Speculating on their age, Mr. Jones eloquently says, "If we are ignorant of the time when the Chattahooche first sought a highway to the Gulf; if we know not the age of the artificial tumuli which still grace its banks; if we are uncertain when the red Nomads who, in fear and wonder, carried the burdens of the adventurous DeSoto, as he conducted his followers through primeval forests, and, by the sides of their softly mingling streams, first became dwellers here, how shall we answer the question as to the age in which these rude drift implements were fashioned and used by these primitive people?"

The examples we have quoted, even though the case of California be not considered, are all suggestive of a great antiquity for man, taking us back in time to when the glaciers still "shone in frigid splendor" over the northern part of the United States. When European savants had established the science of Archaeology, and shown the existence of separate stages of culture, it was but natural that those interested in the matter on this side of the Atlantic should turn with renewed energy to investigate the archaeology of this country, to see if here, too, they could find evidence of a Paleolithic Age. But the scholar in this country is confronted with a peculiar difficulty. Owing to the very multiplicity and variety of relics of prehistoric times, it is difficult to properly classify and understand them. The field is of great extent, the time of study has been short, and the explorers few; so it is not strange that but few localities have been thoroughly searched. But, until this is done, we can not hope to reach definite conclusions.

The peculiar culture of the Indians, prevailing among them at the time of the discovery, proved a hindrance, rather than a help, in this matter. The Indians are certainly not Paleolithic, many of their implements being finely wrought and polished; but their arrow-heads, hatchets, and celts were sufficiently rude to spread the conviction that all weapons and implements of stone should be referred to them. This belief has done much to hinder real progress. It is not to be wondered at that some difference of opinion has prevailed, among our scholars, whether the different stages of culture, discovered in Europe, have any existence here.

On one hand, it is denied that different stages can be detected. Says Prof. Whitney: "It is evident that there has been no unfolding of the intellectual faculties of the human race on this continent similar to that which has taken place in Central Europe. We can recognize no Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, or Iron Ages." Others assure us, that if present, the ages stand in reverse order. "The relics last used were by far the rudest, and the historic races, which are the survivors of the prehistoric, are the wildest of the two; the lower status remaining, while the higher has passed away." In still another place we read: "The Neolithic and Bronze Ages preceded the Paleolithic, at least in the Mississippi basin."

Notwithstanding these quotations, we think it will yet be shown that in this country, as in Europe, there was a true Paleolithic Age, and that there was no such inversion as is here spoken of. In some places sedentary tribes may have been driven away and their territory occupied by more war-like, but less highly cultivated tribes. But take the whole Indian race, and they were steadily advancing through the Neolithic stage of culture. They were acquainted with copper, and were drawing near to the discovery of bronze and metals, and, indeed, the discovery had been made of bronze in the far south. But lying back of the true Indian Age, long preceding it in time, to which probably belong the relics mentioned in the preceding discoveries, is a true Paleolithic Age.

We are indebted for the facts on which the above conclusion rests more to the writings of Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey, than any other individual, and his results are based on an extensive study of the relics themselves and the position in which found. In a collection of stone implements of this country arranged in a cabinet, we find rude and unpolished specimens, as well as those of a finely wrought Neolithic type. Now the Indians, when first discovered, frequently made use of very rudely formed implements, and from a knowledge of this fact, it came about that but little attention was paid to the position in which the relics were discovered. They were all classified as Indian relics. But the greatest and most valuable discoveries in science have occurred as a result of the attention paid to little things; in this case by carefully scrutinizing the position in which they occurred.

Dr. Abbott commenced by gathering a very extensive collection, carefully searching his section of country and gathering all specimens of artificially shaped stones. These must have existed there in considerable quantities, as, in three years' time, he collected over nine thousand specimens, carefully examining them as they came from the soil. As a result of this extensive and careful research he is able to present us some general conclusions. The surface specimens, including in this classification also those specimens turned up by the plow, are characteristically Indian. The material is jasper and quartz, and they are generally carefully made. They used other varieties of stone as well. Like the Neolithic people of Europe, they sought the best varieties of stone for their purpose. But his collection also included rude Paleolithic forms, and he found by taking the history of each specimen separately, that just in proportion as the relics were rude in manufacture and primitive in type the deeper were they buried in the soil. Writing in 1875, he says: "We have never met a jasper (flint) arrow-head in or below an undisturbed stratum of sand or gravel, and we have seldom met with a rude implement of the general character of European drift implements on the surface of the ground."

