of variable thickness. The largest measures three inches and three fourths in diameter, by one inch and one tenth in thickness; the smallest, two and eight tenths, by nine tenths. They are of all intermediate sizes; a few have their edges slightly convex, but most are perfectly plane. Those first found by individuals residing in the vicinity, were called “weights,” from their resemblance to the iron weights in common use. They are made of a very dense ferruginous stone, of a black or dark brown ground, thickly interspersed with minute and brilliant specks of yellow mica; it receives a remarkably high polish, displaying the mica flakes with great beauty. The material was, not inaptly, termed “gold stone” by the persons who first discovered it. Several delicately carved articles of this material have been taken from the same locality; but it is a singular fact, that none have been found except in this particular mound. Judging from the accounts of others, and the number of fragments of these discs disclosed upon a full investigation of the mound, the deposit must have been very considerable; probably not less than thirty or forty were originally placed there.
  • It has been suggested that these stones were used in certain games, analogous to those known to have been practised by the North American tribes. The perfect polish of the edges of some of them weighs against this conclusion. They are certainly enigmatical in their purposes.
  • The numerous class of discoidal stones already referred to, as being in some degree related to those above described, are composed of a large variety of hard materials,—granite, porphyry, greenstone, jasper, quartz, etc.
  • They are of all sizes from two to six inches in diameter, and of variable thickness, seldom, however, less than an inch and a half. Some have concave sides, often perforated; others are solid or lenticular in shape, with oblique margins. Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 6, represent four varieties.
  • The sketches and accompanying sections will give a good idea of their character. Nos. 1 and 2 are the predominant forms, with sides more or less concave, and centre perforated. Many of this kind are marked with radiating lines, resembling bird tracks, as exhibited in No. 1. Occasionally both surfaces are thus marked. Some of those possessing concave sides are imperforate. No. 4 constitutes the simplest form, and approaches nearest to those found in the mounds; a very few are observed of the form represented by No. 6.
  • By far the larger proportion of these relics are worked with great symmetry, and are well polished; some, however, of manifestly similar purpose, are quite rude in workmanship and of coarse materials. None have been discovered in the mounds examined by the authors; and it is doubtful whether any have been found in them elsewhere, except with the recent deposits. We may safely set them down as of comparatively modern origin. It is known that, among the Indian tribes on the Ohio, and along the Gulf, such stones were in common use, in certain favorite games. Beyond the Mississippi their use is still retained. They display considerable skill, but undoubtedly fall within the capabilities of a very rude people. Their shape is that most easily obtained by attrition or grinding with other stones. p223 Adair describes them, and the game in which they were used, and remarks that they were “from time immemorial rubbed smooth on the rocks, and with prodigious labor,” and furthermore were so highly valued, “that they were kept with the strictest religious care from one generation to another, and were exempted from being buried with the dead.”
  • It is a singular fact that similar stones are found in Denmark, and Molina describes them as numerous in Chili. We may conclude that they everywhere had much the same use.[143] p224
  • RINGS.—Among the implements maybe classed certain small grooved rings, beautifully worked from stone and bone. Some are composed of the micaceous stone, of which the mound discs already described are made, and are carved with the utmost delicacy, and highly polished. They measure about two inches and three fourths in diameter, and the thickness of the periphery is half an inch. They are deeply grooved upon the outer edge, and are pierced by eight small holes, at equal distances from each other, all radiating from the centre. Similar rings, of smaller size, have been found, cut from bone. They are pierced in the same manner with those above described. It is suggested that they formed part of a drilling apparatus, something like the “bow and drill” of the present day. Several of larger size than those here noticed were found, some years since, in a mound at Cincinnati. A variety of relics are found which resemble paint-mullers. Some of these are composed of brown hematite, and are very symmetrical in figure.
  • Fig. 122.
  • TUBES.—Not among the least remarkable and interesting relics, obtained from the mounds, are the stone tubes, of which several examples are given in the subjoined engraving, Fig. 122. They are all carved from fine-grained materials susceptible of receiving a polish and of being made ornamental, as well as useful. The finest specimen yet discovered, and which can scarcely be surpassed in the delicacy of its workmanship, was found in a mound in the immediate vicinity of Chillicothe. No. 1 is a greatly reduced sketch. It is composed of a compact variety of slate; the ground is brownish or leaden green, interstratified with veins of pure black, of variable thickness, from a line to the fourth of an inch. These, when worked obliquely to their planes, are decidedly ornamental. This stone cuts with great clearness, and receives a fine though not glaring polish. The tube under notice is thirteen inches long, by one and one tenth in diameter; one end swells slightly, and the other terminates in a broad, flattened, triangular mouth-piece, (so called for lack of a better designation,) of fine proportions, which is carved with mathematical precision. It is drilled throughout; the bore is seven tenths of an inch in diameter at the cylindrical end of the tube, and retains that p225 calibre until it reaches the point where the cylinder subsides into the mouth-piece, when it contracts gradually to one tenth of an inch at the end. The inner surface of the tube is perfectly smooth, till within a short distance of the point of contraction. For the remaining distance the circular striæ, formed by the drill in boring, are distinctly marked. The mound in which this relic was found is sepulchral in its character, and the burial had been made by fire. One end of the tube is somewhat discolored by the heat to which it was exposed. The carving, in this instance, is very fine, and much superior to anything of which the Indians of this day are known to be capable.
  • No. 2 is a sketch of another tube, also found in one of the sepulchral mounds near Chillicothe (see page [164]). It is made of different material, less beautiful and more destructible than the one just described,—a variety of limestone. It measures but six inches in length by three fourths of an inch in diameter; the bore is half an inch in diameter. The surface is much decomposed; the spots which have resisted corrosion are polished to the highest degree. The inner surface is smooth, and retains a uniform calibre to within a short distance of the reduced end, where it contracts, exhibiting the circular striæ before noticed. A qualification of the remark respecting the calibre is perhaps necessary: at a point one inch and a half from the smaller end is an offset in the bore. Whether this is the result of accident or design, it is not undertaken to say; probably the former, as the feature has not been observed in any others which have fallen under notice. As these tubes have been regarded with considerable interest, it is deemed proper to note every circumstance respecting them, even though not considered of much importance by the investigators themselves.
  • Fig. 123.
  • Fig. 123 represents a tube of somewhat different character.[144] It is carved from a dark, compact steatite, and measures ten inches in length by two inches in diameter at the larger, and one inch and a third at the smaller end. The bore is proportioned to the diameter, and is one and one tenth, and six tenths of an inch at the ends, respectively. Upon one side, as if to serve the double purpose of handle and ornament, is carved in high relief the figure of an owl, attached with its back to the tube. This carving is remarkably bold and spirited, and represents the bird with its claws contracted and drawn up, and head and beak elevated as if in an p226 attitude of defence and defiance. The action is very fine, but is imperfectly conveyed by the engraving. The implement weighs little less than four pounds. It was found in a mound on the Catawba river, Chester district, South Carolina.
  • Fig. 124.
  • Fig. 124 is a tube of similar material with that last described.[145] It is six inches long; its greatest and least diameters being one inch and a quarter, and one inch and a half respectively, with a proportionate bore. At a point about three inches from the larger end, is an oval hole or stop. It was found while ploughing, near Marietta, Ohio.
  • It has been suggested that the last two articles were designed as wind instruments. It is very certain that the skill of the present day succeeds in producing very indifferent music from them. Either the art of playing upon them has sadly deteriorated, or the musical taste of the makers was not regulated by existing standards. It has further been suggested that tubes of the character of those first described were designed as auxiliary to the eye in making distant observations.[146] If it were deemed necessary to attempt an explanation of the probable purposes of every relic discovered, a conjecture, at least, might be based upon the peculiar mouth-pieces which many of these tubes possess,—namely, that they were used as pipes for smoking purposes. The furthest advance towards designating their purposes, which it is here ventured to make, is to class them amongst implements.[147] p227
  • Fig. 125.
  • There is another variety of tubes, which it may not be improper to notice in this connection, though partaking rather of the character of ornaments than implements. Fig. 125, No. 1, represents one of these. It is in the form of a triangular prism, with sides slightly concave and angles rounded. It is three inches in length by one and three tenths in diameter at the ends, and is perforated longitudinally; the bore is half an inch in diameter. It is of the same variety of stone as the large tube first described, and of similar workmanship. No. 2 is, however, the prevailing form of articles of this description. It is a hollow cylinder, a little over four inches in length, swelling gently from the ends to the centre, where it measures an inch and a quarter in diameter; calibre, half an inch; material as above. Both these articles are highly polished. It is possible that they were worn as amulets, or as simple ornaments. This notion is favored by the fact, that none have been discovered which are not made of rare and beautiful stones.
  • PIPES.—The mound-builders were inveterate smokers, if the great number of pipes discovered in the mounds be admitted as evidence of the fact. These constitute not only a numerous but a singularly interesting class of remains. In their construction, the skill of the makers seems to have been exhausted. Their general form, which may be regarded as the primitive form of the implement, is well exhibited in the accompanying sketch, Fig. 126. p228
  • Fig. 126.
  • They are always carved from a single piece, and consist of a flat curved base, of variable length and width, with the bowl rising from the centre of the convex side. From one of the ends, and communicating with the hollow of the bowl, is drilled a small hole, which answers the purpose of a tube; the corresponding opposite division being left for the manifest purpose of holding the implement to the mouth. The specimen above represented is finely carved from a beautiful variety of brown porphyry, granulated with variously colored materials,—the whole much changed by the action of fire, and somewhat resembling porcelain. It is intensely hard, and successfully resists the edge of the finest tempered knife. The length of the base is five inches, breadth of the same one inch and a quarter. The bowl is one inch and a quarter high, slightly tapering upwards, but flaring near the top. The hollow of the bowl is six tenths of an inch in diameter. The perforation answering to the tube is one sixth of an inch in diameter, which is about the usual size. This circumstance places it beyond doubt that the mouth was applied directly to the implement, without the intervention of a tube of wood or metal. It will be observed that it is ornamented with cup-shaped holes, an eighth of an inch broad and about the same depth. Seven of these are placed in a circle upon each side of the bowl, which has a line of them extending spirally around it.
  • Fig. 127.
  • Fig. 127 is another pipe of a coarse-grained granite. It was not found in the mounds, but was turned up by the plough, in the vicinity of one of the large enclosures on the banks of Paint creek. It is quite unlike those figured above in shape, and perhaps belonged to a later race.

Such is the general form of these implements. The largest proportion of those which have been found in the mounds, however, are of much more elaborate workmanship. Their character has been briefly noticed on a previous page. (See page [152].) They are sculptured into singular devices—figures of the human head, and of various beasts, birds, and reptiles. These figures are all executed in miniature, but with a strict fidelity to nature. The attitudes of the animals are characteristic; their very habits, in some cases, are indicated. Most are worked in porphyry; and all display a truthfulness, delicacy, and finish, which we are unprepared to look for, except among the remains of a people considerably advanced in the arts. Some of them represent animals peculiar to the lower latitudes. Indeed, so remarkable in many respects are they regarded, in their bearing upon some of the more important questions connected with American archæology, particularly the migrations of the race of the mounds, that their full consideration is reserved for another place. They will be noticed at length, in connection with similar remains, under the more appropriate head of “Sculptures.”

Besides these varieties of pipes, numerous others are found, most of which are probably referable to a comparatively recent era. They differ in style from those found in the mounds, and are for the greater part composed of steatites and other soft and easily worked varieties of stone. Some are of large size, and are boldly p229 though not in general elegantly sculptured. They will also be noticed under the same head with those last mentioned.

From the appearance of these relics it is fairly inferable that, among the mound-builders as among the tribes of North American Indians, the practice of smoking was very general if not universal. The conjecture that it was also more or less interwoven with their civil and religious observances, is not without its support. The use of tobacco was known to nearly all the American nations, and the pipe was their grand diplomatist. In making war and in concluding peace it performed an important part. Their deliberations, domestic as well as public, were conducted under its influences; and no treaty was ever made unsignalized by the passage of the calumet. The transfer of the pipe from the lips of one individual to those of another was the token of amity and friendship, a gage of honor with the chivalry of the forest which was seldom violated. In their religious ceremonies it was also introduced, with various degrees of solemnity. A substitute for tobacco was sometimes furnished in the tender bark of the young willow; other substitutes were found among the Northern tribes in the leaves and roots of various pungent herbs. The custom extended to Mexico, where however it does not seem to have been invested with any of those singular conventionalities observed in the higher latitudes. It prevailed in South America and in the Caribbean islands. The form of the Indian pipe of North America is extremely variable, and very much the subject of individual taste. Some are excessively rude, but most are formed with great labor from the finest materials within reach. Along the Mississippi and among the tribes to the westward of that river, the material most valued for the purpose was, and still is, the red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, a beautiful mineral resembling steatite, easily worked and capable of a high finish. The spot whence it is obtained, and which is certainly one of the most interesting mineral localities of the whole country, is regarded with superstitious veneration by the Indians. It is esteemed to be under the special protection of the Great Spirit, and is connected with many of their most singular traditions. Until very recently it was the common resort of the tribes, where animosities and rivalries were forgotten, and where the most embittered foes met each other on terms of amity. In carving pipes from this material they expended their utmost skill, and we may regard them as the chef d’œuvres of modern Indian art. The following engraving, Fig. 128, from originals, will exhibit their predominant form, which it will be observed is radically different from that of the mound pipes. The larger of the two was once the favorite pipe of the eloquent KEOKUK, chief of the Sacs and Foxes, whose name occupies a conspicuous place in the Indian history of the North-west. These pipes were smoked with long tubes of wood, from twenty inches to three feet in length, fantastically ornamented with feathers and beads. p230

Fig. 128.

The sculpture of these articles, which is sometimes attempted in imitation of the human figure and of various animals, is often tasteful. But they never display the nice observation, and true, artistic appreciation and skill exhibited by those of the mounds, notwithstanding their makers have all the advantages resulting from steel implements for carving, and from the suggestions afforded by European art. The only fair test of the relative degrees of skill possessed by the two races would be in a comparison of the remains of the mounds with the productions of the Indians before the commencement of European intercourse. A comparison with the works of the latter however, at any period, would not fail to exhibit in a striking light the greatly superior skill of the ancient people.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XIII.
  • [133] The Spaniards entertained a strong dread of these weapons. Their historians tell some wonderful stories of their
  • Fig. 101. Fig. 102.
  • efficiency, and affirm that one stroke was sufficient to cut a man through the middle or decapitate a horse. The form of this sword, which was called mahquahuitl by the Mexicans, is rep­re­sent­ed in the ac­com­pany­ing en­grav­ing (Fig. 101).
  • The Pacific islanders possess simi­lar wea­pons, formed by in­serting rows of shark’s teeth on the opposite sides of a staff or sword shaped piece of tough wood, and fastening the same with cords of native grass. One of this kind from the Aleutian Islands is here engraved (Fig. 102).
  • [134] Lawson, in his account of the Carolina Indians, published in 1709, mentions having seen at an Indian town “very long arrows, headed with pieces of glass, which they had broken from bottles. They were shaped neatly, like the head of a dart, but the way they did it I can’t tell” (p. 58). It is probable that these arrows were pointed with obsidian or quartz, which would be very liable to be mistaken for glass. Fremont (Second Expedition, p. 267) observed some Indians, of unusually fearless character, on the Rio de los Angelos of Upper California, who possessed arrows “barbed with a very clear, translucent stone, a species of opal, nearly as hard as a diamond.”
  • [135] Wilkinson’s Egypt, vol. iii. p. 261.
  • [136] Clarke’s Travels, vol. iii p. 22.
  • [137] LOSKIEL says of the axes of the Delaware Indians: “Their hatchets are wedges, made of hard stones, six or seven inches long, sharpened at the edge, and attached to a wooden handle. They are not used to fell trees, but only to peel them, and kill their enemies” (p. 54). ADAIR, speaking of the Southern tribes, observes: “They twisted two or three hickory slips, about two feet long, around the notched head of the axe, and by means of this simple and obvious invention they deadened the trees, by cutting through the bark, and burned them when they became thoroughly dry” (p. 405).
  • [138] Presented by JOHN HALL, Esq., New York. Nos. 1 and 2 are in the cabinet of JAMES MCBRIDE, Esq.
  • [139] In the cabinets of B. L. C. WAILES, Esq., Washington, Miss.; and of Rev R. MORRIS, Mount Sylvan, in the same State.
  • [140] In the cabinet of JAMES MCBRIDE, Hamilton, Ohio.
  • [141] In the cabinet of ERASMUS GEST, Esq., and drawn by H. C. GROSVENOR of Cincinnati.
  • [142] “The needles and thread they used formerly (and now at times) were fish bones, or the horns or bones of deer rubbed sharp, and deer’s sinews, and a sort of hemp that grows, among them spontaneously.”—Adair’s American Indians, p. 6.
  • Mr. Stevens found a similar implement with the skeleton, in one of the ancient tombs near Ticul in Yucatan. “It was made of deer’s horn, about two inches long, sharp at the point, with an eye at the other end. The Indians of the vicinity still use needles of the same material.”—Travels in Yucatan, vol. i. p. 279.
  • [143] Rev. J. B. Finley (distinguished for his zealous efforts in christianizing the Indian tribes of Ohio) states that, among the tribes with which he was acquainted, stones identical with those above described were much used in a popular game resembling the modern game of “ten pins.” The form of the stones suggests the manner in which they were held and thrown, or rather rolled. The concave sides received the thumb and second finger, the forefinger clasping the periphery. Adair, in his notice of the Southern Indians, gives a minute and graphic account of a game somewhat analogous to that described by Mr. Finley, in which stones of this description were used. Du Pratz notices the same game, and fully explains the purpose of the oblique-edged stones, Nos. 4 and 6 of the text. These, when rolled, would describe a convolute figure. The lines on the stones, resembling bird-tracks, were probably in some way connected with “counting” the game.
  • “The warriors have another favorite game, called Chungke; which, with propriety of language, may be called ‘running hard labor.’ They have near their state house a square piece of ground well cleaned; and fine sand is strewed over it, when requisite, to promote a swifter motion to what they throw along its surface. Only one or two on a side play at this ancient game. They have a stone about two fingers broad at the edge and two spans round; each party has a pole about eight feet long, smooth and tapering at each end, the points flat. They set off abreast of each other, at six yards from the edge of the playground; then one of them hurls the stone on its edge, in as direct a line as he can, a considerable distance towards the middle of the other end of the square; when they have run a few yards, each darts his pole, anointed with bear’s grease, with a proper force, as near as he can guess, in proportion to the motion of the stone, that the end may lie close to the same;—when this is the case the person counts two of the game, and in proportion to the nearness of the poles to the mark, one is counted, unless by measurement both are found to be an equal distance from the stone. In this manner the players will keep moving most of the day at half speed, under the violent heat of the sun, staking their silver ornaments; their nose, finger, and ear rings; their breast, arm, and wrist plates; and all their wearing apparel, except that which barely covers their middle. All the American Indians are much addicted to this game, which appears to be a task of stupid drudgery; it seems, however, to be of early origin, when their forefathers used diversions as simple as their manners. (The hurling stones they use at present were, from time immemorial, rubbed smooth on the rocks, and with prodigious labor; they are kept with the strictest religious care from one generation to another, and are exempt from being buried with the dead.) They belong to the town where they are used, and are carefully preserved.”—Adair’s History of American Indians, p. 402.
  • “The warriors practise a diversion which they call the game of the pole, at which only two play at a time. Each pole is about eight feet long, resembling a Roman f, and the game consists in rolling a flat round stone, about three inches in diameter and one inch thick, with the edges somewhat sloping, and throwing the pole in such a manner that when the stone rests, the pole may be at or near it. Both antagonists throw their pole at the same time, and he whose pole is nearest the stone counts one, and has the right of rolling the stone.”—Du Pratz, History of Louisiana, 1720, p. 366.
  • Mr. Breckenridge (Views of Louisiana, p. 256) mentions a game popular among the Arikara, (Riccarees,) played with a ring of stone. Lewis and Clarke also mention a game common among the Mandans, similar to the one above described, and which was also played with rings of stone. Mr. Catlin, (vol. i. p. 132) both describes and illustrates the game, which, among the Mandans as well as among the Creeks, was denominated “Tchung-kee.”
  • Discoidal stones analogous, if not identical, with these, have been found in abundance in Chili. “In the plains and upon the mountains,” says Molina, “are to be seen a great number of flat circular stones, of five or six inches in diameter, with a hole through the middle. These stones, which are either granite or porphyry, have doubtless received this form by artificial means, and I am induced to believe that they were the clubs or maces of the ancient Chilians, and that the holes were perforated to receive the handles.”—Molina, vol i. p. 56.
  • [144] In the possession of J. VAN CLEVE, Esq., of Dayton, Ohio.
  • [145] In the cabinet of Dr. S. P. HILDRETH, Marietta, Ohio.
  • [146] Several tubes, of very much the same character with those here referred to, have been found in the vicinity of the Grave creek mound. Mr. SCHOOLCRAFT describes them as made out of a compact, blue and white mottled steatite, measuring from eight to twelve inches in length, by one inch and four tenths in diameter, and having a bore of four fifths of an inch, diminishing at one end to one fifth of an inch. Our author observes:
  • “By placing the eye at the diminished point, the extraneous light is shut from the pupil, and distant objects more clearly discerned. The effect is telescopic, and is the same which is known to be produced by directing the sight towards the heavens from the bottom of a well,—an object which we now understand to have been secured by the Aztec and Maya races in their astronomical observations, by constructing tubular chambers. The quality of the stone, like most of the magnesian species, is soft enough to be cut with a knife. It is evident that the circular lines observed in the calibre were produced by boring. The circular striæ of this process are plainly apparent. I learned by inquiry, that a quarry or locality of this species of rock exists on the banks of Grave creek, some four or five miles above the mound. This establishes the fact, that they were made here and not brought from a distance. The degree of skill evinced by these curious instruments is superior to that observed in the pipe-carvings and other evidences of North American Indian sculpture.”—Observations on the Grave creek Mound, Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 406.
  • [147] According to Vanegas, the “medicine men” of the Californian tribes of Indians, in their operations for the cure of diseases, sometimes used tubes of stone. The operation in which they were used, was a kind of cautery.
  • “One mode was very remarkable, and the good effect it sometimes produced heightened the reputation of the physician. They applied to the suffering part of the patient’s body the chacuaco, a tube formed out of a very hard black stone; and through this they sometimes sucked and at other times blew, but both as hard as they were able, supposing that the disease was either exhaled or dispersed. Sometimes the tube was filled with cimarron or wild tobacco lighted, and here they either sucked in or blew down the smoke, according to the physician’s directions, and this powerful caustic sometimes, without any other remedy, has been known entirely to remove the disorder.”—Vanegas’ California, vol. i. p. 97.

p231

CHAPTER XIV. ORNAMENTS OF STONE, BONE, ETC.

