If these Mound-builders were Sun-worshippers, as may safely be concluded from tablets and from rock markings, as well as from the fact of their sacred enclosures mostly looking towards the east, where the early rays would fall upon the altar, we may easily account for the fire having a share In the burial ceremony. Some have concluded that the blazing fire signified "life," and that the sudden quenching signified "death."
Let it not be thought, however, that there are no burying places but these few mounds. I believe the mounds of a burial character were only for persons of distinction, while in reality there are thousands of ancient cemeteries of vast extent, where multitudes have received common burial. The spring freshets yearly uncover many of these, exposing not only their bones, but many ornaments and implements that were used by this wonderful people, and which were deposited beside them when consigned to the silent tomb.
Symbolic Mounds.—There can be no mistake in affirming that the strange mounds, so prevalent in Wisconsin, and frequently found in other States, were the result of intention rather than accident. These are sometimes called "Effigy Mounds." In Wisconsin, even implements, as well as animals, are symbolized. The beaver, the tortoise, the elephant, the serpent, the alligator seem to be their favorite animals, whose images they have endeavored to perpetuate in mounds, of course on a large scale. In Adams county, Ohio, on a steep bluff, 150 feet above the level of Brush Creek, may be seen a huge serpent.
It is called the "Serpent Mound." The head of the serpent lies towards the point of the spur, and then like the serpent, its body winds gracefully back for 700 feet, the tail curved into a triple coil. From this and other evidences lately collected, we may assume that the serpent was among the sacred animals. Between the jaws of this serpent there is a stone mound, bearing marks of long use as an altar. The body, which is a mere winding wall, is, on an average, five feet in height, and thirty-feet broad at the base near the centre. Doubtless this wall was much higher when first made, and owing to the rains of centuries it has become lower and broader.
Another mound, the shape and proportion of an alligator, may be seen in Licking county, Ohio, about one mile from Granville. This is also on a spur of land near the Licking River. Its length is 250 feet and height about four feet. Its whole outline is strictly conformable to the alligator with which animal they must have been familiar along the Mississippi, where they could easily journey by boat. Rather than transport the animal from the south, they doubtless erected this representation of what they must have held sacred.
In the State of Wisconsin there is one symbolic mound more worthy of notice than any other. It is called "the Elephant Mound," from the fact that it bears the proportion and conformability of the Mastodon. This people must have known something of this animal which in early times roamed over this continent. I think we should not be going too far if we supposed that the Mound-builders lived contemporaneously with the last of these monsters of the Prehistoric forests.
Signal Mounds.—It seems quite in keeping with what we have already seen of the sagacity of this wonderful race, that they should erect stations of observation in various suitable regions, so that signals could be given to the multitudes who dwelt in the plain, when they were threatened by an approaching enemy. If a fire were lit on a much burnt mound at the ancient fort near Bournville, it could be seen over a large portion of the valleys, where numerous works are found. No doubt, this was a signal mound, where the appointed watchman, like the watchman of Scripture, could give the alarm of the coming foe, enabling the industrious people to reach the fortress in safety.
On a hill 600 feet high, near Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a mound, which in the days of the Mound-builders must have been a signal mound. A light on this can be seen for twenty miles either up or down the valley.
The great mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, which is 68 feet high and 852 feet in circumference at its base, served, no doubt, this important department of warfare, as a fire kindled on it could flash light into Butler county, near Elk Creek, where it would again be taken up by the watchman there, and light flashed in the direction of Xenia, and from one signal mound to another until it would reach the great works at Newark. Thus in the course of an hour the whole southern portion of the State of Ohio could be warned of danger and prepare for combat or shelter.
Such a system has been used by all nations, both civilized and savage. We need not wonder that the Mound-builders with such sagacity and forethought, should establish such a system of alarm by which the inhabitants could be apprised of invasion.