These are not theoretical opinions, but are deductions drawn from a very extensive experience. From figured specimens of these rudest formed implements, we see they are veritable Paleolithic forms, resembling in a remarkable manner the rude implements of the old world, whether collected in France or in India. We learned that the Paleolithic people of Europe utilized the easiest attainable stone for their implements. They contented themselves with such pieces of flint as they could gather in their immediate vicinity. The easiest attainable rock in the valley of the Delaware is not flint, but argillite, and such is the material of which the Paleolithic implements are formed. Thus it is shown that the first appearance of a stone-using folk in the valley of the Delaware was in the Paleolithic stage of their culture. Judging from the depths of their buried implements, this long preceded the Neolithic stage.

Illustration of Spear-shaped Paleolithic Implement.——-

These conclusions have been sustained in a very marked manner by late discoveries in the valley of the Delaware, to which we will now refer. After reaching the conclusion that the relics of the Stone Age in New Jersey clearly pointed to a Paleolithic beginning, when argillite, the most easily attainable stone, was utilized in the manufacture of weapons and implements, Dr. Abbott made the further discovery that in the ancient gravels of the Delaware River Paleolithic implements only were to be found. We must remember that it was in the gravels of European rivers that the first discoveries were made which have since resulted in so wonderfully extending our knowledge of the past of man.

The city of Trenton, New Jersey, is built on a gravel terrace whose surface is between forty and fifty feet above the flood plain of the Delaware. We are told that this gravel is clearly a river deposit, and must have been laid down by the Delaware at some former time in its history. It is in this gravel deposit that quite a large number of Paleolithic implements have been found.

Illustration of Paleolithic Implement, Argillite.————

This cut is a representation of one of them, found under such circumstances that there can be no question about its antiquity. We are told it was taken from the face of the bluff fronting the river. Owing to heavy rains, a large section off of the front of the bluff became detached just the day before this specimen was discovered. It was found in the fresh surface thus exposed, twenty-one feet from the surface, almost at the bottom of the gravel. Immediately above it, and in contact with it, was a bowlder estimated to weigh over one hundred pounds. Immediately above this last was a second and much larger bowlder. It is manifest the implements could never have gotten in the place found after the gravel had been deposited.

This is only one of the many examples that could be given. But it is to be noticed that implements of the Neolithic type do not occur in the gravel, except on the surface. Dr. Abbott is not the only one who has found those implements. Many of our best American scholars have visited the locality and secured specimens, amongst others, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, of England, who is so familiar with this class of relics in Europe. We may consider it proven, then, that in this country there was also a Paleolithic Age. Our present information in regard to it is only a beginning.

Since this interesting discovery was made in New Jersey we have received news of similar discoveries in Minnesota. A lady, Miss Frank Babbitt, has found in the modified drift of the Mississippi River, at Little Falls, Minnesota, evidence of the existence of Paleolithic man. The implements are made of quartz, and not argillite, but closely resemble implements made of this later material as described by Dr. Abbott. It is, to say the least, an interesting coincidence that one of a very few flint implements found in the Trenton gravel by Dr. Abbott should be identical in shape with some of the flint implements in Minnesota.

This point being determined, others at once spring up asking solution. Among the very first is the question of age. The river terrace on which Trenton is built is a geological formation, and if we can determine its age we shall also determine at least one point in the antiquity of man, for we know the implements are as old as the gravels. It is not necessary for our purpose to give more than the results of the careful labors of others in this direction. We may be sure that this question has been carefully studied. When the implements were first discovered, the gravels were considered of glacial origin, and to that period they were assigned by Dr. Abbott. Subsequently Prof. Lewis, a member of the Pennsylvania State survey, decided that they were essentially post-glacial—that is, more recent in time than the Glacial Age. Still more recently Prof. Wright, of Oberlin, but also of the State survey of Pennsylvania, concludes that they are, after all, a deposit made at the very close of the Glacial Age.

He thinks the sequence of events were about as follows: When the ice of the Glacial Age reached its greatest development, and came to a pause in its southward march, it extended in an unbroken wall across the northern part of New Jersey, crossing the Delaware about sixty-five miles above Trenton. In front of it was accumulated the great terminal morain—a long range of gravelly hills still marking its former presence.