A large proportion of the articles found in the mounds may be classed as ornaments. It is not undertaken to say, however, that all which follow under this head were really designed as such. The purposes of the remains of the mounds generally are so apparent, that little doubt can exist as to the place which they should occupy in the simple classification here attempted; but there are a few to which it is extremely difficult to assign a position. For all essential purposes, approximate conclusions are sufficiently exact; and although a good deal of ingenuity and much space might be expended in speculations upon the probable purposes of relics of doubtful use, it is not likely that the final result would be of much importance in its bearings upon archæological science.

• BEADS.—The number of beads found in the mounds is truly surprising. They may be counted in some instances by hundreds and thousands,—each one the product of no inconsiderable amount of labor, unless our estimate of the means and facilities at the command of the makers is greatly underrated. The character of some of these beads, made of shell and enveloped in metal, has already been noticed. Others are composed of shell, worked into every variety of shape, round, oblong, and flattened; others still of animal bones and tusks, and many of pearls and small marine shells,—as the marginella, natica, oliva, etc. The perforated teeth of the wild cat, wolf, and shark, as well as the claws of animals and sections of the small bones of birds, were also used in the manner of beads, either for purposes of distinction and decoration, or as amulets. In all these we observe remarkable coincidences with the decorations of the existing tribes of Indians, who are extravagant in their use of beads and pendants.[148]
• The beads found with the skeletons, so far as observation has extended, are composed of shell or tusks of animals,—those of shell greatly predominating. The surfaces of some of these are much discolored and corroded; many, however, p232 retain their polish and appear quite sound. They resemble sections cut from the ends of rods or small cylinders, and subsequently more or less rounded upon the edge: some are quite flat, and resemble the bone buttons of commerce; others are perfectly round. Their diameter varies from one fourth to three fourths of an inch; the size of the perforation is also variable, usually, however, about one tenth of an inch. Many exhibit circular striæ upon their surfaces, identical with those produced by turning in a lathe; and it is possible they were formed by some such process, instead of being slowly and laboriously worn into shape by rubbing on stones, as was the practice of the modern Indians. These are composed of the solid portion, the columella, of large marine shells. In some of the mounds, the unworked columella has been found,—heavy and compact; probably that of the strombus gigas, which shell is common upon the coasts of Florida.[149]
• In the sacrificial or altar mounds a much greater variety of beads is found than in those devoted to sepulture; a fact for which we cannot account, unless by supposing that the articles most valued for their rarity or beauty were those especially dedicated to their superstitions. It is unfortunate, however, that those placed upon the altars, like everything else thus disposed of, are so much injured by the fire as to preserve but little of their former beauty.
• Fig. 129. The bead here represented is composed of shell, and is well wrought. Some of this description have been obtained, which are not less than two inches in length by half an inch in diameter. Abundance of others have been found of similar material but different shape: some are round, but most are oblong; a few are lens-shaped.
• But the most interesting and remarkable of the whole series are the pearl beads, of which a large number have been found in the altar or sacrificial mounds. By exposure to the heat, they have lost their brilliancy and consequent value as ornaments; most of them, indeed, are so much injured that they crumble under the touch. The peculiarities of their form, and their concentric lamellæ, joined to the lingering lustre which some retain, place their character beyond dispute. Several hundreds in number, and not far from a quart in quantity, are in our possession, which retain their structure sufficiently well to be strung and handled. The largest of these measures two and a half inches in circumference, or upwards of three fourths of an inch in diameter. They are of all intermediate sizes, down to one fourth of an inch in diameter. Most are irregular in form, or pear-shaped; yet there are many perfectly round. They have been obtained from separate localities, several miles apart, and from five distinct groups of mounds. Great numbers were so much calcined, that it was found impossible to recover them, and a large number crumbled in pieces after removal from the mounds. It is no exaggeration to say p233 that a number of quarts of pearls were originally deposited in the mounds referred to; probably nearly two quarts were contained in a single mound.
• It may be inquired whence these pearls were obtained. Occasional specimens are found in the fresh water molluscs of this region, but they are exceedingly rare. They are very seldom discovered by our indefatigable naturalists on the Scioto, (some of whom annually collect thousands of the living shells,) and are never found of sizes at all comparable to those of the mounds. We know that among the natives of the West Indies, and the tribes of the Gulf, pearls were found in great abundance. Raleigh, Greenville, and others speak of them among the nations on the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas; and Soto and Ribaulde observed large quantities among the tribes of Florida. It is a curious fact, that the Indians, observing the eagerness with which Soto’s followers sought them, directed him, according to the chronicler, “to search certaine grauves that were in the town, and that he should find many; and that if he would send to the grauves of these dispeopled towns he might load all his horses; and they sought the grauves of the town, and there found fourteen rooxes of perles, [three hundred and ninety-two pounds,] and little babies and birds made of them.” At another place the chronicler observes, they found “some perles of small valew, spoiled with the fire, which the Indians do string them like beads and weare them about their necks and hand wrists, and they esteem them very much.” It is certainly not impossible that the “graves of the deserted towns” were the mounds themselves; for nothing could possibly be more in opposition to the Indian character, than to direct the hand of the invaders to the tombs of their own dead. An extreme and religious veneration and respect for the “graves of their fathers,” universally characterizes the North American tribes.[150] They have been known to undertake long journeys to visit their ancient burial-places, and there perform the few simple rites enjoined by their superstitions. Such tributes were supposed to be grateful to the spirits of the dead.
• Fig. 130.
• Numerous beads composed of various small marine shells, of the genera marginella, oliva, and natica, pierced longitudinally, have been discovered. These are all found upon our Southern and South-western coasts, and in the West Indies.
• Another species of beads found in the mounds, were made from some of the more beautiful varieties of the shells of the unios, so cut and strung as to exhibit p234 the convex surface and pearly nacre of the shell. These must have formed very tasteful ornaments. Some neck ornaments identical in form and appearance with these were obtained by the Exploring Expedition, from Paumotou in the Pacific; they are made of mother of pearl.
• Other beads are composed of sections of the small bones of birds. Similar ornaments are common among the Indians to the west of the Mississippi, and have been observed among the natives of the Caribbean islands.
• In addition to these several varieties of neck ornaments, may be enumerated the perforated canine teeth of certain animals, the wild cat, wolf, and bear; also, the teeth of the shark and the alligator, and the claws of animals. The latter, separated from the foot at the first articulation, have been found in considerable numbers. Fig. 131 presents examples of these varieties. Some large imperforate teeth of animals have been found with skeletons in such positions as to favor the conclusion that they were inserted into the lobes of the ear. No. 5 of the cut is an example. Several large fossil teeth of the shark, some of them perforated, have also been obtained from the mounds, and will be noticed, together with other singular remains of like character, under the head of “Fossils and Minerals from the Mounds.” These relics were perhaps worn as amulets or charms.[151]
• Fig. 131.
• A very tasteful variety of enamelled beads is frequently found upon the surface or with the recent deposits in the mounds. They are very erroneously supposed by some to have pertained to the race of the mounds; so far is this from being the case, that they are all clearly of European origin. The early voyagers availed themselves, for purposes of traffic with the Indians, of their love of ornament, p235 and “brought from the potteries and glass-houses of Europe various substitutes for the native wampum, in the shape of white, opaque, transparent, blue, black, and other variously colored beads, and of as many various forms as the genius of geometry could well devise. They also brought over a species of paste-mosaic, or curious oval or elongated beads of a kind of enamel or paste, skilfully arranged in layers of various colors, which, viewed at their poles, presented stars, radii, or other figures.”[152]
• Fig. 132.
• PENDANTS.—These ornaments are of frequent occurrence in the vicinity of the ancient works, though seldom found, if indeed found at all, in the ancient mounds themselves. They for the most part resemble the plumbs of the architect, and are usually made of rare and beautiful materials. No. 1 may be taken as the predominant form. It is symmetrically worked from a variety of greenstone, interspersed with large crystals of mica. It is drawn of half the dimensions of the original, which measures three and a half inches in length by one and a fourth in its greatest diameter, and weighs not far from four ounces. No. 2, also of half size, is well worked from a dark brown hematite, and is highly polished. No. 3 is also of hematite. It differs from the others in its shape, which is double conoid, and has the groove around the middle. Hematite seems to have been a favorite material for these ornaments. No. 5 is of quartz, and is much the rudest which has fallen under notice. These articles were all evidently designed for suspension. It has been suggested that they were used as ear ornaments; their weight, however, seems too considerable for such a purpose. To this day some of the savage tribes have the lobes of their ears greatly distended, in the language of the early writers, “like hoops,” and the disfiguration is deemed a great improvement upon nature. “Some of the Indians,” says Lawson, “wear great bobs in their ears, and sometimes in the holes thereof they put eagle’s feathers, for a trophy.”[153] p236
• GORGETS.—Numerous relics of the description here presented are found in the mounds, generally with the skeletons. They seem to be identical in purpose, (differing only in respect of material,) with the articles of metal, described under this division (Figs. 89 and 90) in a previous page. They consist of plates or tablets of rare or beautiful stones, such as may easily be worked, and which admit of a high finish. In shape they are as diverse as fancy can suggest, but always of tasteful outline. Some are square, others oblong, oval, cruciform, or lozenge-shaped. Some are perforated with one, but most with two holes; the latter have always one, occasionally both, surfaces perfect planes.[154] Many have considerable thickness and display one face in relief; those with a single perforation often have both faces slightly convex. They exhibit, in general, much care and labor, and are elegantly finished. A few have been discovered which are quite rude, but possessing the general form of those more elaborately worked.
• Fig. 133.
• Fig. 133. No. 1 is composed of a very compact limestone. The surface is much corroded, but there are a few spots where it retains its original condition, and these exhibit a very high polish. Its form is sufficiently well indicated in the sketch. It measures, in length, three and a half inches; in width two inches; in thickness one inch and one tenth. It was found in a sepulchral mound near Chillicothe. (See page [164].) No. 2 is of the beautiful veined slate already described (page [224]). Length, three inches; width, one and three fourths; thickness, three fourths of an inch. Found on the surface of the earth near Chillicothe. p237
• Fig. 134.
• Fig. 135.
• Fig. 134 is of similar material with that last mentioned. It is three inches long, one and three fourths wide, and three fourths of an inch thick. Fig. 135 (half size) differs in material and shape from those above described. It is composed of a compact ferruginous stone, much altered by heat, and was found on the altar in the remarkable “Pipe Mound,” in “Mound City” (page [152]). It has but a single perforation.
• It is a singular fact that the holes in the three specimens first noticed, as also in some of those which follow, are placed exactly four fifths of an inch apart. This could hardly have been the result of accident. These relics were found at different localities, several miles distant from each other.
• Fig. 136.
• The above engraving presents at one view seventeen figures of as many different relics of this description,—all of which, with the exception of No. 7, and Nos. 12 to 17, are drawn of one fourth the size of the originals. p238
• No. 1 is a vertical view of Fig. 133, No. 1, and is introduced here better to illustrate its form. No. 2 was found at Marietta, and is in the cabinet of Dr. Hildreth of that town. It measures: length, three inches and a half; width, one inch and nine tenths; thickness, three fourths of an inch. The material resembles that of which No. 1 is composed. No. 3 is of similar material, and was found beside a skeleton, in a mound formerly standing within the limits of Chillicothe.[155] Dimensions: length, six and a half inches; width at centre, two inches; thickness, four fifths. Nos. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11, as also Nos. 15, 16, and 17, were found at various points in the Miami valley, and are in the possession of Mr. McBride. Most are of slate, either dark or variegated. No. 7 is cruciform in shape, and is composed of coralline limestone, of a very beautiful variety.
• Fig. 137.
• These illustrations might be indefinitely multiplied. The above will, however, give a very clear conception of the general character of this singular class of relics. Fig. 137 illustrates the manner of the perforation. The holes are bevelled from one or both surfaces, and at the narrowest point are seldom more than one eighth of an inch in diameter. The circular striæ left in the process of boring, are to be observed with great distinctness in almost every instance.
• These relics have been classed as gorgets, from their apparent purpose. It is not undertaken to say that such was their real purpose, for none of the many curious remains obtained from the mounds have more successfully baffled scrutiny. At first glance it seems obvious that they were designed for suspension, but there are many circumstances which it is not easy to reconcile with that conclusion. In common with the perforated copper plates, already described, they exhibit slight traces of friction upon the edges of the holes, which for the most part are as sharp as if newly cut. This could hardly be the case had they been worn suspended from the neck or upon any part of the person. Their material, shape, and style of workmanship, would seem to imply an ornamental purpose. It has been suggested that they were designed as implements, probably for condensing the raw hide or sinews used as bow-strings. This hypothesis is founded upon the character of the perforation, which is certainly such as would best subserve the purpose suggested; but the slight evidence of friction, already remarked, constitutes an objection to this conclusion which it is difficult to surmount. p239
• The specimen dug up within the limits of Chillicothe, is said to have been found resting upon the breast of the skeleton with which it was deposited. The recollection of different individuals varies upon that point; hence no conclusion can be founded upon the position in which the relic was discovered. Those taken from the sepulchral mounds have uniformly been found by the side of the skeleton, near the bones of the hand.
• Whatever their purposes, whether worn as ornaments or badges of authority and distinction, or designed as implements, it is certain they were in very general use. Not far from one hundred have been examined, which were procured from localities extending over the States of Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Indiana.[156]
• Fig. 138.
• Fig. 138 (half size) also presents examples of a large class of remains probably of kindred character with those last described, and, like them, always composed of an ornamental kind of stone. The engravings will best illustrate their form, which, in almost every specimen, is slightly varied. They have holes perforated diagonally, at their lower corners, in which marks of wear from suspension or use are distinctly visible. The field of their occurrence is equally extensive with that of the relics last described.
• It may reasonably be concluded from the uniform shape of these articles, and from their apparent unfitness as implements, as also from the wide range of their occurrence, that they were invested with a conventional significance as insignia or badges of distinction or as amulets. We know that the custom of wearing certain stones as preventives of disease, or as safeguards against accidents or the malice of evil spirits, has not been confined to one continent or a single age. It is not entirely obliterated among certain classes of our own people. Regal authority is still indicated by rich baubles of gold and gems. It matters little whether the p240 index of royalty be a sceptre, or a simple carved and polished stone, so that it is sanctioned with general recognition.
• Fig. 139.
• Fig. 139 (half size) is made of a beautiful variety of quartz, of a white ground, clouded with green. It is smoothly wrought and polished, and is perforated from the ends. The shape is well shown by the engraving and supplementary section. It was probably designed for suspension, as an ornament.
• Fig. 140.
• Fig. 140 (quarter size) is wrought from the beautiful variegated slate so often referred to. It is marked upon its upper convex edge with notches, twenty-eight in number. Its purpose must remain entirely a matter of conjecture.
• Fig. 141.
• MICA ORNAMENTS.—Thin sheets of mica, cut in the form of scrolls, discs, etc., have been occasionally found in the mounds. Fig. 141 presents examples. The scrolls, in this instance, measure six inches in length, and the discs are two inches in diameter. These are composed of the silvery or opaque mica, and are shaped with the utmost precision. The edges are perfectly smooth, as if cut with a very sharp instrument. They exhibit not the slightest irregularity, but are geometrically correct. Each piece is perforated with a small hole, such as would be formed by thrusting a blunt needle through it. They were probably in some way attached as ornaments to the dress.[157] p241
• In the Grave creek mound were found, with one of the skeletons, about one hundred and fifty bits of mica, an inch and a half or two inches square, each perforated with two or more small holes. These slips were about the thickness of ordinary writing paper, and it is supposed they were attached together, forming a sort of scarf or ornamental article of dress.[158] Many of the mounds, it may here be observed, contain mica, sometimes in plates of considerable thickness, but usually in simple folia, with ragged outlines.
• In a mound excavated a year or two since near Lower Sandusky, Ohio, upwards of twenty oval plates of mica of great beauty were discovered, each perforated with a small hole at one end, evidently for the purpose of suspension. They were of the beautiful variety of the mineral known as “hieroglyphic” or “graphic” mica, and the natural markings were taken by the persons who discovered them to be veritable hieroglyphics—the records of an extinct people.

Most of the relics found in the mounds fall under the foregoing heads of classification. There are many, however, the purposes of which are entirely enigmatical. Whether designed as implements or ornaments, or whatever their particular purpose, it is not easy, and probably of not much importance, to determine. They are only valuable as illustrations of the skill of their makers, and can have but a slight bearing upon the more important questions connected with American archæology.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XIV.
  • [148] Clavigero says of the ancient Mexicans: “It would be difficult to find a nation which accompanied so much simplicity of dress with so much variety and luxury in other ornaments of their persons. Besides feathers and jewels, with which they adorned their clothes, they wore ear-rings, pendants at the upper lip, and many likewise at their noses, necklaces, bracelets for the hands and arms, and also certain rings like collars around their legs. The ear-rings and pendants of the poor were shells, pieces of crystal, amber, or some other shining little stones; but the rich wore pearls, emeralds, amethysts, or other gems, set in gold.”
  • [149] Several thousands of these beads were found in the Grave creek mound. They are much thinner than those discovered in the Scioto valley; otherwise they closely resemble them. They were for a long time supposed to be ivory. Their true character was first detected by Mr. Schoolcraft. See Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 398.
  • [150] “The tombs of the dead,” says Charlevoix, “are held so sacred in this country, that to violate them is the greatest hostility that can be committed against a nation.”—Canada, vol. 2, p. 153.
  • “Notwithstanding the North American Indians inter the whole riches of the deceased with him, and so make his corpse and the grave heirs to all, they never give them the least disturbance;—even a blood-thirsty enemy will not despoil or disturb the dead.”—Adair, p. 178.
  • The Indians of the Columbia river, it seems, have less faith in the veneration of their race. They take care to bend the gun barrels, break holes in the vessels, and otherwise render valueless the various articles deposited with their dead; thereby removing the temptation to sacrilege.
  • [151] “Amulets and neck and ear ornaments constituted a very ancient and important department in the arcanum of the Indian’s wardrobe. They were connected with his superstitions, and were part of the external system of his religion. The aboriginal man who had never laid aside his oriental notions of necromancy, and believed firmly in witchcraft, wore them as charms. They were among the most cherished and valued articles he could possibly possess. They were sought with great avidity, at high prices, and, after having served their purposes of warding off evil while he lived, were deposited in his grave at his death. Bones, shells, carved stones, gems, claws and hoofs of animals, feathers of carnivorous birds, and above all the skins of serpents, were cherished with the utmost care and regarded with the most superstitious veneration. To be decked with suitable amulets, was to him to be invested with a charmed life. They added to his feeling of security and satisfaction in his daily avocations, and gave him new courage in war.”—Schoolcraft’s Notes on the Iroquois, p. 226.
  • [152] SCHOOLCRAFT, “Notes on the Iroquois,” p. 227. It is undoubted that some of the Indian tribes to the west of the Mississippi have the art, it is not presumed to say how or where acquired, of making a sort of enamelled beads, which they contrive to color of various shades. Some of these, of tolerable workmanship, are in the cabinet of the authors. They were obtained from the celebrated Fond de Bœuf, into which they were thrown under some superstitious impulse. Lewis and Clarke give an account of the manufacture of these ornaments, which is fully sustained by the peculiarities of the beads here mentioned.
  • [153] LAWSON’S Carolina, p. 193. We have discovered none of these ornaments in the mounds, and it is difficult to say whether or not they are genuine relics of the mound-builders. It is possible they were used both by the earlier and later races. In the Museum of the East India Society at Salem, Mass., are a number of articles of similar character, which were found while making excavations in that city. They are larger and of much ruder workmanship than those of Ohio, but of the same shape, and grooved in like manner. It has been suggested that those of hematite, which are most numerous, were carried about the person for the purpose of supplying an ornamental paint. Rubbed upon any sharp grit with water, they furnish a dull red pigment,—much inferior, however, to the French preparations for the toilette. Irregular fragments of the same material are sometimes found bearing the marks of frequent trituration. Such may have been the secondary use of some of these articles; the frequent occurrence of those made from other materials establishes that they were primarily designed for other purposes. One composed of pieces of copper, rudely hammered together with little slips of silver inserted in the crevices, was found at Marietta, and is now in the cabinet of the Worcester Antiquarian Society; another, found at Cincinnati, and composed of quartz crystal, is in the Museum of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. Although found in mounds, it is exceedingly doubtful whether they were part of the original deposits.
  • [154] One of these articles, in the possession of Dr. Hildreth of Marietta, Ohio, is fourteen inches in length and is perforated with no less than seven holes. This seems to have been an exception to the general rule, perhaps it was designed for a different purpose.
  • [155] A relic, almost identical in shape with No. 4, was found in the great mound at Grave creek, and was supposed to be ivory, altered by long exposure in the earth. (American Pioneer, vol. ii. p. 200.) Mr. Schoolcraft, who examined it subsequently, describes it as “white, heavy, easily cut, moist, and possessing very much the appearance and feel of certain oxides,” and suggests that a plate of some oxidable metal may still exist in the centre. (Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 402.) This description would have applied to the articles described in the text, at the period of their removal from the earth. They, however, lost their moist feel and became quite hard upon exposure to the air. The material was a matter of speculation, until the fracture of one of the relics disclosed its character. The Grave creek relic measures six and a half inches in length.
  • [156] ADAIR mentions ornaments worn by the “high priests” of the Southern tribes of Indians, which may have been identical with those here described. He says: “The American archi-magus wears a breast-plate, made of a white conch shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastens a buck-horn button to the outside of each.” (Adair’s American Indians, p. 84.) Our author does not fail to identify this badge with the sacred urim and thummim of the Jewish high priest, and draws a notable argument therefrom in support of his hypothesis of the Jewish origin of the American Indians. A similar ornament is mentioned by Beverly, as one of the principal decorations of the Indians of Virginia. He describes it as “a tablet of fine shell, smooth as polished marble.” (History of Virginia, p. 141.)
  • [157] Humboldt states that the Guaynares of the Rio Caura in South America are accustomed to stain themselves with arnotto, and to make broad transverse stripes on the body with some unctuous substance on which they stick spangles of silvery mica. Seen at a distance they appear to be dressed in lace clothes (Pers. Narration, ch. xxiv.) Other nations, both of South and North America, used gold dust or other shining material, “with which they sprinkled their bodies and seemed to be gilt.” (Hackluyt, vol. 2, p. 57.)
  • [158] Mr. Schoolcraft observes that some of the Algonquin bands, on the sources of the Mississippi, construct war-scarfs out of the brilliant-colored filaments of skins, ornamented with shells and the quills of the porcupine, and with the fine black points of deer’s hoofs to produce a jingling sound. These are attached by strings to the breast, and are worn only by the warriors.—Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 400.

p242

CHAPTER XV. SCULPTURES FROM THE MOUNDS.

Many of the carvings in stone, already noticed, display no inconsiderable degree of taste and skill. There is, however, a large class of remains, comprising sculptural tablets, and heads and figures of animals, which belongs to a higher grade of art. Many of these exhibit a close observance of nature and a minute attention to details, such as we could only expect to find among a people considerably advanced in the minor arts, and to which the elaborate and laborious, but usually clumsy and ungraceful, not to say unmeaning, productions of the savage can claim but a slight approach. Savage taste in sculpture is generally exhibited in monstrosities,—caricatures of things rather than faithful copies. The dawn of art is marked by a purer taste; the result of an appreciation of the beauties of nature which only follows their close observance. The aim of the neophyte is to imitate, rather than distort, the objects which he sees before him. It is in this view that the sculptures taken from the mounds seem most remarkable; they exhibit not only the general form and features of the objects sought to be represented, but frequently, and to a surprising degree, their characteristic attitudes and expression.

It will, of course, be understood that nothing of the imposing character of many of the sculptured relics of Central America is found in the mounds. Aside from the stupendous earth structures, which deserve to be classed with the most wonderful remains of ancient power and greatness, there is nothing imposing in the monuments of the Mississippi valley. We have no sculptured façades of temples and palaces, invested with a symbolic meaning or commemorative of the exploits of chiefs and conquerors, nor have we ponderous statues of divinities and heroes,—nothing beyond the simplest form of stone structures. We must therefore estimate the minor sculptures which we discover here by other standards than those of Mexico and Peru, with which, from certain resemblances in other monuments, a comparison would be most likely to be suggested. They are simple in form as in design, and, as works of art, beyond a faithful observance of nature and great delicacy of execution, little can be claimed for them. In these respects they are certainly remarkable, and will be the more admired, the more closely they are inspected.

Some of these sculptures have a value, so far as ethnological research is concerned, much higher than they can claim as mere works of art. This value is derived from the fact that they faithfully represent animals and birds peculiar to other latitudes, thus establishing a migration, a very extensive intercommunication, or a contemporaneous existence of the same race over a vast extent of country. p243 The interesting inquiry here involved will be more appropriately made in another place, after an examination of the relics themselves.

It is a singular fact that no relics which were obviously designed as idols or objects of worship have been obtained from the mounds. Such are occasionally discovered on the surface, but none, so far as known, within the enclosures deemed sacred or defensive. Those which have been found are all of exceedingly rude workmanship, quite unlike any of the authenticated mound remains. They are more abundant in the region towards the Gulf than upon the Ohio, though not of frequent occurrence there. It is perhaps not to be wondered at that we discover none of these in the mounds, if our estimate of the purposes to which those structures were appropriated is a correct one.

• In presenting the following illustrations of this branch of our subject, it will not be out of place to repeat the observation already once made, that, in the construction and ornament of their pipes, the mound-builders seem to have expended their utmost skill in sculpture. Accordingly most of the objects represented will be found to have subserved the purposes of pipes; but as the peculiarities of these implements have been sufficiently explained under the appropriate head, their bases and unessential parts have sometimes been omitted in the engravings. In many instances, the remains were so much broken up by the action of the fire, that it has been found impossible fully to restore them, although the utmost care was expended in collecting the fragments. This will account for the imperfect character of some of the illustrations. It would have been an easy matter to have restored many of these relics with the pencil, but it has been preferred to present an actual fragment rather than a fanciful whole. All the remains which follow, unless otherwise specially noted, were taken from the mounds by the authors in person, and are at present deposited in their collection. They comprise, however, but a limited selection from the whole number; no more being presented than are deemed sufficient to give the reader a clear conception of their general character and great variety. The scale upon which they are drawn is, generally, full size; when this is not the case, the dimensions are specially given.
  • SCULPTURES OF THE HUMAN HEAD.—Few sculptures of the human head have been found in the mounds, though several have been discovered under such circumstances as to leave little doubt that they belong to the mound era. Four specimens were taken from the remarkable altar mound, No. 8, “Mound City,” three of which constitute the bowls of pipes. Front and profile views of each of these are herewith presented, of the size of the originals.
    • Fig. 142.
    • Fig. 142 is composed of a hard, compact, black stone, and is distinguished from the others by the hardness and severity of its outline. It has a singular head-dress, falling in a broad fold over the back of the head, as far down as the middle of the neck. Upon each side of the top of the head this head-dress, which may represent some particular style of platting the hair, rises into protuberances or knots. p244 Encircling the forehead, and coming down as low as the ears, is a row of small round holes, fifteen in number, placed as closely as possible together, which, when the head was found, were filled in part with pearls, completely calcined and only recognisable from their concentric lamination. The holes were doubtless all originally filled in the same manner. The ornamental lines upon the face are rather deeply cut; their form is accurately indicated in the engravings. Those radiating from around the mouth might readily be supposed to represent a curling moustache and beard. The mouth of this miniature head is somewhat compressed, and the brow seems contracted, giving it an aspect of severity, which is not fully conveyed by the engraving. The eyes are prominent and open.
    • Fig. 143.
    • Fig. 143 resembles the one last described only in respect to the peculiar markings on the face, already noticed. Its features are bolder, and the outline of the face quite different. The nose is large and prominent, the eyes sunken and apparently closed, and the forehead high and narrow. The head-dress is very remarkable. A portion of the hair seems gathered in festoons upon either side of the head above the ears, the remainder centering in a kind of knot upon the back of the head. The top of the head is covered with a sort of lappet or fold, which seems detached from the other portions of the head-dress, simply resting upon the crown. The ears were each perforated; and from the strongly attached oxide of copper at those points, were probably ornamented with rings of that p245 metal. This head, unlike the others, does not constitute a pipe bowl, but seems, from the fracture, to have been attached, at the lower and back part, to a rod carved from the same stone. The base, shown in the engraving, is simply an addition of plaster to sustain the head in a vertical position. The material, in this instance, is a compact yellowish stone, too much altered by the fire to be satisfactorily made out.
    • Fig. 144.
    • Fig. 144 is composed of the same material with that last described. Its features are more regular than those of either of the preceding examples. The nose turns up slightly at the point, and the lips are prominent. The eyes seem closed, and the whole expression of the face is a repose like that of death. The head-dress is simple; and the ears, which are large, are each perforated with four small holes around their upper edges. At the lower and posterior portion of the head are drilled, in convergent directions, two holes, each one fifth of an inch in diameter and half an inch deep. Were they continued one fourth of an inch further in the same direction, they would intersect each other. This head is destitute of markings upon the face. It has been suggested, from the greater delicacy of the features, that this was designed to represent a female.
    • Fig. 145.
    • Fig. 145. This is the most beautiful head of the series, and is evidently that of a female. It is carved from a compact stone, which is much altered, and in some places the color entirely changed by the action of the fire. The muscles of the face are p246 well exhibited, and the forehead finely moulded. The eyes are prominent and open, and the lips full and rounded. Whether the head is encased in a sort of hood, or whether the hair is platted across the forehead and down the sides of the face, it is not easy to say. The knots observable at the top of the forehead, and just back of the ears, may be designed to represent the manner in which the hair was gathered or wound. The workmanship of this head is unsurpassed by any specimen of ancient American art which has fallen under the notice of the authors, not excepting the best productions of Mexico and Peru. The whole is smooth and well polished.
    • These heads are valuable as being the only ones taken from the mounds, the ancient date of which is clearly established. In the same mounds in which they were found, it has already been observed, were also found upwards of a hundred miniature sculptures of animals, most of which are indigenous. The fidelity to nature observed in the latter fully warrant us in believing that the sculptures of the human heads discovered with them are also faithful copies from nature, and truly display not only the characteristic features of the ancient race, but also their method of wearing the hair, the style of their head-dresses, and the character and mode of adjustment of a portion of their ornaments. This conclusion will appear the more reasonable, when we come to observe the exactness displayed in the effigies of animals.
    • It is impossible to overlook the coincidence between the fillet of real pearls displayed upon the forehead of the head first described, and the similar range of sculptured pearls upon the brow of the small statue described by Humboldt, and denominated by him the “statue of an Aztec priestess.”[159] The manner of its adjustment is in both instances substantially the same, and indicates a common mode of wearing those ornaments among both the mound-builders and the Mexicans. The markings upon the faces of two of these sculptures may be taken as representing paint lines or some description of tattooing. We know that, among the North American tribes, the custom of painting the face with every variety of color, and ornamenting it with fantastic figures, was wide-spread and common. The singular head-dresses observed in these figures bear little resemblance to those of the Indians, so far as we know anything of them. The North Americans usually allowed but a single tuft of hair to grow, which depended from the centre of the scalp; the hair of the women was allowed to fall loosely upon the shoulders, or was simply clubbed behind. Plumes of feathers, or the dried skins of the heads of certain animals, constituted about their only style of head-dress. That the practice of wearing rings and pendants in the ears existed among the race of the mounds may be inferred no less from these relics than from the character of some of the ornaments which have been occasionally discovered. The practice was almost universal among the hunter tribes and the Central American nations.
    • In respect to the physiological characteristics exhibited by these relics, it need only be observed that they do not differ essentially from those of the great p247 American family, the type of which seems to have been radically the same through the extent of the continent, excluding, perhaps, a few of the tribes at the extremes.
    • Fig. 146.
    • Fig. 146 is carved from a light-colored sandstone, and represents a human figure resting upon its knees and elbows, the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands being placed together. It is also adapted as a pipe. It has a singular, painful expression of countenance. A double set of converging lines start from the eye upon the right side of the face and extend diagonally across it. Upon the left side is a single set terminating in a point near the ear. This figure is boldly but not delicately carved, and was found while digging a mill race, three feet below the surface, on the west bank of the Miami river, near the village of Tippecanoe, Miami county, Ohio.[160] It measures six inches in length by about the same height.
    • Fig. 147.
    • Fig. 147 is a fine specimen of ancient sculpture. It was found within an ancient enclosure twelve miles below the city of Chillicothe, and, from the material and style of workmanship, may be regarded as a relic of the mound-builders. The p248 material is a fine porphyry of a greenish brown or lead-colored ground, interspersed with black and white granules of a harder nature, and is identical with the material composing many similar articles taken from the mounds. It has the body of a bird with the head of a man, and is delicately and symmetrically carved. It is adapted as a pipe; the bowl rising from the centre of the back communicates with a hole drilled for the insertion of a stem from the side. The attitude of the entire figure is graceful, and the proportions of the different parts in admirable harmony. The face displays less individuality than those already noticed, and is distinguished for its greater width. The eyes are closed, and the general expression, especially of the profile, is that of repose. The ears have been mutilated, but display the usual marks of perforation. There is no head-dress distinguishable; but there is a longitudinal band extending from the back of the head to the body of the figure, the purpose of which is not obvious, unless designed to strengthen the attachment of the parts. The wings are closely folded, and a waving line runs along the centre. It measures five inches in extreme length.
    • Fig. 148.
    • Fig. 148 very closely resembles Fig. 146, above described. The posture is the same, but the limbs are barely indicated. The head however is better carved and is more characteristic. It will be observed that it is also distinguished by a line bounding the face, and has similar markings extending from the eyes. A large serpent is folded around the neck, the head and tail resting together upon the breast of the figure. The head is surmounted by a knot, resembling the scalp lock of the Indians. It is carved from a compact red sandstone, and is six inches in greatest length by five inches in height, with a broad flat base. It was found on the banks of Paint creek, one mile distant from the city of Chillicothe. It is also adapted as a pipe. Several other articles, closely resembling these two, have been found at various points on the surface, but none have been taken from the mounds. Both in the character of their material and style of workmanship they sustain a close relationship to certain “stone idols,” as they p249 have been termed, found, for the most part, in the States of Tennessee and Mississippi. One of these “idols” was discovered some years since, in ploughing upon the Grave creek Flats in Virginia.[161] It represents a human figure in a squatting attitude, with its elbows drawn back and its hands resting upon its knees. It is thirteen inches high by six inches and a half broad. In material and workmanship it is identical with the articles last described, and, like Fig. 148, is distinguished by a crown-tuft or “scalp-lock.” There are two orifices communicating with each other in its back. It was probably designed to serve as a pipe. A stone “idol,” destitute however of orifices, was found not long since near the mouth of the Scioto river. It represents a human figure in a squatting attitude, the arms clasped around the knees, upon which the chin is resting. This is the common position of the North American Indians, when seated around the fires in their wigwams. It seems most likely that these rough sculptures have a comparatively recent date, and are the remains of the tribes found in possession of the country by the whites. As works of art they are immeasurably inferior to the relics from the mounds.
    • Fig. 149.
    • Fig. 149. This singular specimen of sculpture bears a close resemblance to those above described, but is of much superior workmanship. The features and style of ornament are peculiar. The material is a gray sandstone. It is now deposited in the museum of the Historical Society of New York; but its history is unknown. It is clearly the original from which the drawing published by Baron p250 Humboldt was made. This drawing was copied by Choris, in his “Voyage Pittoresque,” where it is described as having been found in an ancient tumulus in the State of Connecticut, and presented to Baron Humboldt by Baron Hyde de Neuville, French ambassador to Rio Janeiro. There must, of course, be some mistake as to the place of its discovery; for there are no ancient tumuli in the State of Connecticut.
    • Fig. 150.
    • Fig. 150 is a mask of the human face roughly carved from sandstone. It is twelve inches long, seven and a half broad at the ears, and weighs nearly nine pounds. It is slightly concave upon the back, the front being proportionally convex. There is a hole underneath the chin, as if the object had been designed to be carried upon the point of a staff. It was found, in ploughing, near Lawrenceburgh in the State of Indiana.[162]
    • Similar relics, some of which vary little from the above in size, are found in Mexico. They are said to occur in the ancient Aztec tombs, covering the faces of skeletons. Many of these are sculptured from obsidian, and are smooth and beautifully polished; others are of serpentine and a variety of ornamental stones.[163] p251
    • Fig. 151.
    • Fig. 152.
    • Figs. 151 and 152, are front and profile views of a relic found in Belmont county, Ohio, nearly opposite Wheeling, on the Ohio river. The original is six inches length. It is composed of sandstone. The back is deeply grooved, but it exhibits no marks of having ever been attached to any object.
    • Fig. 153.
    • Fig. 153. The Lamantin, Manitus, or Sea-cow is not found in this latitude, but is peculiar to tropical regions. Seven sculptured representations of this animal have been taken from the mounds, of which three are nearly perfect. When first discovered, it was supposed they were monstrous creations of fancy; but subsequent investigation and comparison have shown that they are faithful representations of one of the most singular animal productions of the world. Naturalists assume to know but little of the lamantin, beyond its form and general characteristics. Its habits are involved in much obscurity. It is thus described by Godman:
    • “The general figure of the lamantin is rather elliptical and elongated. Its head is shaped like a simple truncated cone, and terminates in a thick fleshy snout, semi-circular at its extremity, and pierced at the upper part by two small semi-lunar p252 nostrils directed forwards. The edge of the upper lip is tumid, furrowed in the middle, and provided with thick and stiff whiskers. The lower lip is narrower and shorter than the upper, and the opening of the mouth is small. The eyes are situated towards the upper part of the head, at the same distance from the snout as the angle of the lips. The ears are very small, scarcely perceptible, and placed at the same distance from the eyes that the latter are from the snout.
    • “The neck is not distinguished by any diminution or difference in size from the head and trunk, and the latter does not diminish except from the umbilicus, whence it rapidly decreases until it spreads out and becomes flattened, with a broad, thin, and seemingly truncated extremity. The tail forms about a fourth of the length of the animal.
    • “The arm-bones which sustain the fins are more separated from the body than those of the delphinus, and have digits more distinguishable through the integuments. The edges of the fin have four flat and rounded nails, which do not extend beyond the membrane, the nail of the thumb being deficient. The skin is of a gray color, is slightly shagreened, and has upon it a few scattered hairs, which are more numerous than elsewhere about the angles of the lips and the palmar surface of the fins.
    • “The full-grown lamantin is from fifteen to twenty feet in length, by eight in circumference, and weighs several thousand pounds.”[164]
    • “Head not distinct from the body; eyes very small; tongue oval; vestiges of nails on the margin of the pectoral fins; six cervical vertebræ; sixteen pair of thick ribs; moustaches composed of a bundle of very strong hairs directed downwards and forming on each side a kind of corneous tusk.”[165]
    • Fig. 154.
    • These external features are faithfully and minutely exhibited in the sculptures from the mounds. The truncated head, small and scarcely distinguishable ears, thick, semi-circular snout, peculiar nostrils, tumid, furrowed upper lip, singular feet or fins, and remarkable moustaches, are all distinctly marked, and render the recognition of the animal complete. Only one of the sculptures exhibits a flat, truncated tail; the others are round. There is however a variety of the lamantin p253 (Manitus Senigalensis, DESM.) which has a round tail, and is distinguished as the “round-tailed manitus.” It is smaller in size than the other variety.
    • The name of Manati was given to this animal by the Spaniards in consequence of the short anterior extremities, which were regarded as hands. It has been found difficult to assign a place to it in the animal creation, and it has been remarked that it “may be indiscriminately called the last of beasts or the first of fishes.” It has two pectoral or abdominal mammæ, which from their position probably gave rise among mariners to the fable of the mermaid. Columbus, when he first saw these animals in the West Indies, called them sirens. They bring forth two young ones at a birth; in defence of which the manitus, though a peaceable and harmless animal, is insensible to pain or fear. Its habits are little understood. It is supposed never to leave the water, but frequents the shores to feed on the grass at the edge. Sea-grass or fucus and marine herbage are supposed to constitute its principal if not its only food; though this is a point upon which naturalists have not ventured to give a decision. The opinion, however, seems general, that it is an herbivorous animal.
    • As before observed, the manitus is found only in tropical waters, frequenting the mouths of rivers, but sometimes ascending them to great distances. They were seen by Humboldt in the Rio Meta, a branch of the Orinoco, one thousand miles above its mouth; and it is said they are found in the Amazon two thousand miles from the sea. They are also found among the Antilles on the southern coast of Mexico, and on the coast and in the rivers of Florida, in the United States. Excepting upon that peninsula, we have no account of their occurrence on our coasts. Bartram mentions a singular spring, a few miles below Tallahassee, Florida, which was frequented by the manitus; and its bones are found, and occasional living specimens observed, in the Manitee river, which enters Tampa bay.[166]
    • The flesh of this animal was used by the Indians for food, and its bones and thick tough hide employed in various manufactures. It was hunted for these purposes; and Oviedo, who seems to have been the first author who noticed it, gives a particular account of the manner in which it was captured. Bartram observes:
    • “The basin and stream were continually peopled with prodigious numbers and varieties of fish and other animals, such as the alligator, and, in the winter season, the manate or sea-cow. Parts of the skeleton of one which the Indians had killed last winter, lay upon the banks of the spring; the grinding teeth were about an inch in diameter, the ribs eighteen inches long and two and a half inches in thickness, bending with a gentle curve. This bone is esteemed equal to ivory. The flesh of this creature is counted wholesome and pleasant food; the Indians call them by a name which signifies ‘the big beaver.’ My companion, who was a trader, saw three of them at one time near this spring; they feed chiefly on aquatic grass and weeds.”[167] p254
    • Humboldt mentions a branch of the Apures river, itself a tributary of the Orinoco, “called the Cano del Manati, from the great number of manatees caught there.” He states that their flesh is savory, resembling pork, and was in great request among the Indians during Lent, being classed by the monks among fishes. The fat was used in the lamps of the churches, and the hide cut into slips to supply the place of cordage.[168]
    • The flesh of this animal furnished formerly a large part of the subsistence of the inhabitants of St. Christophers, Guadaloupe, and Martinique. The fat was used at a late day for many of the purposes to which lard is applied, sometimes supplying the place of butter.[169]
    • The sculptures of this animal are in the same style and of like material with the others found in the mounds. One of them is of a red porphyry, filled with small white and light blue granules; the remainder are of sandstone, limestone, etc. Most of the mound sculptures are from these materials.
    • These singular relics have been thus minutely noticed, inasmuch as they have a direct bearing upon some of the questions connected with the origin of the mounds. That we find marine shells or articles composed from them, in the mounds, is not so much a matter of surprise, when we reflect that a sort of exchange was carried on even by the unsympathizing American tribes, and that articles from the mouth of the Columbia are known to have found their way, by a system of transfer, to the banks of the Mississippi; their occurrence does not necessarily establish anything more, than that an intercourse of some kind was kept up between the builders of the mounds on the banks of the Ohio, and the sea.[170] There is, however, something more involved in the discovery of these relics. They are undistinguishable, so far as material and workmanship are concerned, from an entire class of remains found in the mounds; and are evidently the work of the same hands with the other effigies of beasts and birds. And yet they faithfully represent animals found, (and only in small numbers,) a thousand miles distant, upon the shores of Florida. Either the same race, possessing throughout a like style of workmanship, and deriving their materials from a common source, existed contemporaneously over the whole range of intervening territory, and maintained a constant intercommunication; or else there was at some period a migration from the south, bringing with it characteristic remains of the land from which it emanated. The sculptures of the manitus are too exact to have been the production of those who were not well acquainted with the animal and its habits. p255
    • Fig. 155.
    • Fig. 156.
    • Fig. 157.
    • Fig. 158.
    • Fig. 159.
    • Fig. 160.
    • p257
    • Fig. 155. THE BEAVER.—Three sculp­tures of the bea­ver have been ob­tained from the mounds,—all in the char­act­er­is­tic attitudes of that animal. The engraving does not do justice to the original, which is better proportioned. These animals were frequent in the North-western States, but have now almost entirely disappeared. The large head, blunt snout, small ears and eyes, peculiar claws, and broad, oval, scaly tail, are all well characterized in the sculptures.
    • THE OTTER.—Two sculp­tures of the ot­ter have been dis­cov­ered, one of which represents the animal grasping a fish in its mouth; it is however much mutilated. That of which an imperfect engraving (Fig. 157) is given is composed of the peculiar porphyry already described, and displays in a striking manner the features of the animal. The flattened head, small mouth, almost imperceptible ears, rounded body, and short but strong and fin-like legs, no less than the attitude of the figure, enable us to recognise at once the most active, courageous, and voracious of the indigenous amphibious animals. The otter is still found, in limited numbers, about the waters of the North-western States. The eyes in this specimen were formed by drilling a narrow but deep hole, which was filled with a material of different color, resembling bone. In many instances small pearls were inserted for eyes, some of which have been found retaining their places, unreduced by the fire to which they have been exposed. This relic, in common with all the mound sculptures, is delicately carved and polished.
    • THE WILD CAT.—Figs. 158, 159, 160. Of this an­i­mal and oth­ers of the same ge­nus a large num­ber of sculptures have been obtained. One of these represents the female animal erect; the remainder are in characteristic positions. They are very minutely sculptured, the whiskers and variegated color of the hair around the head, as well as the general features of the animal,—strong jaws, short neck, and short thick tail,—are all well exhibited. Fig. 160 presents a head slightly different from most of the others. It bears a close resemblance to that of the cougar. Most of these are exquisitely carved from a red, granulated porphyry, of exceeding hardness,—so hard, indeed, as to turn the edge of the best tempered knife.
    • Fig. 161.
    • Fig. 161 is a very spirited representation of the head of the elk, although it is not minutely accurate. p258
    • Numerous other illustrations of these miniatures might be introduced; the above will, however, convey a very clear notion of the character of the sculptures and the fidelity of the representations.
    • Fig. 162.
    • Fig. 162 is a fragment of a large and elaborately carved pipe representing the head of some animal. It is composed of the beautiful micaceous stone already several times noticed, and in respect of size is unlike any of the articles of this description which have been taken from the mounds. The circular striæ left by the instrument used in boring the tube are distinctly marked. At the termination of the bore, is what is technically termed “the core,” showing that the drilling had been effected by some hollow instrument, probably a thin stem of cane. The cane is used at this day by the Indians for drilling, and with the aid of fine sand and water forms a very efficient instrument. It is probable that all the tubes, large and small, found in the mounds, were produced in this manner. This fragment of sculpture is nine inches long. The bowl was evidently carved in the form of some animal, but it is too much broken to be made out.
    • Fig. 163.
    • Fig. 163 is one of the most delicate specimens of ancient workmanship thus far discovered. It is of the same material with the article last noticed, and like that has the form of an animal’s head. What animal it was intended to represent, it is not easy to determine; in the length of its ears it resembles the rabbit. A portion of the point of the nose is broken off. It is hollowed like a canoe upon the under side, leaving but a thin shell of material, not exceeding, for the most part, the tenth of an inch in thickness. It is perforated with small holes at the root of each ear, and has a hole, drilled from the interior, in the crown. It is impossible to conjecture the purpose to which this article was applied, unless that of ornament. It is elegantly and symmetrically carved, and highly polished.
    • Fig. 164.
    • Fig. 164 will readily be recognised as the tufted heron, the most indefatigable and voracious of all the fisher varieties. The small body; long wings, extending to the extremity of the short tail; long, thin neck; sharp bill, and tufted head, are unmistakeable features. He is represented in the attitude of striking a fish, which is also faithfully executed. Nothing can surpass the truthfulness and delicacy of the sculpture. The minutest features are shown; the articulations of the legs of the bird, as also the gills, fins, and scales of the fish, are represented. It is carved from the red, speckled porphyry, already several times mentioned as constituting the material of many of these sculptures. As a work of art it is incomparably superior to any remains of the existing tribes of Indians. The engraving, in point of spirit, falls far short of the original. p260
    • Fig. 165.
    • Fig. 165 represents a rapacious bird, probably some variety of the eagle or hawk, in the attitude of tearing in pieces a small bird, which it grasps in its claws. The sculpture is spirited and life-like, as well as minute and delicate. The wings are folded across each other; and the finer feathers upon their superior portions, and upon the thighs, are well represented. The eyes of this bird were composed of small pearls, inserted about half their depth in the stone. Pearls seem to have constituted the eyes of nearly all the birds.
    • Fig. 166. This fragment also represents some variety of rapacious bird. It is wrought with admirable skill and spirit, and it is to be regretted that the entire figure was not recovered.
    • THE SWALLOW.—Fig. 167. This fine spec­i­men cannot be too much ad­mired for its fi­del­ity to na­ture and its excellent finish. The body is thrown forward, and the wings are apparently about to be expanded, as if the bird was just ready to dash off on its swift and erratic flight. This attitude will readily be recognised as eminently characteristic, by those who have watched the graceful movements of this active, cheerful bird. The engraving fails to convey the lightness and spirit of the original, which, it should be mentioned, is carved in red porphyry.
    • SUMMER or WOOD DUCK.—Fig. 168. This bird is com­mon through­out the United States. The head is well characterized, and is admirably executed. The engraving conveys but an imperfect notion of the original, which is lighter and of better proportions.
    • THE TOUCAN. (?)—Fig. 169. The en­grav­ing very well represents the original, which is delicately carved from a compact limestone. It is supposed to represent the toucan,—a tropical bird, and one not known to exist anywhere within the limits of the United States. If we are not mistaken in supposing it to represent this bird, the remarks made respecting the sculptures of the manitus will here apply with double force.
    • Fig. 170. This specimen will readily be recognised as intended to represent the head of the grouse. It is exceedingly spirited, and in execution is inferior to none of the articles recovered from the mounds. Birds of this species, though not abundant in the Scioto valley, are plentiful on the plains of Indiana and Illinois. The material is the red granulated porphyry so often mentioned.
    • Fig. 171. This specimen, which is well exhibited in the engraving, is carved from a compact limestone. It was probably intended to represent the turkey-buzzard. This bird is common in southern Ohio. p261
    • Fig. 166.
    • Fig. 167.
    • Fig. 168.
    • Fig. 169.
    • Fig. 170.
    • Fig. 171.
    • p264
    • Fig. 172.
    • Fig. 173.
    • Fig. 174.
    • Fig. 175.
    • Fig. 176.
    • Fig. 177.
    • p265
    • THE PARROQUET.—Fig. 172. Among the most spiri­ted and del­i­cate­ly executed specimens of ancient art found in the mounds, is that of the parroquet here presented. The fragment shown in the cut was alone recovered. The engraving, though very good, fails to do justice to the original. The parroquet is essentially a southern bird; and, though common along the Gulf, is of rare occurrence above the Ohio river. It is sometimes seen in the Scioto valley, fifty miles above its mouth.
    • Fig. 173. The bird here represented much resembles the tufted “cherry bird.” The head is somewhat disproportioned to the body,—a defect more common than any other in the mound sculptures. It is carved from a brown, granulated porphyry, and is finished with great delicacy. The bowl is ingeniously enlarged, below the opening, so as to admit a greater quantity of tobacco, or whatever article was smoked, without interfering with the symmetry of the bird, which a larger bore would have much impaired.
    • Fig. 174. This specimen does not differ widely from that shown in the preceding figure, and was probably intended to represent the same bird. The too great size of the head observed in the other is not so marked in this instance. The material somewhat resembles, in color and substance, the red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, but has less of the talcose appearance and feel. It receives a very good finish, but is not susceptible of a high polish. The pearls which had been inserted in the cavities representing the eyes, were in this instance found retaining their places. They had lost their brilliancy in consequence of exposure to the fire, but were yet easily recognisable.
    • Fig. 175. The remarks made in respect to the relic last mentioned apply to the specimen here represented. It is carved in the same material as Fig. 173, and is probably intended to represent a bird of the same variety. Nothing can exceed the life-like expression of the original.
    • Fig. 176. This specimen seems unfinished, and the features of the bird sought to be represented are not well made out. It seems to have been rubbed or ground into its present shape, and is yet unpolished.
    • Fig. 177. This is one of the least tasteful specimens recovered from the mounds, and, like the one last noticed, seems to be in an unfinished state. The lines indicated in the cut are sharply graved in the stone. It is not undertaken to say what bird is designed to be represented.
    • Fig. 178. This carving is roughly executed, and represents a bird of some variety not easily recognisable. The bill is broad and heavy, and the toes are long and wide-spread. It is evidently intended to represent a bird in the act of picking up some articles of food, which are indicated by small circles on the palm of an extended hand. On account of the convexity of the base of the pipe, these p266 details are not shown in the engraving, which in all other respects is a faithful copy of the original.
    • From the size of its bill, and the circumstance of its having two toes before and two behind, the bird intended to be represented would seem to belong to the zygodactylous order—probably the toucan. The toucan (Ramphastos of Lin.) is found on this continent only in the tropical countries of South America.
    • Fig. 178.
    • Pozzo, a distinguished naturalist, speaks of taming them very easily. Other travellers inform us that they are very highly prized by the Indians of Guiana and Brazil, principally on account of their brilliant plumage. They pluck off the skin from the breast, containing the most beautiful feathers, and glue it upon their cheeks by way of ornament. In those districts the toucan was almost the only bird the aborigines attempted to domesticate. The fact that it is represented receiving its food from a human hand, would, under these circumstances, favor the conclusion that the sculpture was designed to represent the toucan.
    • Fig. 179.
    • Fig. 179. This characteristic specimen is carved in limestone, and is well finished in every respect. It is uncertain what bird it is intended to represent. At the tail are two holes, evidently designed for the insertion of feathers or other ornaments.
    • Fig. 180.
    • Fig. 180. A great variety of fragments have been taken from the mounds, which it has been found impossible to match with others, so as to complete the p267 originals. This is the more to be regretted, from the fact that many of them denote a degree of skill equalling, if not surpassing, that displayed in the most complete specimens. The two heads here presented, probably intended to represent the eagle, are far superior in point of finish, spirit, and truthfulness, to any miniature carvings, ancient or modern, which have fallen under the notice of the authors. The engravings, though very accurate and spirited, still fail to do full justice to the originals. The peculiar defiant expression of the “king of birds” is admirably preserved in the carvings, which in this respect more than any other display the skill of the ancient artist.
    • Fig. 181.
    • Fig. 181. This engraving, which is half the size of the original, is introduced simply to illustrate the great variety of devices adopted by the mound-builders in the construction of their pipes. A number very much resembling the one here figured, have been recovered.
    • Fig. 182.
    • Fig. 182. This specimen is unfinished, and plainly exhibits the process adopted by the ancient artist in bringing it to its present state. None of the more minute details have as yet received any attention. The base and various parts of the figure exhibit fine striæ, resulting from rubbing or grinding; but the general outline seems to have been secured by cutting with some sharp instrument, the marks p268 of which are plainly to be seen, especially at the parts where it would be difficult or impracticable to approach with a triturating substance. The lines indicating the feathers, grooves of the beak, and other more delicate features, are cut or graved in the surface at a single stroke. Some pointed tool seems to have been used, and the marks are visible where it has occasionally slipped beyond the control of the engraver. Indeed, the whole appearance of the specimen indicates that the work was done rapidly by an experienced hand, and that the various parts were brought forward simultaneously. The freedom of the strokes could only result from long practice; and we may infer that the manufacture of pipes had a distinct place in the industrial organization of the mound-builders.
    • Figs. 183 and 184. These sculptures of the toad are very truthful. The knotted, corrugated skin is well represented in one of them; which, if placed in the grass before an unsuspecting observer, would probably be mistaken for the natural object. Fig. 184 is in an unfinished state. It very well exhibits the mode of workmanship; while the general surface appears covered with striæ running in every direction, as if produced by rubbing. The folds and lines are clearly cut with some sort of graver. The marks of the implement chipping out portions a fourth of an inch in length, are too distinct to admit the slightest doubt that a cutting tool was used in the work. Those who deem expression in sculpture the grand essential, will find something to amuse as well as to admire in the lugubrious expression of the mouths of these specimens.
    • THE FROG.—Fig. 185. A large num­ber of sculp­tures of the frog have been discovered; most, however, are much broken up by fire. This specimen is carved in white limestone.
    • Fig. 186 certainly represents the rattle-snake. Other sculptures of the serpent, coiled in like manner around the bowls of pipes, have been found. One represents a variety not recognised. It has a broad, flat head, and the body is singularly marked. All are carved in porphyry. Two sculptures of the alligator have also been found, but much broken up by the fire.
    • Figs. 187 and 188. Two views of a sculptured stone, representing, probably, the head of a goose; upon the back is carved a death’s head. It is composed of a hard, black stone, and measures three and a half inches in length by two and a half in height. Found near Brookville, Indiana. p269
    • Fig. 183.
    • Fig. 184.
    • Fig. 185.
    • Fig. 186.
    • Fig. 187.
    • Fig. 188.
    • p271
    • Figs. 189 and 190. These are frag­ments of sculp­tures, of which it was found impossible to collect the various pieces. Fig. 189 is supposed to represent the head of the bear; Fig. 190 the head of the wolf.
    • Fig. 189.
    • Fig. 190.
    • Fig. 191. This is a reduced copy of a curious carving, representing some animal. Whether it is a “fancy piece,” or whether the original counterpart exists in nature, it is not assumed to say.
    • Fig. 191.
    • Fig. 192. The remark last made holds good respecting this singular sculpture. It has been supposed to represent the head and shoulders of the morse.
    • Fig. 192.
    • Fig. 193. This is probably a rude representation of the head of some kind of toad or frog. It is boldly cut, evidently with little attention to nature, and is chiefly interesting as illustrating the great variety of figures which these relics assume.
    • Fig. 193.
  • SCULPTURES OF ANIMALS.—Sculptured figures of a con­si­der­able num­ber of an­i­mals have been found in the mounds, including the la­man­tin, the bea­ver, otter, elk, bear, wolf, panther, wild cat, raccoon, oppossum, and squirrel.
  • SCULPTURES OF BIRDS.—The sculp­tures of birds are much more num­er­ous than those of animals, and comprise between thirty and forty different kinds, and not p259 far from one hundred specimens. We recognise the eagle, hawk, heron, owl, buzzard, toucan (?), raven, swallow, parroquet, duck, grouse, and numerous other land and water birds. There are several varieties of the same species; for instance, among the owls, we find the great owl, the horned owl, and the little owl; there are also several varieties of the rapacious birds. It is impossible to present examples of all these. The following specimens will, however, serve amply to illustrate the strict fidelity to nature which the sculptures display, as also the skill with which they are executed.
  • MISCELLANEOUS SCULPTURES.—Sculptures of ser­pents, tur­tles, frogs, and other an­i­mals, have been dis­cov­ered in abun­dance; all displaying a like faithful observance of nature.

Such is the general character of the sculptures found in the mounds. It is unnecessary to say more than that as works of art, they are immeasurably beyond anything which the North American Indians are known to produce, even at this day, with all the suggestions of European art and the advantages afforded by steel instruments. The Chinooks, and the Indians of the North-western Coast, carve pipes, platters, and other articles, with much neatness, from slate. We see in their pipes, for instance, a heterogeneous collection of pulleys, cords, barrels, and rude human figures, evidently suggested by the tackling of the ships trading in those seas. Their platters, too, are copies of English ware, differing only in material and ornaments. The utmost that can be said of them is, that they are elaborate, unmeaning carvings, displaying some degree of ingenuity. A much higher rank can be claimed for the mound-sculptures; they combine taste in arrangement with skill in workmanship, and are faithful copies, not distorted caricatures, from nature. They display not only the figures and the characteristic attitudes, but in some cases, as we have seen, the very habits of the objects represented. So far as fidelity is concerned, many of them deserve to rank by the side of the best efforts of the artist-naturalists of our own day.

The Mexicans and Peruvians were very skilful in their representations of animals, and the early historians are profuse in praise of their workmanship, extolling it beyond that of the old world. Says La Vega of the Peruvians:

“They fashioned likewise all beasts and birds in gold and silver; namely, conies, rats, lizards, serpents, butterflies, foxes, mountain cats (for they have no tame cats in their houses); and they make sparrows and all sorts of lesser birds, some flying, some perching in trees; in short, no creature that was either wild or domestic, but was made and represented by them according to its exact and natural shape.”[171]

Clavigero says of the exceeding skill of the Mexicans in the arts, that their works “were so admirably finished, that even the Spanish soldiers, all stung with the same wretched thirst for gold, valued the workmanship more than the materials.” And Peter Martyr, noticing the works of the people along the coasts of the Caribbean sea and the Gulf of Mexico, exclaims,—“If man’s art or invention ever got any honor in such like arts, these people may claim the chief sovereignty and commendation.”[172]

The method practised by the makers of the articles above mentioned, in reducing them to shape, seems to have been the very obvious one resorted to by all rude nations unacquainted with the use of iron; namely, that of rubbing or grinding upon stones possessing a sharp grit. The Mexicans, it is said, used tools of obsidian in their sculptures; and the Peruvians, although possessing implements of p273 hardened copper, according to La Vega, “rather wore out the stone by continued rubbing, than cutting.” Most of the mound-sculptures have been so carefully smoothed and are so highly polished, as to show few marks of rubbing; but some have been found, as has already been shown, in an unfinished state, which exhibit fully the mode of workmanship. These show that the makers had also sharp cutting instruments, which were used in delineating the minor features. The lines indicating the folds in the skin of animals, and the feathers of birds, are not ground in, but cut, evidently to the entire depth, at a single stroke. Sometimes the tool has slipped by, indicating that it was held and used after the manner of the gravers of the present day. The time and labor expended in perfecting these elaborate works from obstinate materials, with no other than these rude aids, must have given them a high value when finished. Hence we find a great deal of ingenuity exhibited in restoring them when accidentally broken. This was accomplished by drilling holes diagonally to each other in the detached parts, so that by the insertion of wooden pegs or copper wire, they were, in technical phrase, “bound together.” This attachment was further strengthened, in some cases, by bands of sheet copper; occasionally the entire pipe, when much injured, seems to have been plated over with that metal. When the fracture was such as materially to injure the tube, a small copper tube was inserted within it, restoring an unbroken communication. Many interesting facts of this kind, which perhaps may seem trivial and unimportant to most minds, might be presented. They illustrate how highly these remains were valued by their possessors. The manner in which the drilling was probably accomplished has already been indicated.

TABLETS.—A few small sculp­tured tab­lets have been found in the mounds. Some of these have been regarded as bearing hieroglyphical, others alphabetic inscriptions, and have been made the basis of much speculation at home and abroad. Nothing of this extraordinary character has been disclosed in the course of the investigations here recorded; nor is there any evidence that anything like an alphabetic or hieroglyphic system existed among the mound-builders. The earthworks, and the mounds and their contents, certainly indicate that, prior to the occupation of the Mississippi valley by the more recent tribes of Indians, there existed here a numerous population, agricultural in their habits, considerably advanced in the arts, and undoubtedly, in all respects, much superior to their successors. There is, however, no reason to believe that their condition was anything more than an approximation towards that attained by the semi-civilized nations of the central portions of the continent,—who themselves had not arrived at the construction of an alphabet. Whether the latter had progressed further than to a refinement upon the rude picture-writing of the savage tribes, is a question open to discussion. It would be unwarrantable therefore to assign to the race of the mounds a superiority in this respect over nations palpably so much in advance of them in all others. It would be a reversal of the teachings of history, an exception to the law of harmonious development, which it would require a large assemblage of well attested facts to sustain. Such an array of facts, it is scarcely necessary to add, we do not possess. p274

It is true, hardly a year passes unsignalized by the announcement of the discovery of tablets of stone or metal, bearing strange and mystical inscriptions,—generally reported to have a “marked resemblance to the Chinese characters.” But they either fail to withstand an analysis of the alleged circumstances attending their discovery, or resolve themselves into very simple natural productions when subjected to scientific scrutiny. It will be remembered that some years ago it was announced that six inscribed copper plates had been found in a mound near Kinderhook, Pike county, Illinois. Engravings of them and a minute description were published at the time, and widely circulated. Subsequent inquiry has shown that the plates were a harmless imposition, got up for local effect; and that the village blacksmith, with no better suggestion to his antiquarian labors than the lid of a tea-chest, was chiefly responsible for them. Within the past two years an announcement was made of the discovery, in a mound near Lower Sandusky, Ohio, of a series of oval mica plates, inscribed with numberless unknown characters, which, in the language of the printed account, probably “contained the history of some former race that inhabited this country.” These plates were found, upon examination, to be ornaments of that variety of mica known as “graphic” or “hieroglyphic mica,”—which is naturally marked with figures somewhat regular in their arrangement.

The Grave creek mound was also said to have contained a small stone, bearing an alphabetical inscription, which has attracted the attention of a number of learned men both in this country and in Europe. A critical examination of the circumstances attending the introduction of this relic to the world is calculated to throw great doubt upon its genuineness. The fact that it is not mentioned by intelligent observers writing from the spot at the time of the excavation of the mound, and that no notice of its existence was made public until after the opening of the mound for exhibition, joined to the strong presumptive evidence against the occurrence of anything of the kind, furnished by the antagonistic character of all the ancient remains of the continent, so far as they are known,—are insuperable objections to its reception. Until it is better authenticated, it should be entirely excluded from a place among the antiquities of our country.[173]

A small tablet was discovered, some years ago, in a mound at Cincinnati, of which Fig. 194 presents a front, and Fig. 195 a reverse view.

This relic is now in the possession of ERASMUS GEST, Esq., of Cincinnati. The circumstances under which it was discovered are thus detailed by Mr. Gest in a letter published at the time:

“I herewith send you what I deem to be a hieroglyphical stone, which was found buried with a skeleton in the ‘old mound,’ situated in the western part of the city, together with two pointed bones, each about seven inches long, taken from the same spot. (See page [220].)

“In the course of the excavation several skeletons were disinterred; and their being generally in a good state of preservation and near the surface, gave rise to p275 the inference that they were deposited there since the mound was erected: but the one with which the sharpened bones and hieroglyphical stone were found, was in a decayed state. Being in the centre and rather below the level of the surrounding ground, it was no doubt the object over which the mound was erected. I have a part of the skull; the remainder of the skeleton was destroyed by the diggers.”

Fig. 194. From a drawing by H. C. GROSVENOR.

Fig. 195.

The position of the skeleton with which it was found, as also the other circumstances attending the discovery of this relic, leave little doubt as to its authenticity. It was discovered in December, 1841. The material is a fine-grained, compact sandstone, of a light brown color. It measures five inches in length, three in breadth at the ends, two and six tenths at the middle, and is about half an inch in thickness. The sculptured face varies very slightly from a perfect plane. The figures are cut in low relief, (the lines being not more than one twentieth of an inch in depth,) and occupy a rectangular space four inches and two tenths long, by two and one tenth wide. The sides of the stone, it will be observed, are slightly concave. Right lines are drawn across the face near the ends. At right angles and exterior to these are notches, twenty-five at one end, and twenty-four at the other. Extending diagonally inward are fifteen longer lines, eight at one end and seven at the other. The back of the stone has three deep, longitudinal grooves, and several depressions, evidently caused by rubbing,—probably produced in sharpening the instrument used in the sculpture.

Without discussing the “singular resemblance which the relic bears to the Egyptian cartouch,” it will be sufficient to direct attention to the reduplication of p276 the figures, those upon one side corresponding with those upon the other, and the two central ones being also alike. It will be observed that there are but three scrolls or figures, four of one description, and two of each of the others. Probably no serious discussion of the question whether or not these figures are hieroglyphical is needed. They more resemble the stalk and flowers of a plant than anything else in nature. What significance, if any, may attach to the peculiar markings or graduations at the ends, it is not undertaken to say. The sum of the products of the longer and shorter lines (24×7+25×8) is 368, three more than the number of days in the year; from which circumstance the suggestion has been advanced that the tablet had an astronomical origin, and constituted some sort of a calendar.

We may perhaps find the key to its purposes in a very humble but not therefore less interesting class of Southern remains. Both in Mexico and in the mounds of Mississippi have been found stamps of burned clay, the faces of which are covered with figures, fanciful or imitative, all in low relief, like the face of a stereotype plate. These were used in impressing ornaments upon the clothes or prepared skins of the people possessing them. They exhibit the concavity of the sides to be observed in the relic in question, intended doubtless for greater convenience in holding and using it, as also a similar reduplication of the ornamental figures,—all betraying a common purpose. This explanation is offered hypothetically as being entirely consistent with the general character of the mound remains; which, taken together, do not warrant us in looking for anything that might not well pertain to a very simple, not to say rude, people.[174]

Fig. 196.

Fig. 196. From one of the mounds, numbered 1 in the plan of the great enclosure on the North Fork of Paint creek, (Plate [X],) were taken several singularly sculptured tablets, of one of which the figure here presented is a copy, so far as it has been found possible to restore it from the several fragments recovered. It represents a coiled rattlesnake; both faces of the tablet being identical in p277 sculpture, excepting that one is plane, the other slightly convex. The material is a very fine cinnamon-colored sandstone, and the style of the sculpture is identical with that displayed in the tablet from the Cincinnati mound already noticed. The original is six inches and a quarter long, one and three eighths broad, and one quarter of an inch thick. The workmanship is delicate, and the characteristic feature of the rattlesnake perfectly represented. It is to be regretted that it is impossible to restore the head, which, so far as it can be made out, has some peculiar and interesting features,—plumes or ornamental figures surmounting it. Previous to the investigation of the mound by the authors, an entire tablet was obtained from it by an individual residing near the spot, who represents it to have been carefully and closely enveloped in sheets of copper, which he had great difficulty in removing. Incited by a miserable curiosity he broke the specimen, to ascertain its composition; and the larger portion, including the head, was subsequently lost. The remaining fragment, from its exceedingly well preserved condition, confirms the statement of the finder respecting its envelopment. It seems that several of these tablets were originally deposited in the mound; the greater portions of four have been recovered, but none displaying the head entire. The person above mentioned affirms that the head, in the specimen which he discovered, was surrounded by “feathers;” how far this is confirmed by the fragment, the reader must judge for himself. The tablets seem to have been originally painted of different colors: a dark red pigment is yet plainly to be seen in the depressions of some of the fragments; others had been painted of a dense black color.

It does not appear probable that these relics were designed for ornaments. On the contrary, the circumstances under which they were discovered render it likely that they had a superstitious origin, and were objects of high regard and perhaps of worship. It has already been observed, in connection with the account of the great serpentine structure in Adams county, Ohio, (Plate [XXXV],) that the serpent entered widely into the superstitions of the American nations, savage and semi-civilized, and was conspicuous among their symbols as the emblem of the greatest gods of their mythology, both good and evil. And wherever it appears, whether among the carvings of the Natchez (who, according to Charlevoix, placed it upon their altars as an object of worship), among the paintings of the Aztecs, or upon the temples of Central America, it is worthy of remark, that it is invariably the rattlesnake. And as among the Egyptians the cobra was the sign of royalty, so among the Mexicans the rattlesnake was an emblem of kingly power and dominion. As such it appears in the crown of Tezcatlipoca, the Brahma of the Aztec pantheon, and in the helmets of the warrior priests of that divinity. The feather-headed rattlesnake, it should be observed, was in Mexico the peculiar symbol of Tezcatlipoca, otherwise symbolized as the sun.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XV.
  • [159] Researches, vol. i, p. 43.
  • [160] In the possession of J. VAN CLEVE, Esq., Dayton, Ohio.
  • [161] See memoir on the Grave creek mound by H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq., Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 408. The original is regarded by that gentleman as furnishing tangible evidence of the existence of idol worship among the North American tribes. Its purposes, whatever they were, seem to differ but slightly from those to which the ruder articles noticed in the text were applied. The orifices in the back are supposed by Mr. Schoolcraft to be designed for the insertion of the thumb and finger in lifting the object, or for the introduction of a thong or cord in transporting or suspending it.
  • [162] In the collection of JAMES MCBRIDE, Esq.
  • [163] Several of these masks are embraced in the collection of Mexican antiques, presented by Mr. POINSETT to the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia.
  • [164] Godman’s American Natural History, vol. ii. p. 154.
  • [165] Desm. Nouv. Hist Nat., xvii. p. 213.
  • [166] Observations on the Geology of East Florida, by T. A. Conrad. Silliman’s Journal of Arts and Sciences for July, 1846.
  • [167] Butram’s Travels in North America, p. 299.
  • [168] Humboldt’s Travels and Researches in South America.
  • [169] Godman’s Natural History, vol. ii. p. 155.
  • [170] Mr. Schoolcraft mentions, in illustration of the extent of Indian exchanges in shells and ornaments, that he saw at the foot of Lake Superior, Indian articles ornamented with the shining white Dentalium Elephanticum from the mouth of the Columbia.
  • [171] Commentaries of Peru. Book vi. p. 187.
  • [172] De Orbo Novo, Dec. 4, cap. 9.
  • [173] For a critical examination of the question of the authenticity of this relic, see Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. ii.
  • [174] The following just observations are from the published notice of this relic, accompanying the communication of Mr. Gest, above quoted:
  • “The relic found here was with a skeleton, in the very centre of the mound, and all the external evidence favors the belief that it was placed there when the tumulus was raised. But the best evidence of its genuineness is this, that a person in our times could scarcely make so perfect an engraving as this stone, and not make it more perfect, the engraving represents something, whatever it is, the two sides of which are intended to be alike, and yet no two curves or lines are precisely alike, nor is there the least evidence of the use of our instruments to be discovered in the work. So difficult is it to imitate with our cultivated hands and eyes the peculiar imperfection of this cutting, that some excellent judges, who at first doubted the genuineness of the relic, have changed their opinion upon trying to imitate it. What the sculpture means is another matter.”

p278

CHAPTER XVI. METALS, MINERALS, FOSSILS, SHELLS, ETC.

Frequent allusion has been made, in the preceding pages, to the numerous rare and beautiful varieties of minerals, fossils, and shells, disclosed from the mounds; but no opportunity has been afforded to speak of them with desirable fulness. The identification, accurate or approximate, of the localities from whence these were obtained, will serve, in a degree, to reflect light upon the grand archæological questions of the origin, migration, and intercommunication of the race of the mounds. In this respect they are of value; for, in the investigations here attempted, we are compelled to press into the work of elucidation, every fact and circumstance which can, in any way, affect the subject of our inquiries. The discovery of obsidian, a purely volcanic production, in the mounds, in a region entirely destitute of the evidences of immediate volcanic action, is, to the commonest apprehension, a remarkable fact, a subject of wonder; but neither marvels nor mysticism have aught to do with science. The fact, to the mind of the rational archæologist, is suggestive only of the inquiry, Whence was this singular product obtained? Its presence cannot be accounted for, in the quantities discovered, except upon the supposition that it was transported from a distance; which supposition involves, of necessity, intercommunication or migration. To measure the bounds of intercourse, casual or constant, or define the course of migration, it is necessary to ascertain the exact primitive locality of the product in question. So far as we are informed, the nearest point of its occurrence is Mexico, the ancient inhabitants of which country applied it extensively to the very purposes for which it was used by the race of the mounds.

In this process of investigation, there are many circumstances which must come under view and receive due consideration, before we venture upon the simplest conclusions. They are, however, entirely omitted in this connection; the object of the illustration being simply to show in what general manner facts of this kind may be made subservient, and of what importance they may become in a system of research, in which we have neither written record nor even the voice of tradition to give direction to our inquiries.

It so happens that it is difficult in every case to detect the true nature of the remains discovered, and often quite impossible to point out their original localities. Hence the necessity of presenting a comprehensive view of their extent and character, so that other laborers in the field of antiquarian research may be able to institute comparisons, and indicate localities, and thus gradually work out the grand problems involved in our aboriginal history. The process may appear p279 tedious and intricate, and the results hardly worth the labor of their development; that is, however, a question open to discussion. The mode of investigation here indicated is, at any rate, the only one which philosophy sanctions, and which can ever lead to satisfactory results.

• THE METALS.—Silver and copper are the only metals, pertaining to the race of the mounds, which have been taken from their depositories. The discovery of gold has been vaguely announced, but the fact is not well attested.[175] It is not unlikely that articles of gold have been found, with brass dial-plates, silver crosses, and other vestiges of European art, among the recent deposits in the mounds; and it is far from impossible that the metal may yet be disclosed, under such circumstances as to justify the conclusion that it was not, as from existing facts it seems to have been, an entire stranger to the ancient people. Its discovery will be no matter of surprise; as yet, however, we have no well authenticated instance of its occurrence. Mention is made, in a published work, of a silver cup, “finely gilded in the interior,” which was said to have been found in a mound at Marietta. It will be early enough to ask for the verification of the statement, when any one shall be found to claim for the cup any other than a European origin, or assign it an antiquity beyond the period of the first European intercourse.
• As has been already observed, considerable quantities of wrought, and some small fragments of unwrought native copper, have been extracted from the mounds. Axes, as we have seen, have been found, wrought from a single piece, weighing upwards of two pounds each. The metal appears, in all cases, to have been worked in a cold state. This is the more remarkable from the fact that, in some instances, the fires upon the altars were sufficiently intense to melt down the copper implements and ornaments deposited upon them. The hint thus afforded does not seem to have been seized upon. In consideration of the amount of the metal discovered, implying a large original supply, and the fact that it is occasionally found combined with silver in the peculiar manner characterizing the native deposits upon the shores of Lake Superior, we are led to conclude that it was principally, if not wholly, derived from that region. This conclusion is sustained by the recent investigations upon the shores of that lake. These have led to the discovery that the aborigines, from a very remote period, resorted there to obtain the metal. There is also evidence that some of the more productive veins were anciently worked to a considerable extent. “A few rods north of the present ‘location’ and works of the North-west Mining Company, and near the foot of the bluff, are excavations in the earth and rock, in which are found numerous rude implements of stone, such as hammers and wedges. Pieces of copper, partially wrought into shape, are to be found at various places around the works. Upon the earth and rocks thrown from the pits, large trees are now growing. One of these pits is sunk almost entirely in the rock, and is not far from seven feet deep. p280 To the north-west of this, an open cut mas made, twenty-four feet on the course of the vein, and from it was taken not less than a bushel of hammers and wedges of stone and pieces of copper. A few rods to the northward of the present works on the eastern vein of the ‘Copper Falls Location,’ and also at some distance to the south-east of the mines at the Eagle river, similar traces of ancient mining are to be observed.”[176] p281
• The tribes visited by De Soto indicated some portion of the South Appalachian chain as the locality whence they obtained the copper in their possession. We are ignorant of the sources whence the Indians on the Hudson procured the copper which was found among them; it probably reached their hands by a course of exchange with western tribes, and came from the north-west. Silver has been found in very small quantities, and was evidently exceedingly rare among the mound-builders. The specimens recovered are pure, and were undoubtedly derived from the same locality with the copper.
• It is not certain, but nevertheless extremely probable, that the race of the mounds were acquainted with the art of reducing lead from its ores; the absence of the metal may be accounted for by the fact that, from its nature, it could not be applied by them to any useful purpose. Too soft for axes or knives, too fusible for vessels, and too soon tarnished to be valuable for ornament, there was little inducement for its manufacture. Still, unless we suppose that it was valued and used to a limited extent, we can hardly account for the amount of galena found in the mounds. The nearest locality, from which it can be obtained in quantities equal to those found, is the mineral region of Illinois.
• FOSSILS.—A variety of fossils, selected for purposes of use or ornament, are obtained from the mounds. Among the more remarkable may be mentioned the fossil teeth of the shark, and some large teeth, probably cetacean. About one hundred of the latter were found in one mound; but they were too much burned to be recovered entire. One of the largest measures six inches in length, by about four inches in circumference at the largest part. They are destitute of enamel, and have a pulp cavity at the base, something like those of the whale, from which, however, they differ widely in shape. They have not yet been identified, although they have been examined by several eminent naturalists. The mound-builders evidently used them for various purposes, and some of the articles supposed to be ivory may have been made from them. Some of the specimens have been variously wrought, drilled, sawn, and polished. The striæ produced by sawing are distinctly visible. Accompanying these were found several beautifully carved cylinders of a compact substance resembling ivory. These were variously and tastefully ornamented. One of the rods was originally fourteen inches in length, and, when found, was closely enveloped in sheet copper. It has been suggested that these were carved from the ribs of the manitus; the bones of which animal, p282 we are informed by Bartram, were much used by the Southern Indians for articles of use and ornament.
• Fig. 197.—Half size.
• Several of the fossil teeth of the shark recovered from the mounds are represented in the cut, Fig. 197. It will be observed that they are of different species. They seem to have been used for various purposes. Some have holes drilled through them near the base; others are notched, as if designed to form spear or arrow-heads. Raleigh observed some used as such among the Indians of Carolina. It seems most probable that they were designed for cutting purposes. No. 2 is fragmentary; the remaining portion was not found. It will be seen that it had a hole drilled through it near the base, and was notched at the sides. We are of course ignorant of the locality from which they were obtained. It is a well known fact, however, that they are abundant in the tertiary formations of the Lower Mississippi.[177] From this direction must have come the teeth of the alligator, a number of which have been obtained from the mounds.
• PEARLS.—Mention has been made, on a preceding page, of the great number of pearls found in the mounds. It is incredible to suppose that a hundredth part of these were obtained from the molluscs of our rivers. The question then arises, whence were they obtained? As has already been stated, the Indians of the South and South-west used them extensively as ornaments at the time of the Discovery, and at that time, it appears from the chroniclers, maintained regular fisheries for them.[178] If we may credit the early writers, they were abundant among all the nations inhabiting the shores and islands of the Gulf, and were found in considerable numbers on the Atlantic coast, as far north as Virginia. Raleigh saw them on the coast of North Carolina. Heriot, in his Voyage to the Shores of Virginia, says: “Sometimes in feeding on muscles we find pearls; but it was our hap to meet those which were ragged and of a pied color, not yet having discovered the country where we heard of better and more plenty. One of our company, a man of skill in such matters, had gathered from among the savage people about p283 five thousand; of which number he chose so many as made a fair chain, which for their likeness and uniformity in roundness, orientness, and piedness, of many excellent colors, with equality in greatness, had been presented to her majesty, had not a casualty by sea lost them.”
• Ribaulde, at an earlier day, (1562,) wrote in extravagant terms of the quantities of pearls which he saw on the coast of Florida. “They had also a great abundance of pearls; which they declared unto us they took out of oysters, and in so marvellous abundance, as is scant credible: and we perceive that there are as many and faire pearls found there, as in any country of the world. For we saw one man who had a pearl hanging at the end of a chain of gold and silver, as great as an acorn at the least.”
• The Decades of Peter Martyr teem with exclamations of surprise and wonder at their great number and beauty; they elicit both his praise and his philosophy.[179] We may therefore safely derive the pearls found in the mounds from the Gulf. Together with numerous other remains, they go to establish an extensive communication with southern and tropical regions, or a migration from that direction. At present it is believed no pearl-fisheries are maintained, except upon the coast of California.
• Fig. 198.
• MARINE SHELLS.—The cassis and pyrula perversa of Lamark; the oliva, marginella, and natica; as well as the columella of a shell, probably the strombus, have been found in the mounds. A cassis of large size, from which the inner whorls and columella had been removed to adapt it for use as a vessel, was found in mound No. 5, in the great enclosure, Plate [X]. It is doubtful whether this particular shell belongs to the era of the mounds, or is of a later date. Portions of these shells have nevertheless been found upon the altars, and they were consequently known to the mound-builders. This specimen is eleven inches and a half in length, by twenty-four in circumference at the largest part. Specimens have been found in the vicinity of Nashville, from which the inner whorls had been removed so as to give place to an idol of clay or stone.[180] Fragments only of the pyrula, Fig. 198, have been found in the mounds; although quite a number have been p284 discovered entire in excavating at different points in the Scioto valley. In digging the Ohio and Erie canal, there was found near Portsmouth, its southern terminus on the Ohio river, a cluster of five or six, which appeared to have been thus carefully deposited by the hand of man. They were about three feet beneath the surface. The columellæ of some large shell, probably the strombus gigas, have also been discovered. Most of the shell beads and ornaments from the mounds appear to have been manufactured from them.
• All these shells are found in the Gulf. The strombus is observed on the shores of the West Indies and Florida; the cassis occurs in the same localities, as do also the pyrula and the minor shells above mentioned. A very large number of the marginella were taken from the Grave creek mound.[181]
• FLUVIATILE SHELLS.—Examples of the unios of the Western rivers also occur in the mounds, generally entire, but sometimes manufactured. The unio ellipticus, crassus, rectus, verrucosus, and ovatus have been identified, all existing, at the present time, in the neighboring streams. They occur side by side with the marine shells and other remains heretofore noticed.
• MINERALS.—This department is very rich, and comprises some very interesting and beautiful varieties,—mica, transparent, opaque, silvery, and graphic; obsidian; quartz, many varieties; serpentine; porphyry, several beautiful kinds; manganesian garnet, in crystals; variegated slate, beautifully colored; catlinite or red pipe-stone (?); limestone, common and coralline, etc., etc.
• MICA is abundant in the mounds and in the vicinity of ancient works, where it is often ploughed up. It seems to be extensively disseminated, south as well as north. The common, transparent, silvery or opaque, and graphic or hieroglyphical varieties, have been discovered; some specimens have a golden color, much resembling “Dutch leaf.” It is in general neatly cut into ornamental figures, scrolls, discs, and oval plates. These plates are frequently a foot or more in diameter, and a fourth or half an inch in thickness. In a mound at Circleville, a plate is said to have been found, three feet in length, one foot and a half in breadth, and one inch and a half in thickness. It has been suggested that these plates were designed as mirrors; but there seems to be no good foundation for the supposition.[182] The opaque varieties, from their beauty, seem to have been uniformly applied to ornamental purposes, having often, as appears from the holes occasioned by the process, been worked into scarfs or attached to the martial or priestly robes of the ancient people. The mineral seems also to have been consecrated to some religious purpose. It appears at various points in the mounds, and is sometimes found resting on the breasts or above the heads of p285 skeletons. It has also been found covering one sacrificial altar, and regularly disposed in the form of a crescent before another. (See pages 144 and 154.) The suggestion has been advanced that it was consecrated to some divinity, equivalent to the Mexican Tezcatlipoca, “Lord of the Light.”
• The mica of the mounds is often found fissile and fragile, perhaps the result of exposure to heat, but generally quite compact and possessing its original tenacity. Some very fine specimens of the graphic or discolored mica have been found in the mounds of the Scioto valley and elsewhere. Fifteen or twenty beautiful oval plates of this variety were taken recently from a low mound near Lower Sandusky, Ohio. They are beautiful specimens, stained with a solution of some of the oxides of iron or manganese, during the process of crystallization.
• Mica, like many other substances, crystallizes in oblique rhombic prisms whose planes are 60° and 120°. When these planes are colored, they resemble many letters of the alphabet. The specimens in question are iridescent, exhibiting all the prismatic colors when the light falls upon them in a certain direction. These circumstances no doubt gave rise to the idea that they were painted hieroglyphics. Graphic mica occurs, in place, on the Schuylkill, some distance above Philadelphia, and probably in other localities. No original deposit of the mineral exists in the State of Ohio.
• OBSIDIAN, the itzli of the Mexicans, and gallinazo stone of the Peruvians. Frequent reference has been had to this mineral, precluding the necessity of an extended notice here. It has been observed in five of the mounds excavated in the Scioto valley, from one of which a number of large and very fine specimens were obtained (page [155]). It is only found in the form of implements, such as knives and spear and arrow-points. This mineral is a volcanic product, and occurs, so far as known, no nearer than Mexico, where it is found in abundance. It is also found in Peru, and was extensively used by the ancient inhabitants of both countries, for cutting and warlike implements. They also, notwithstanding its obstinacy and fragility, worked it elegantly into mirrors, ornamental rings, and masks.[183] Some specimens have been discovered in the mounds of Tennessee, which were doubtless obtained from the same source with those found on the Ohio.[184] All the specimens discovered are glassy black, subtranslucent, and break with a clear conchoidal fracture. According to Humboldt, the mountains of Jacul or Cerro Gordo, on the route between Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico, furnished the celebrated itzli quarries or mines of the ancient Mexicans; the locality is still known as El Cerro de los Nabijas, the Mountain of Knives.[185] This is believed to be the nearest point of its p286 occurrence. Lieut. Fremont observed some small nodules in the rocks of the Sierra Nevada, lying to the eastward of the valley of the Sacramento. He also found numerous fragments on the hills bordering the Lewis fork of the Columbia river.
• PORPHYRY.—Most of the sculptured pipes of the mounds are made of a very fine and beautiful description of porphyry. It occurs of many shades of color. Some varieties are of a greenish-brown base, with fine white and black granules; others of a light brown base with white, purple, and violet-tinged specks; but most are red, with white and purplish grains. In some specimens the base scarcely exhibits any admixture either of grains or crystals, and strongly resembles the red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies. All are of intense hardness,—a natural characteristic, or in some degree the result of the great heat to which they have been subjected. It generally breaks with a granular fracture, sometimes disengaging the grains of the foreign material. Under heat it splinters, often on very nearly the same plane; pieces partly fused into a porous, dull mass, have been remarked. Heat has also the effect of giving a bright black color to the fragments more particularly exposed to its influence, and some of the restored sculptures present a striking contrast in the appearance of their parts. It would seem incredible that the different fragments originally pertained to the same piece, did they not exactly fit to each other. One or two of the varieties seem to have an argillaceous base, adhere slightly when applied to the tongue, and have a marked argillaceous odor; these exhibit a rather dull surface, while the others are exquisitely polished. It is difficult to tell how the ancient inhabitants worked this obstinate material with the elegance and finish which their sculptures display. It resists the best tempered blade, and yields reluctantly to the finest grit stones. Yet it is clear from the markings on certain specimens that it was cut by some kind of implement. We can only account for the fact by supposing that it was once much softer than it now is. Under such a supposition, it is not improbable that it may have been derived from a locality mentioned by Du Pratz, on the Missouri. So far as the external features of the stone are concerned, the description is very exact; we are left in doubt, however, as to the size of the granules, which in the mound pipes are seldom larger than mustard seeds.
• “In this journey of M. de Borgmont, mention is made only of what we meet with from Fort Orleans, from which we set out, in order to go to the Padoucas; wherefore I ought to speak of a thing curious enough to be related, which is found on the banks of the Missouri; and that is a pretty high cliff, upright from the water. From the middle of the cliff juts out a mass of red stone with white spots, like porphyry, with this difference, that what we are now speaking of is almost soft and tender like sandstone. It is covered with another sort of stone of no value; the bottom is an earth like that on other rising grounds. The stone is easily worked and bears the most violent fire. The Indians of the country have contrived to strike off pieces thereof with their arrows, and after they fall in the water plunge in for them. When they procure pieces large enough to make pipes, they fashion them with knives and awls. This pipe has a socket two or three p287 inches long, and on the opposite side the figure of a hatchet; in the middle of all is the bort or bowl to put the tobacco in.”[186]
• The fashion of the pipe here described is that adopted by the modern Indians; and the paragraph is introduced as suggestive, rather than as indicating the unknown locality of this singular stone. A description of red porphyry is said to occur upon the shores of Lake Superior; but in the absence of specimens for comparison, it is impossible to say how far it resembles that found in the mounds.
• Many of the ancient carvings are executed in a des­crip­tion of compact slate, of a dull green ground, re­lieved with stripes of a dark black color, giving the stone a fibrous appearance, and leading many uninformed persons to suppose that it is petrified wood. It has a very fine grain, cuts clearly and readily, and receives a high finish. It seems to have been chiefly used for ornamental purposes. No one has, as yet, been able to identify its primitive locality. A single implement of this material was found a number of years ago, near Middletown, Connecticut. (See page [218].)
• Another variety of stone, of a high specific gravity, dark ground, thickly interspersed with minute flakes of salmon-colored mica, is also found. It is not abundant. It has thus far defied scrutiny, and its primitive locality is unascertained. It is often very tastefully worked into rings, figures of animals, etc. It cuts without difficulty, and receives a very high polish.[187]
• The axes, pestles, etc., of the mound-builders, like those formerly in use by the Indian tribes, are composed of tough sienitic rocks, greenstone, etc. The material must have been derived from primitive localities, or from boulders of primitive rocks.
• Besides these varieties of stone, we find articles composed of every description of quartz; of brown hematite; steatite, black and mottled; slate; limestone, etc. Some very pretty articles are worked from coralline limestone.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XVI.
  • [175] Archæologia Americana, vol. i. p. 176. The report here alluded to has been traced to its source. The ornament was not of gold but of copper.
  • [176] These statements are confirmed by several observers. The subjoined passages are from a letter from the eminent geologist and mineralogist, Prof. W. W. MATHER.
  • “I am informed by gentlemen connected with the survey of the government mineral lands, that abundant traces of ancient mining are to be observed at the Copper Falls and Eagle river mines. It is stated that on the hill south of the Copper Falls mine an excavation several feet in depth, and some rods in length, was discovered extending along the course of the vein. Fragments of rock, etc., thrown out of the excavation, were piled up along its sides, the whole covered with soil, and overgrown with bushes and trees. On removing the accumulations from the excavation, stone axes of large size, made of greenstone, and shaped to receive withe handles, were found. Some large, round, greenstone masses, that had apparently been used for sledges were also found. They had round holes bored in them to the depth of several inches, which seemed to have been designed for wooden plugs, to which withe handles might be attached, so that several men could swing them with sufficient force to batter or break the rock and the projecting masses of copper. Some of them were broken, and some of the projecting ends of rock exhibited distinct marks of having been battered in the manner here suggested.”
  • The great Ontonagon mass of virgin copper, now deposited in Washington, when found, exhibited marks of having had considerable portions cut from it, and the ground around was strewn with fragments of stone axes which had been broken in endeavors to detach portions of the mass. Henry (Travels p. 195) observes that the Indians obtained much copper from the above localities, which they worked into spoons, bracelets, etc. He saw one piece in their possession, weighing twenty pounds.
  • The following additional information embraced in a private letter to a gentleman of Buffalo, under date of June 15, 1848, relating to ancient mining on the shores of Lake Superior, will prove highly interesting in this connection. The new discoveries which it records seem to establish that the mines were anciently extensively worked, and the copper extracted in large masses. Were it not for the abundance of stone implements in the excavations, it might be supposed that they were the traces of the later operations of the French.
  • “The gentlemen connected with Vulcan Mining Company have made some very singular discoveries in working one of the veins which has been lately found. They discovered an old cave, excavated centuries ago. This led them to look for other works of the same kind, and they have found a number of sinks in the earth which they have traced a long distance. By digging into those sinks, they find them to have been made by the hand of man. It appears that the ancient miners worked on a different principle from that adopted at the present time. The greatest depth yet found in these holes is thirty feet. After getting down to a certain depth, the ancient miners drifted along the vein making an open cut. These cuts have been filled nearly to a level by the accumulation of soil, and we find trees of the largest growth standing in the depressions, and also find that trees of a very large size have grown up and died, and decayed many years since in the same places there are now standing others of over three hundred years’ growth. Last week they dug down into a new place, and about twelve feet below the surface found a mass of copper weighing from eight to ten tons. This mass was buried in ashes, and it appears the ancient miners could not handle it, and having no means of cutting it, probably built fire around it to melt or separate the rock, which might be done by heating and then dashing on cold water. This piece of copper is pure and free from corrosion. The upper surface has been pounded smooth. It appears that this mass of copper was taken from the bottom of a shaft, at the depth of about thirty feet. In sinking this shaft from where the mass now lies, they followed the course of the vein, which dips considerably, this enabled them to raise it as far as the hole came up with a slant. At the bottom of the shaft were found skids of black oak from eight to twelve inches in diameter, these sticks were charred through, as if burnt; large wooden wedges were also found in the same situation. In this shaft were discovered a miner’s ‘gad’ and a narrow chisel made of copper. I do not know whether these copper tools are tempered or not, but they display good workmanship. There have been taken out of the excavations more than a ton of cobble-stones, which have been used as mallets. These stones were nearly round, with a groove cut round the centre, for the purpose of putting a withe around for a handle. The Chippewas all say that this work was never done by Indians. This discovery will lead to a new method of finding veins in this country, and may be of great benefit to explorers. I suppose the miners will continue to find new wonders for some time yet, as it is but a short time since they first found the old mine.”
  • [177] B. L. C. WAILES, Esq., Proceedings of Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Naturalists and Geologists, p. 80.—Also Prof. GIBBS, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. second series, vol. i.
  • [178] De Soto’s Expedition, Supplement to Hakluyt’s Voyages, p. 715.
  • [179] Peter Martyr, Supplement to Hakluyt’s Voyages, pp. 415, 417, 419, 455, 469, 471, 475, 493, 500, 517, 520, 530, 539, 599; Oviedo, in Purchas, vol. iii. p. 972.
  • [180] Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 361.
  • [181] American Pioneer, vol. i. p. 200.
  • [182] Capt. LYON mentions finding among the Esquimaux, on the North-east coast, “a mirror composed of a broad plate of black mica, fitted into a leather frame, so as to be seen from either side.”—Narrative, p. 68.
  • [183] The Mexicans used blades of obsidian in the construction of their swords; their sacrificial knives and razors were of the same material; and, from practice, they became so perfect in their manufacture that, according to Clavigero, “in the space of one hour, an artist could finish more than a hundred.”—Clavigero, vol. ii. p. 288.
  • [184] Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 361.
  • [185] Researches, vol. ii. p. 204.
  • [186] DU PRATZ, History of Louisiana, p. 179.
  • [187] A specimen of this mineral was submitted to JAMES T. HODGE, Esq., of New York, for examination, with the following results: “It resembles mica in appearance, in fine scales, cemented in one lump. Color, reddish brown. Before the blow-pipe it does not change. It fuses with soda, with difficulty, into a dark bead,—soluble in nitric acid, leaving a considerable residuum of silicia. The qualitative analysis gave alumina, iron, and potash, all of which are ingredients of mica.”

p288

CHAPTER XVII. CRANIA FROM THE MOUNDS.

It has already been several times observed that the human remains found in the mounds are of different eras. The superficial burials, it has been abundantly shown, are of comparatively late date, and are to be ascribed to the Indian tribes found in occupation of the country, at the period of its discovery in the fifteenth century. These skeletons are seldom deposited more than two or three feet below the surface, and are generally perfect; the crania rarely if ever crushed, and the bones still retaining a portion of their animal matter. In the ancient burials, on the other hand, the skeletons are almost invariably found at the base of the mounds, and in such a state of decay as to render all attempts to restore the skull, or indeed any part of the skeleton, entirely hopeless. The crania, when not so much decomposed as to crumble to powder beneath the touch, are crushed and flattened by the falling in of the sepulchral chambers, and by the weight of the superincumbent earth.

We are therefore unable to present much new light upon the cranial conformation of the race of the mounds. The only skull incontestibly belonging to an individual of that race, which has been recovered entire, or sufficiently well preserved to be of value for purposes of comparison, was taken from the hill-mound, numbered 8 in the Map of a section of twelve miles of the Scioto valley, Plate [II]. Plate [XLVII] is a full-sized side view, and Plate [XLVIII] presents reduced vertical and front views of the skull in question.

[♠]

XLVII. From an Ancient Mound in Scioto Valley O.

[♠]

XLVIII. Front and Vertical View of the Same.

The circumstances under which this skull was found are altogether so extraordinary, as to merit a detailed account. It will be observed from the map, that the mound above indicated is situated upon the summit of a high hill, overlooking the valley of the Scioto, about four miles below the city of Chillicothe. It is one of the most prominent and commanding positions in that section of country. Upon the summit of this hill rises a conical knoll of so great regularity as almost to induce the belief that it is itself artificial. Upon the very apex of this knoll, and covered by the trees of the primitive forest, is the mound. It is about eight feet high by forty-five or fifty feet base. The superstructure is a tough yellow clay, which at the depth of three feet is intermixed with large rough stones, as shown in the accompanying section, Fig. 199.

These stones rest upon a dry carbonaceous deposit of burned earth and small stones, of a dark black color, and much compacted. This deposit is about two feet in thickness in the centre, and rests upon the original soil. In excavating the mound, a large plate of mica was discovered placed upon the stones, at the point indicated by the letter a in the section. Immediately underneath this plate of p289 mica and in the centre of the burned deposit, was found the skull figured in the plates. It was discovered resting upon its face. The lower jaw, as indeed the entire skeleton, excepting the clavicle, a few cervical vertebræ, and some of the bones of the feet, all of which were huddled around the skull, were wanting. No relics were found with the bones, except a few shells of the fresh-water molluscs from the neighboring river.

Fig. 199.

From the entire singularity of this burial it might be inferred that the deposit was a comparatively recent one; but the fact that the various layers of carbonaceous earth, stones, and clay were entirely undisturbed, and in no degree intermixed, settles the question beyond doubt, that the skull was placed where it was found at the time of the construction of the mound. Either, therefore, we must admit that the skull is a genuine relic of the mound-builders proper, or assume the improbable alternative that the mound in question does not belong to the grand system of earthworks of which we have been treating.

The skull is wonderfully well preserved; unaccountably so, unless the circumstances under which it was found may be regarded as most favorable to such a result. The imperviousness of the mound to water, from the nature of the material composing it, and its position on the summit of an eminence subsiding in every direction from its base, are circumstances which, joined to the antiseptic qualities of the carbonaceous deposit enveloping the skull, may satisfactorily account for its excellent preservation.

Of course no general conclusion as to the cranial characteristics of the ancient people can be based upon a single skull. It may nevertheless not be wholly unimportant or uninteresting to notice particularly the more prominent peculiarities of the specimen before us. The most striking feature is its extraordinary compactness or roundness. This will best be illustrated by the measurements, which show the vertical diameter to be 6.2 inches; longitudinal diameter 6.5 inches; inter-parietal diameter 6 inches. The vertical occiput, the prominent vertex, and great inter-parietal diameter, all of which are strongly marked in this skull, are, according to Dr. Morton, features characteristic of the American race, but more particularly of the family which he denominates the Toltecan, and of which the Peruvian head may be taken as the type. This skull was accurately measured by Dr. Morton, with the following results:

	MEASUREMENTS.
Longitudinal diameter.	6.5	inches.
Inter-parietal diameter.	6	inches.
Vertical diameter.	6.2	inches.
Frontal diameter.	4.5	inches.
Inter-mastoid arch,	16	inches.
Inter-mastoid line,	4.5	inches.
Occipito-frontal arch,	13.8	inches.
Horizontal periphery,	19.8	inches.
Facial angle,	81	degrees.
Internal capacity,	90	cubic inches.

p290

Dr. Morton, in his Crania Americana, has presented a number of examples of skulls from the mounds. Five of these are from mounds within the United States, and three are from the sepulchral tumuli of Peru. Those of the United States were obtained,—one from the Grave creek mound, one from a mound near the junction of the French Broad and Tennessee rivers in Tennessee, one from a mound on the Alabama river, one from a mound near Circleville in Ohio, and one from a mound on the Upper Mississippi. The first two may be regarded as genuine remains of the mound-builders; but it is more than probable, for reasons already advanced, that the rest are skulls of the recent Indians, who, as we have seen, often buried in the mounds. Numbers of these have been discovered by the authors in the mounds, and the measurements of four of them are introduced in the following comparative table, A, where they are indicated by an asterisk. This table exhibits the measurements of the mound skull discovered by the authors; of the eight skulls described by Dr. Morton; of four modern skulls recovered from the mounds; of a skull taken from the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, three thousand yards from its mouth, and now in the possession of Messrs. FOWLERS & WELLS, of New York; and also of the skull of a mummy or desiccated body, taken from the same cave, and now in the Museum of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. It will be seen that the conclusion already adopted respecting three of the skulls noticed in the Crania Americana, are sustained by the general coincidence in measurements between them and those indubitably of recent date.

The comparatively large facial angle and great internal capacity of the skull figured in the plate cannot fail to attract attention. The mean internal capacity of the eight heads presented by Dr. Morton is but eighty-one cubic inches, while the facial angle does not exceed seventy-five degrees. The accompanying table, B, exhibiting the mean results of Dr. Morton’s measurements of American aboriginal heads, as compared with the skull in question, and the mean measurements of the skulls supposed to pertain to the race of the mounds, may not prove unacceptable.

According to the same authority, the mean internal capacity of the Caucasian head is 87 cubic inch; of the Mongolian, 83; Malay, 81; American, 82; Ethiopian, 78.

From what has been presented, it will be seen that the skull here described exhibits, in a marked degree, the cranial characteristics of the American race, of which it may be regarded as a perfect type. Whether its peculiarities of form may not be, in part, artificial, it is not assumed to determine. It may nevertheless be observed, that the Natchez and Peruvians, as also many of the savage tribes, moulded the heads of their children in a variety of forms. The naturally vertical occiput was undoubtedly generally rendered the more marked by the almost universal practice of lashing the infant with its back against a board, by which it was suspended or carried about.

Several of the inferior maxillary bones of the mound skeletons have been recovered, nearly entire. They are remarkable for their massiveness, and seem to have been less projecting than those pertaining to the skeletons of a later date. p291

• TABLE A.—COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF CRANIA.
  • Cranium
    • A - Mound-builder, From a Mound in the Scioto Valley.
    • B - Mound-builder, From the Grave Creek Mound.
    • C - Mound-builder, From a Mound in Tennessee.
    • D - From a Tumulus Near Santa in Peru (Small).
    • E - From a Tumulus in the Valley of Rimac in Peru.
    • F - From a Tumulus in the Valley of Rimac in Peru (Small).
    • G - ? From a Mound on the Upper Mississippi.
    • H - ? From a Mound Near Circleville, Ohio
    • I - ? From a Mound in Alabama.
    • J - Recent Indian, From a Mound in the Scioto Valley.
    • K - Recent Indian, From a Mound in the Scioto Valley.
    • L - Recent Indian, From a Mound in the Scioto Valley.
    • M - Recent Indian, From a Mound in the Scioto Valley.
    • N - From the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
    • O - Skull of a Mummy Taken From the Great Cave in Kentucky, Now in the Museum of Am. Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
• Cranium
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• Longitudinal diameter
• 6.5
• 6.6
• 6.6
• 6.2
• 6.9
• 6.5
• 7.1
• 7.3
• Inter-parietal diameter
• 6
• 6
• 5.6
• 5.4
• 5.6
• 5.6
• 5.3
• 5.8
• Vertical diameter
• 6.2
• 5?
• 5.6
• 4.9
• 5.1
• 5
• 5.5
• 5.4
• Frontal diameter
• 4.5
• —
• 4.1
• 4.3
• 4.4
• 4.5
• 4.8
• 4.4
• Inter-mastoid arch,
• 16
• —
• 15.2
• 14.6
• 15.3
• 14.7
• 14.6
• 14.6
• Inter-mastoid line,
• 4.5
• —
• 4.4
• 3.8
• 4.3
• 3.8
• 4.2
• 4.2
• Occipito-frontal arch,
• 13.8
• —
• 14
• 13.3
• 14
• 13.2
• 14.6
• 14.1
• Horizontal periphery,
• 19.8
• —
• 19.5
• 18.5
• 19.7
• 19.2
• 20
• 20.3
• Facial angle,
• 81°
• 78°
• 80°
• 71°
• 72°
• 74°
• 79°
• 76°
• Internal capacity,
• 90
• —
• 80
• 74.5
• 79
• 76.5
• 85.5
• 86.5
• Cranium
• I
• J*
• K*
• L*
• M*
• N
• O
• Longitudinal diameter
• 5.9
• 7.5
• 7.1
• 6.8
• 6.6
• 6.1
• 6.7
• Inter-parietal diameter
• 6.6
• 5.3
• 5.6
• 5.7
• 5.2
• 5.4
• 5.5
• Vertical diameter
• 5.1
• 5.6
• 5.6
• 5.5
• 5.4
• 5.6
• 6.2
• Frontal diameter
• 4.4
• 4.7
• 4.9
• 4.7
• 4.3
• 4.4
• 4.5
• Inter-mastoid arch,
• 15.6
• 15.5
• 14.8
• 14.6
• 14.3
• 14.5
• 13.5
• Inter-mastoid line,
• 4.4
• 4.3
• 4.4
• 4.4
• 3.8
• 4.4
• 5
• Occipito-frontal arch,
• 12.4
• 15.4
• 14.2
• 14.3
• 13.7
• 13.6
• —
• Horizontal periphery,
• 19.6
• 21
• 20.3
• 20
• 18.6
• 18.4
• 19.7
• Facial angle,
• 72°
• 76°
• 77°
• —
• 70°
• 78°
• 61° 52ʹ
• Internal capacity,
• 80
• —
• —
• —
• —
• 75

	Cranium
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
Longitudinal diameter	6.5	6.6	6.6	6.2	6.9	6.5	7.1	7.3
Inter-parietal diameter	6	6	5.6	5.4	5.6	5.6	5.3	5.8
Vertical diameter	6.2	5?	5.6	4.9	5.1	5	5.5	5.4
Frontal diameter	4.5	—	4.1	4.3	4.4	4.5	4.8	4.4
Inter-mastoid arch,	16	—	15.2	14.6	15.3	14.7	14.6	14.6
Inter-mastoid line,	4.5	—	4.4	3.8	4.3	3.8	4.2	4.2
Occipito-frontal arch,	13.8	—	14	13.3	14	13.2	14.6	14.1
Horizontal periphery,	19.8	—	19.5	18.5	19.7	19.2	20	20.3
Facial angle,	81°	78°	80°	71°	72°	74°	79°	76°
Internal capacity,	90	—	80	74.5	79	76.5	85.5	86.5

	Cranium
	I	J*	K*	L*	M*	N	O
Longitudinal diameter	5.9	7.5	7.1	6.8	6.6	6.1	6.7
Inter-parietal diameter	6.6	5.3	5.6	5.7	5.2	5.4	5.5
Vertical diameter	5.1	5.6	5.6	5.5	5.4	5.6	6.2
Frontal diameter	4.4	4.7	4.9	4.7	4.3	4.4	4.5
Inter-mastoid arch,	15.6	15.5	14.8	14.6	14.3	14.5	13.5
Inter-mastoid line,	4.4	4.3	4.4	4.4	3.8	4.4	5
Occipito-frontal arch,	12.4	15.4	14.2	14.3	13.7	13.6	—
Horizontal periphery,	19.6	21	20.3	20	18.6	18.4	19.7
Facial angle,	72°	76°	77°	—	70°	78°	61° 52ʹ
Internal capacity,	80	—	—	—	—	75

p292

• TABLE B.—COMPARATIVE VIEW OF MEAN CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS.
  • Group
    • A = Mound Skull, From Scioto Valley.
    • B = Mound-builders, From Mississippi Valley.
    • C = Toltecan Nations, Including Skulls From the Mounds.
    • D = Barbarous Nations, With Skulls From Ohio Valley.
    • E = American Race, Embracing Barbarous and Toltecan.
    • F = Flat Head Tribes of Oregon.
    • G = Ancient Peruvians.
  • No. = Number of skulls.
• Group
• A
• B
• C
• D
• No.
• MEAN
• No.
• MEAN
• No.
• MEAN
• Longitudinal diameter,
• 6.5
• 3
• 6.56
• 57
• 6.5
• 90
• 7
• Inter-parietal diameter,
• 6
• 3
• 5.87
• 57
• 5.6
• 90
• 5.5
• Vertical diameter,
• 6.2
• 3
• 5.93
• 57
• 5.3
• 90
• 5.4
• Frontal diameter,
• 4.5
• 2
• 4.3
• 57
• 4.4
• 90
• 4.3
• Inter-mastoid arch,
• 16
• 2
• 15.6
• 57
• 14.9
• 90
• 14.6
• Inter-mastoid line,
• 4.5
• 2
• 4.45
• 57
• 4.1
• 90
• 4.2
• Occipito-frontal arch,
• 13.8
• 2
• 13.9
• 57
• 13.6
• 90
• 14.2
• Horizontal periphery,
• 19.8
• 2
• 19.65
• 57
• 19.4
• 90
• 19.9
• Facial angle,
• 81°
• 3
• 79° 40ʹ
• 55
• 75° 35ʹ
• 83
• 76° 13ʹ
• Internal capacity,
• 90
• 2
• 85
• 57
• 76.8
• 87
• 82.4
• Group
• E
• F
• G
• No.
• MEAN
• No.
• MEAN
• No.
• MEAN
• Longitudinal diameter,
• 147
• 6.75
• 8
• 6.7
• 3
• 6.8
• Inter-parietal diameter,
• 147
• 5.55
• 8
• 6
• 3
• 5
• Vertical diameter,
• 147
• 5.35
• 8
• 4.8
• 3
• 4.8
• Frontal diameter,
• 147
• 4.35
• 8
• 4.9
• 3
• 4.2
• Inter-mastoid arch,
• 147
• 14.75
• 8
• 14.6
• 3
• 13.3
• Inter-mastoid line,
• 147
• 4.15
• 8
• 4.1
• 3
• 4
• Occipito-frontal arch,
• 147
• 13.9
• 8
• 13.1
• 3
• 14.3
• Horizontal periphery,
• 147
• 19.65
• 8
• 20
• 3
• 18.8
• Facial angle,
• 138
• 75° 45ʹ
• 8
• 69° 30ʹ
• 3
• 67° 20ʹ
• Internal capacity,
• 144
• 79.6
• 8
• 79.25
• 3
• 73.2

	Group
	A	B		C		D
		No.	MEAN	No.	MEAN	No.	MEAN
Longitudinal diameter,	6.5	3	6.56	57	6.5	90	7
Inter-parietal diameter,	6	3	5.87	57	5.6	90	5.5
Vertical diameter,	6.2	3	5.93	57	5.3	90	5.4
Frontal diameter,	4.5	2	4.3	57	4.4	90	4.3
Inter-mastoid arch,	16	2	15.6	57	14.9	90	14.6
Inter-mastoid line,	4.5	2	4.45	57	4.1	90	4.2
Occipito-frontal arch,	13.8	2	13.9	57	13.6	90	14.2
Horizontal periphery,	19.8	2	19.65	57	19.4	90	19.9
Facial angle,	81°	3	79° 40ʹ	55	75° 35ʹ	83	76° 13ʹ
Internal capacity,	90	2	85	57	76.8	87	82.4

	Group
	E		F		G
	No.	MEAN	No.	MEAN	No.	MEAN
Longitudinal diameter,	147	6.75	8	6.7	3	6.8
Inter-parietal diameter,	147	5.55	8	6	3	5
Vertical diameter,	147	5.35	8	4.8	3	4.8
Frontal diameter,	147	4.35	8	4.9	3	4.2
Inter-mastoid arch,	147	14.75	8	14.6	3	13.3
Inter-mastoid line,	147	4.15	8	4.1	3	4
Occipito-frontal arch,	147	13.9	8	13.1	3	14.3
Horizontal periphery,	147	19.65	8	20	3	18.8
Facial angle,	138	75° 45ʹ	8	69° 30ʹ	3	67° 20ʹ
Internal capacity,	144	79.6	8	79.25	3	73.2

p293

CHAPTER XVIII. SCULPTURED OR INSCRIBED ROCKS.

Rocks rudely inscribed with figures of men and animals, have been observed at various points within the United States, and have commanded no small share of attention. Their general character seems, however, but imperfectly understood; and for this reason care has been taken to preserve sketches and descriptions of such as fell under notice in the progress of the investigations recorded in this volume. In presenting the following illustrations, we are not to be understood as supposing that any of these rude monuments are referable to the era of the mounds, or that they have any extraordinary significance.

These illustrations comprise sketches of six sculptured rocks which occur upon the Guyandotte river in Virginia, and which have never before been noticed; together with a sketch of one occurring upon the Ohio river, never before figured, but to which distant allusion has several times been made. Notices of the locality and general character of several others, occurring chiefly within the valley of the Ohio, are also appended.

Proceeding upon a very vague intimation of the existence of certain rocks of this kind, upon the banks of the Guyandotte river, in Cabell county, Virginia, a visit was made to the locality in the autumn of 1846. The first of the series of rocks was found near the pathway, about eight miles above the town of Barbersville, or sixteen miles above the mouth of the river. It is a large detached block of weather-worn sandstone, of coarse texture, presenting above ground a flat but somewhat irregular surface. The edges are much rounded, and the rock closely resembles the water-worn boulders sometimes found on the alluvions. Immediately in the centre, which is slightly depressed, is cut in outline a rude effigy of a human figure, with arms extended and elevated, and apparently in the attitude of running. It is manifestly intended to represent a female, the breasts and other distinctive features being depicted. The action of the figure is well expressed, and the proportions are not materially wrong. It is four feet in height. Upon the edges of the rock are other outlines of the human figure, though too much obliterated to be traced with satisfaction or exactness. They are considerably less in size than the one just described. Besides these there are cut into the rock, at all angles to the plane of stratification, a number of tracks of various beasts and birds. Among them are those of the deer, bear, wolf, and turkey. They are very truthfully indicated, and it is no longer a matter of p294 surprise that similar sculptures have been mistaken by the uninformed for veritable impressions from the feet of the animals themselves. They were cut at a later date than the other figures, or have been cut deeper or subsequently retouched. The turkey tracks are as distinct as if they had been left but yesterday in plastic clay by the bird itself. Among the tracks of the animals occurs the Roman capital P, exactly formed. This cannot be supposed to be anything more than an accidental coincidence. The lines are from one half to three fourths of an inch deep, and for the most part appear to have been pecked, instead of chiselled, into the stone. The rock measures about ten feet square. It lies close by the side of the road or bridle-path, upon the east bank, and about seventy-five yards from the river. Just below this point is quite a broad interval of level land, which is now under cultivation.

Fig. 200.

From this place onward, the path winds under beetling cliffs of ragged sandstone, huge blocks of which, occasionally worn into fantastic shapes, are met at every step. At the distance of two miles, the traveller comes suddenly upon a confused mass of rocks, weighing many thousands of tons each, which have fallen from the very brow of the cliff, crushing the puny forests in their course and bedding themselves deep in the earth, which it has forced up in billows around them. Here occur the sculptured rocks of the Guyandotte. Two only had been heard of originally; but after a careful examination, removing fallen trees and stones and rubbish, three others were discovered, which, if not so large, nevertheless proved quite as interesting as those which had at first attracted attention. Drawings were taken of these on the spot, which will give a better conception of the character of the sculptures, than any description can possibly afford.

Fig. 201.

Fig. 201. The larger rock measures thirteen feet in length by an average of ten feet in width. Upon its horizontal face is cut, in deep outline, the figure of a man, six feet three inches in height, by two feet in breadth at the shoulders. There seems to have been no attempt at drapery. The proportions of the figure, the curve of the leg, etc., are very well represented. The legs are placed near p295 together, the feet turned outwards, and the arms represented close by the side of the body. Something like a cocked hat, perhaps designed to represent the hair, covers the head. The face is triangular, and the eyes are represented by lines somewhat resembling an inverted W. The nose and mouth are indicated by simple lines. From the neck depends a singular figure, which rests upon the breast. Perhaps it had a typical meaning, in common with similar representations among the wild Indians of the present day. The head of a deer or elk, with its branching antlers, is depicted upon the face of the rock below, and considerably to the right of the feet of the principal figure. There are also the tracks of certain animals, and two rows of round holes, numbering thirteen and fifteen respectively,—these last perhaps designed to indicate the number of achievements in war or chase of the chieftain whose effigy is beside them. There are many other lines; but the surface of the rock is so much worn and frayed by exposure to the elements, that it is quite impossible to make them out.

Fig. 202.

Fig. 202. Upon one of the vertical faces of this rock is cut, in bold and deep outline, the figure of an eagle, with wings extended as if just soaring upwards. p296 This is extremely spirited in design, and exhibits no small degree of artistic skill,—much more than is displayed in the engraving. A plume feather rises from the head of the bird. Immediately by its side is a rude outline of some bird with long neck and drooping wings. These figures are about two feet in length.

Fig. 203.

Fig. 203. Upon another rock, close by the side of the one last mentioned, from which it appears to have been split off, is a sculptured group, manifestly representing a hunting scene. A deer or elk and several human figures, in attitudes of motion, are especially prominent. There is also a maze of lines which a fanciful mind might easily convert into an inscription in an ancient alphabet. Many of these lines are indistinct from exposure; those shown in the engraving are well marked. The rock measures four feet by ten.

Fig. 204.

Fig. 204. A third rock near by, almost entirely hidden by the ruins brought down by the rock avalanche from above, bears upon its face a figure of angular outline, resembling the outspread skin of some animal. The eyes and mouth are distinctly marked. By its side is the figure of a human head, and several wolf and deer tracks. There may be other sculptures on the rock; the portion exhibited in the engraving was exposed only by the expenditure of much severe labor, in the absence of tools for excavation. p297

Fig. 205.

Fig. 205. At the distance of a few rods from these is a small rock, four feet high by six in length. Upon its vertical face are cut the head and shoulders of an elk. The figure is faithfully executed, of full size, and in point of spirit can hardly be excelled by any outline representation. The savage artist who worked this head, with his rude instruments, into the living rock, must have been a close observer of nature. He undoubtedly stood at the head of his profession—an Indian Landseer! Below this head is a rude representation of some object, probably a bow, an arrow from which is entering the neck of the elk.

There are unquestionably other rocks, in this immediate vicinity, covered over with earth and rubbish from the avalanche. The labors of the excavator would doubtless be rewarded with other discoveries; the employment however of some less primitive means than sharpened sticks and the naked hands can be feelingly recommended.

After leaving the vicinity of these rocks, it was ascertained that three miles higher up the stream, at a point known as the “Falls of the Guyandotte,” there are others of a similar character. The figure of a man, with an upraised tomahawk, and that of a fox or other animal, are cut in the vertical face of the cliff, over which the river lately flowed, but which is now left exposed by some change in the channel of the stream.

The rocks above described occur in a sunny nook a short distance from the river, at a point where there is a small but beautiful interval of land. There is here a small earth circle and mound, showing that the race of the mounds penetrated thus far up the stream.

The rocks are weather-worn fragments of the coarse sandstone of the coal series, which breaks with a tolerably smooth and regular fracture, presenting surfaces well calculated for the kind of rude sculpture here exhibited. The lines upon the horizontal faces of the rocks are much less distinct than those upon their sides. They seem nevertheless to have been cut deeper, and are more elaborate. Those upon the vertical faces of the rocks seem to be little defaced, and probably are much in the same condition in which they were left by the sculptors. They are, for the most p298 part, about three fourths of an inch wide by half an inch deep, sometimes a little wider and deeper: the outline of the principal figure on the large rock is not less than an inch wide and three fourths of an inch deep. Some of the round holes, which are very regular, will contain a gill of water each. The lines, as observed respecting the rock first noticed, do not appear to have been chiselled, but pecked into the stone. Where hard iron seams occur in the rock, a narrow ridge is left,—the rude instruments employed having evidently been inadequate to cut or break through them. That some of the tracks of animals, particularly those of the bear, were rubbed and smoothed with stones after having been chipped into shape, seems extremely probable, from the fact that they are not rough like the other lines, and exhibit the muscular developments of the foot with much accuracy. It is barely possible that they have been thus worn by the action of the elements.

Fig. 206.

Fig. 206. A rock of similar character with those above described, occurs upon the Virginia shore of the Ohio river, four miles above the town of Steubenville in the State of Ohio, and about fifty miles below the city of Pittsburgh.[188] It is a detached block of sandstone, measuring seven feet by nine. The figures are cut in the same style with those before noticed, and are quite numerous. They comprise outlines of men and animals, including the tortoise and several serpents. There are also human footprints, and the tracks of animals, together with other emblematic figures, including the Indian symbol of the sun. The striking resemblance of the lower right-hand figures to those occupying a corresponding position on the Dighton rock, will not be overlooked.

Fig. 207.—Site of the Sculp­tured Rocks of the Guy­an­dotte.

A very interesting rock of this description lately existed at Catlettsburgh, on the Kentucky shore, at the confluence of the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers. It was p299 entirely broken up about two years since, by a Vandal, to furnish the materials for building a chimney and walling a cellar! By a strange fatality this rock was selected for the purpose, although there were an abundance of others in the vicinity. It is represented to have been charged with numerous outline figures and emblematic devices. Efforts were made to recover some of the inscribed fragments, but without success. Nearly opposite this place, on the Ohio side, three miles below the village of Burlington, at a point where the Ohio sweeps along the base of the sandstone cliffs, and where numerous fallen blocks line the shore, a similar inscribed rock once existed. It however has lately shared the fate of its neighbor on the other side of the stream. It was situated below the high-water mark; and its proximity to the water proved, in the end, the cause of its destruction, as the fragments quarried off could be easily placed on floats for transportation to the points required. Still another is said to have existed near the edge of the water, at a place known as the Hanging Rock, now the site of a furnace village, twenty-four miles above the mouth of the Scioto. It has probably been destroyed in like manner. There is however a very singular one still in existence a few miles above the town of Portsmouth, the southern terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal, at the mouth of the Scioto. It consists of a colossal human p300 head cut in outline, upon the vertical face of a large rock extending into the river. It is always under water, except when the river is at its very lowest stages, and is not exposed oftener than once in four or five years. It is familiarly known as the “Indian’s Head,” and is regarded as a sort of river gauge or meter. When the water-line is at the top of the head, the river is considered very low.

Numerous other rocks of similar character are scattered over the West, occurring chiefly upon or near the banks of streams. They are not however confined to the westward of the Alleghanies, but are found in several of the Atlantic States. Those at Dighton and Tiverton in Massachusetts, and at Portsmouth in Rhode Island, are well known examples. They do not seem to differ materially in character from those already described.

From an inspection and comparison of these rocks, it must be very apparent that they are all the work of the same race: there is a family likeness in their style and workmanship, and a coincidence in position, which admits of no dispute, and seems to be conclusive upon this point. The further well known fact that the Indians possessed a system of representation, not inappropriately termed picture-writing, by which they conveyed intelligence and recorded events, serves still more clearly to indicate their probable origin,—especially as it is equally well known that they carved their rude pictures upon rocks as well as upon the bark of trees.

• FOOTNOTE TO CHAPTER XVIII.
  • [188] These rocks are noticed by Dr. BARTON, Transactions of American Philosophical Society, vol. iv. p. 195. He regards them as “the work of a people acquainted with the use of iron instruments, or with hardened metallic instruments of some kind.” The engraving in the text is from a sketch made for Mr. McBride, by J. W. Erwin, Esq.

p301

CHAPTER XIX. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.

With the facts presented in the foregoing chapters before him, the reader will be able to deduce his own conclusions, as to the probable character and condition of the ancient population of the Mississippi valley. That it was numerous and widely spread, is evident from the number and magnitude of the ancient monuments, and the extensive range of their occurrence. That it was essentially homogeneous, in customs, habits, religion, and government, seems very well sustained by the great uniformity which the ancient remains display, not only as regards position and form, but in respect also to those minor particulars, which, not less than more obvious and imposing features, assist us in arriving at correct conclusions. This opinion can be in no way affected, whether we assume that the ancient race was at one time diffused over the entire valley, or that it migrated slowly from one portion of it to the other, under the pressure of hostile neighbors or the attractions of a more genial climate. The differences which have already been pointed out between the monuments of the several portions of the valley, of the northern, central, and southern divisions, are not sufficiently marked to authorize the belief that they were the works of separate nations. The features common to all are elementary, and identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to a family of men, moving in the same general direction, acting under common impulses, and influenced by similar causes.

Without undertaking to point out the affinities, or to indicate the probable origin of the builders of the western monuments, and the cause of their final disappearance,—inquiries of deep interest and vast importance in an archæological and ethnological point of view, and in which it is believed the foregoing chapters may greatly assist,—we may venture to suggest that the facts thus far collected point to a connection more or less intimate between the race of the mounds and the semi-civilized nations which formerly had their seats among the sierras of Mexico, upon the plains of Central America and Peru, and who erected the imposing structures which from their number, vastness, and mysterious significance, invest the central portions of the continent with an interest not less absorbing than that which attaches to the valley of the Nile. These nations alone, of all those found in possession of the continent by the European discoverers, were essentially stationary and agricultural in their habits,—conditions indispensable to large population, to fixedness of institutions, and to any considerable advance in the economical or ennobling arts. That the mound-builders, although perhaps in a less degree, were also stationary and agricultural, clearly appears from a variety of facts and p302 circumstances, most of which will no doubt recur to the mind of the reader, but which will bear recapitulation here.

It may safely be claimed, and will be admitted without dispute, that a large local population can only exist under an agricultural system. Dense commercial and manufacturing communities, the apparent exceptions to the remark, are themselves the offspring of a large agricultural population, with which nearly or remotely they are connected, and upon which they are dependent. Now it is evident that works of art, so numerous and vast as we have seen those of the Mississippi valley to be, could only have been erected by a numerous people,—and especially must we regard as numerous the population capable of constructing them, when we reflect how imperfect at the best must have been the artificial aids at their command, as compared with those of the present age. Implements of wood, stone, and copper, could hardly have proved very efficient auxiliaries to the builders, who must have depended mainly upon their own bare hands and weak powers of transportation, for excavating and collecting together the twenty millions of cubic feet of material which make up the solid contents of the great mound at Cahokia alone.

But the conclusion that the ancient population was exceedingly dense, follows not less from the capability which they possessed to erect, than from the circumstance that they required, works of the magnitude we have seen, to protect them in danger, or to indicate in a sufficiently imposing form their superstitious zeal, and their respect for the dead. As observed by an eminent archæologist, whose opinions upon this and collateral subjects are entitled to a weight second to those of no other author, “it is impossible that the population, for whose protection such extensive works were necessary, and which was able to defend them, should not have been eminently agricultural.” The same author elsewhere observes, of the great mound at Grave creek, that “it indicates not only a dense agricultural population, but also a state of society essentially different from that of the modern race of Indians north of the tropic. There is not, and there was not in the sixteenth century, a single tribe of Indians (north of the semi-civilized nations) between the Atlantic and the Pacific, which had means of subsistence sufficient to enable them to apply, for such purposes, the unproductive labor necessary for the work; nor was there any in such a social state as to compel the labor of the people to be thus applied.”[189] p303

Another evidence of the probable agricultural character of the mound-builders, is furnished in the fact already several times remarked, that these remains are almost entirely confined to the fertile valleys of streams, or to productive alluvions bordering on the lakes or on the Gulf of Mexico,—precisely the positions best adapted for agricultural purposes, and capable of sustaining the densest population, as also affording, in fish and game, the most efficient secondary aids of support.

If the mound-builders were a numerous, stationary, and an agricultural people, it follows of necessity that their customs, laws, and religion, had assumed a fixed and well defined form,—a result inseparable from that condition. The construction therefore of permanent fortifications for protection against hostile neighbors, and of vast and regular religious structures, under this hypothesis, fell clearly within their capabilities.

The modes of warfare which they practised, so far as they can be made out, and the probable state of the civil relations between them and their neighbors, and among themselves, have been noticed in the remarks on the Works of Defence, in a previous chapter. Little can, at present, be added upon these points. p304

If we are not mistaken in assigning a religious origin to that large portion of ancient monuments, which are clearly not defensive, nor designed to perpetuate the memory of the dead, then the superstitions of the ancient people must have exercised a controlling influence upon their character. If, again, as from reason and analogy we are warranted in supposing, many of these sacred structures are symbolical in their forms and combinations, they indicate the prevalence among their builders of religious beliefs and conceptions, corresponding with those which prevailed among the early nations of the other continent, and which in their elements seem to have been common to all nations, far back in the traditional period, before the dawn of written history. Their consideration under this aspect involves a preliminary analysis of the religious belief of the various aboriginal American families, an examination of their mythologies and superstitious rites, and a comparison between them and those of the primitive nations of the old world. It involves, also, an attention to the sacred monuments of the eastern continent, to the principles upon which they were constructed, and to the extent to which a symbolical design is apparent in their combinations and ornaments. But it is alike beyond the scope and design of this work to go into these inquiries, which in themselves, from their attractiveness and importance, deserve a full and separate consideration. We may, however, be permitted to express the belief, that researches in this department, philosophically conducted, must lead to results of the highest value, and greatly aid in the solution of the interesting problems connected with our aboriginal history. For, in the words of a writer of distinction, “of all researches that most effectually aid us to discover the origin of a nation or people, whose history is unknown or deeply involved in the obscurity of ancient times, none perhaps are attended with such important results, as the analysis of their theological dogmas, and their religious practices. In such matters mankind adhere with greatest tenacity, and though both modified and corrupted in the revolutions of ages, they still preserve features of their original construction, when language, arts, sciences, and political establishments no longer retain distinct lineaments of their ancient constitutions.”[190]

The antiquity of the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley has been made the subject of incidental remark in the foregoing chapters. It will not be out of place here to allude once more to some of the facts bearing upon this point. Of course no attempt to fix their date accurately can, from the circumstances of the case, be successful. The most that can be done is to arrive at approximate results. The fact that none of the ancient monuments occur upon the latest-formed terraces of the river valleys of Ohio, is one of much importance in its bearings upon this question. If, as we are amply warranted in believing, these terraces mark the degrees of subsidence of the streams, one of the four which may be traced has been formed since those streams have followed their present courses. There is no good reason for supposing that the mound-builders would have avoided building upon that terrace, while they erected their works promiscuously upon all the others. p305 And if they had built upon it, some slight traces of their works would yet be visible, however much influence we may assign to disturbing causes,—overflows, and shifting channels. Assuming, then, that the lowest terrace, on the Scioto river for example, has been formed since the era of the mounds, we must next consider that the excavating power of the Western rivers diminishes yearly, in proportion as they approximate towards a general level. On the lower Mississippi,—where alone the ancient monuments are sometimes invaded by the water,—the bed of the stream is rising, from the deposition of the materials brought down from the upper tributaries, where the excavating process is going on. This excavating power, it is calculated, is in an inverse ratio to the square of the depth, that is to say, diminishes as the square of the depth increases. Taken to be approximately correct, this rule establishes that the formation of the latest terrace, by the operation of the same causes, must have occupied much more time than the formation of any of the preceding three. Upon these premises, the time, since the streams have flowed in their present courses, may be divided into four periods, of different lengths,—of which the latest, supposed to have elapsed since the race of the mounds flourished, is much the longest.

The fact that the rivers, in shifting their channels, have in some instances encroached upon the superior terraces, so as in part to destroy works situated upon them, and afterwards receded to long distances of a fourth or half a mile or upwards, is one which should not be overlooked in this connection. (See pages 50, 60, and 89.) In the case of the “High Bank Works,” Plate [XVI], the recession has been nearly three fourths of a mile, and the intervening terrace or “bottom” was, at the period of the early settlement, covered with a dense forest. This recession, and subsequent forest growth, must of necessity have taken place since the river encroached upon the ancient works here alluded to.

Without doing more than to allude to the circumstance of the exceedingly decayed state of the skeletons found in the mounds, (see page [168],) and to the amount of vegetable accumulations in the ancient excavations, and around the ancient works, (see pages 55 and 90,) we pass to another fact, perhaps more important in its bearing upon the question of the antiquity of these works than any of those presented above. It is that they are covered with primitive forests, in no way distinguishable from those which surround them, in places where it is probable no clearings were ever made. Some of the trees of these forests have a positive antiquity of from six to eight hundred years (see pages 14 and 16). They are found surrounded with the mouldering remains of others, undoubtedly of equal original dimensions, but now fallen and almost incorporated with the soil. Allow a reasonable time for the encroachment of the forest, after the works were abandoned by their builders, and for the period intervening between that event and the date of their construction, and we are compelled to assign them no inconsiderable antiquity. But, as already observed, the forests covering these works correspond in all respects with the surrounding forests; the same varieties of trees are found, in the same proportions, and they have a like primitive aspect. This fact was remarked by the late President HARRISON, and was put forward by him as one of p306 the strongest evidences of the high antiquity of these works. In an address before the Historical Society of Ohio, he said:

“The process by which nature restores the forest to its original state, after being once cleared, is extremely slow. The rich lands of the West are, indeed, soon covered again, but the character of the growth is entirely different, and continues so for a long period. In several places upon the Ohio, and upon the farm which I occupy, clearings were made in the first settlement of the country and subsequently abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some of these new forests are now sure of fifty years’ growth, but they have made so little progress towards attaining the appearance of the immediately contiguous forest, as to induce any man of reflection to determine that at least ten times fifty years must elapse before their complete assimilation can be effected. We find in the ancient works all that variety of trees which give such unrivalled beauty to our forests, in natural proportions. The first growth on the same kind of land, once cleared and then abandoned to nature, on the contrary, is nearly homogeneous, often stinted to one or two, at most three kinds of timber. If the ground has been cultivated, the yellow locust will thickly spring up; if not cultivated, the black and white walnut will be the prevailing growth. * * * Of what immense age then must be the works so often referred to, covered as they are by at least the second growth, after the primitive forest state was regained?”

It is not undertaken to assign a period for the assimilation here indicated to take place. It must unquestionably, however, be measured by centuries.

In respect to the extent of territory occupied at one time, or at successive periods, by the race of the mounds, so far as indicated by the occurrence of their monuments, little need be said in addition to the observations presented in the first chapter. It cannot, however, have escaped notice, that the relics found in the mounds,—composed of materials peculiar to places separated as widely as the ranges of the Alleghanies on the east, and the Sierras of Mexico on the west, the waters of the great lakes on the north, and those of the Gulf of Mexico on the south,—denote the contemporaneous existence of communication between these extremes. For we find, side by side in the same mounds, native copper from Lake Superior, mica from the Alleghanies, shells from the Gulf, and obsidian (perhaps porphyry) from Mexico. This fact seems seriously to conflict with the hypothesis of a migration, either northward or southward. Further and more extended investigations and observations may, nevertheless, serve satisfactorily to settle not only this, but other equally interesting questions connected with the extinct race, whose name is lost to tradition itself, and whose very existence is left to the sole and silent attestation of the rude but often imposing monuments which throng the valleys of the West.

• FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER XIX.
  • [189] GALLATIN’S “Notes on the semi-civilized nations of Mexico,” Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 207.
  • Mr. Gallatin, in the memoir here quoted, has discussed at considerable length the question of the origin of agriculture among the American nations. His views, altogether the most philosophical of any hitherto presented on the subject, may not be without their interest in this connection. It should be observed, at the outset, that Mr. Gallatin is of the opinion, not only that agriculture on this continent was of domestic origin, but also that it originated between the tropics,—spreading thence in different directions to the north and south. The evidence in support of the latter conclusion is not presented in sufficient detail to enable us to judge how well sustained it may be. If we admit its correctness, we must derive the agriculture of the mound-builders from the south, and assign that race chronologically a comparatively low date. This we are not yet prepared to do; on the contrary, there are many facts going to establish for the mound-builders very high antiquity, and tending to the conclusion that the degree of civilization which they possessed was attained by a course of development in the Mississippi valley. It is not impossible that future investigations may show that the agriculture and civilization of the Mexicans, Central Americans, and Peruvians, had its origin among the builders of the ancient monuments on the banks of the great Mississippi river,—the Nile and the Ganges of North America.
  • “What was the first indispensable transition which withdrew a certain portion of the aborigines of America from the barbarism and ignorance in which all the other tribes are still found? That it was the transition from the hunter to the agricultural state, no one can doubt. It is true some of the tribes among whom agriculture was introduced, are still savages; but not an instance exists in America of a nation, either populous or to a certain extent civilized, which is not agricultural. * * * * We are then led to inquire how agriculture was introduced into America, and whether it was imported or of domestic origin.
  • “We have here two leading facts, one positively ascertained, and the other generally admitted by those who have inquired into the subject, the importance of which has not, it seems to me, been adverted to.
  • “The first is that all those nutritious plants cultivated in the other hemisphere, and which are usually distinguished by the name of cereals (millet, rice, wheat, rye, barley, oats), were entirely unknown to the Americans.
  • “The second is that maize, which was the great and almost sole foundation of American agriculture, is exclusively of American origin, and was not known in the other hemisphere till after the discovery of America, in the fifteenth century.
  • “If these two facts be admitted, it necessarily follows that the introduction of agriculture,—that first, difficult, and indispensable preliminary step before any advance whatever can be made towards civilization,—originated in America itself; that it was not imported from abroad; and that it was the result of the natural progress from barbarism to a more refined social state by the race of red men, insulated, left to themselves, and without any aid or communication from any foreign country. It is therefore highly important for a correct view of the history of man, that the presumed fact of maize being exclusively an American plant, should be thoroughly investigated. * * * If a domestic origin is admitted, it is quite natural that agriculture should have had its birth in the most genial climate, and in the native country of the maize.”—Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 192.
  • What climate more genial, and what soil better adapted to the cultivation of maize, in its perfection, than those portions of the Mississippi valley where the evidences of ancient civilization are most abundant and imposing?
  • [190] MCCULLOH, Philosophical and Antiquarian Researches, p. 225.

TRANSCRIBER’S ENDNOTES

Original printed spelling and grammar are retained, with most exceptions noted below. The transcriber created the cover image, and hereby assigns it to the public domain. ¶ Many illustrations have been moved from their original locations to nearby places between paragraphs. Therefore, the page number information has been removed from both the List of Plates, and the List of Wood Engravings. The original Table of Contents did not mention the Preface, so that link is provided here.

[to toc] [to preface]

Ditto marks (including text equivalents “Do.”, “Do”, or “do”) do not work well in electronic books, except in special circumstances. Therefore original ditto marks have generally been replaced with the appropriate repeated text. Sometimes in tables, such as those on page [113], new column headings were inserted to replace ditto marks.

The original List of Plates was printed in very small type, and is too wide for this ebook edition. It has been split into two tables, List of Plates and Plates Supplemental Data. Plates in the original book had no captions. Herein, captions have been provided, based upon comparison of the List of Plates with information contained within the illustrations. The html version only of this edition contains larger versions of the Plates, linked with the character "♠" in the captions.

The original caption to Fig. [1] was printed with a footnote anchor, on the same page with its footnote. In this edition, the text of the footnote is moved into the caption, and the footnote was eliminated. Fig. [194] was handled similarly. Footnotes not anchored in captions are renumbered and moved to the ends of chapters.

Page [32]. Comma was added between “south” and “which”, in the sentence “South of the bluff. . . the wall fronting the south which wall also extends . . . wall.”

Page [37], Plate [V]. The List of Plates shows eight separate figures as part of this illustration, but only three, Nos. 1–3 were printed as part of a Plate. Plate V., Nos. 4–8 are evidently the same as Figs. [4]–[8]. So these five illustrations are listed twice (perhaps erroneously?) in the front matter, under different headings.

Page [85]. There were two identical footnote anchors, both pointing to one footnote. In this edition, the footnote has been duplicated, and the footnote anchors made independent.

Page [200]. “One of them, now in the possession of a gentleman of Hillsboro’, is of the . . .” is retained despite the odd single quotation mark.

Page [240]. The footnote begins: “Humboldt states that the Guay­nares of the Rio Caura . . .”, perhaps. The spelling of Guaynares is un­clear.

Page [280]. The phrase “an open cut mas made” was changed to “an open cut was made”.

Pages [291], [292]. The two very large tables were printed full page, in small type. They have been edited considerably and divided for this edition.

Page [300]. Changed “river guage” to “river gauge”.