It is certain that the close of the Glacial Age was comparatively sudden, and marked by floods far exceeding any thing we are acquainted with at the present day. For, when the formation of the ice ceased, we must bear in mind that the country to the north of the terminal morain was covered with a great glacier, in some places exceeding a mile in thickness. When glacial conditions were passing away, and the ice commenced to melt faster than it was produced, the thaw would naturally go on over the entire field at an increasing rate, and hence would result floods in all the rivers.

He considers the gravels in question to have been deposited near the close of this flooded period, when the land stood at about its present level and the glaciers had retreated perhaps to the Catskill Mountains. The rivers were still swollen and would be heavily charged with coarse gravel brought from the morains and lying exposed on the surface of the ground vacated by the glaciers.

Probably but few geologists will take exceptions to these views. Thus we have very satisfactory reasons for connecting these Paleolithic people with the close of the Glacial Age—a conclusion to which the scattering discoveries mentioned in the preceding pages also points. But as regards Dr. Abbott's discoveries, they are on such a scale, and vouched for by so many eminent observers, that we need no longer hesitate to accept them, or complain of the scattering nature of the finds.

But we might inquire whether this is the earliest period to which the presence of man can be ascribed in this country? Excepting, of course, California, we do not know of any well established fact on which to base a greater antiquity for man. However, this subject is very far from being as closely studied as in Europe. Believing that in Europe man was living before the Glacial Age, and that in all probability he was living in California at the same early time, we would naturally expect to find some evidence of his presence in the Mississippi Basin and along the Atlantic seaboard. But no explorer has yet been fortunate enough to make such discoveries.

It is scarcely necessary to point out that we have only the relative age of these gravel deposits. We have not yet arrived at an answer in years. This we are not able to do. As we have several times remarked, our American scholars, as a rule, do not think many thousands of years have elapsed since the Glacial Age, and yet they are not all agreed on that point. From the depths in the gravel and loess deposits that the stone relics are found, we may suppose that man was present during the entire series of years their formation represents. Prof. Aughey, to whose discoveries in loess deposits in Nebraska we have referred, estimates the length of time necessary to produce those deposits as between nineteen and twenty thousand years, and this he considers a low estimate. So we see that, at any rate, the date of man's first appearance in America was certainly very far in the past.

In forming a mental picture of the conditions of life at that early time, it is not necessary to imagine a dreary scene of Arctic sterility. This is not true of the time when the Glacial Age was at its greatest severity. But at the time we are now considering, the glaciers had retreated over a large part of the country, though they still lingered in northern and mountainous regions. Great lakes and majestic rivers were the features of the country. The St. Lawrence was still choked with ice, and the great lakes must have discharged their waters southward. The Mississippi, gathering in one mighty stream the drainage of the Central Basin, sped onward to the Gulf, doubtless many times larger than its present representative. The animals then living included several species that have since become extinct. Mastodons and elephants must have been numerous, as their remains are frequently found in loess deposits. They have also been found in the gravels of New Jersey, in connection with the rude implements already mentioned. Probably keeping close to the retreating glaciers were such animals as the moose, reindeer, and musk-ox, while the walrus disported itself in the waters off the coast. At any rate those animals now only found in high northern latitudes were living during Glacial times as far south as Kentucky and New Jersey.

A good deal of interest is connected with the finding of one mastodon's tooth. It was found in the gravel deposit, about fourteen feet beneath the surface. It must have been washed to the position where found when the great floods from the melting glacier, with their burden of sand and gravel, were rolling down the valley. We can either conclude that the climate was such as to permit the existence of such animals, or that the animal to which it belonged lived in some far away pre-glacial time. But our interest suddenly increases when we learn that, but a few feet away, under exactly similar circumstances, was found the wisdom tooth of a human being. It, too, was rolled, scratched, and polished, and had evidently been swept along by the tumultuous flood. "The same agency that brought the one from the Upper Valley of the Delaware brought the other, and, after long years, they come again to light, and jointly testify that, in that undetermined long ago, the creatures to which they respectively belonged were living together in the valley of the river."

We must now consider the question of race. Who were the men that fashioned the implements? Were they Indians? or were they a different people? As far as we know the Indians, they were Neolithic. Their implements and weapons are often polished, pecked, and finely wrought; and, as before remarked, they employed the best kind of stone for their purpose. Dr. Abbott, who speaks from a very extensive personal experience, tells us, that it is not practical to trace any connection between the well-known Indian forms and the Paleolithic implements of the river gravels: "The wide gap that exists between a full series of each of the two forms is readily recognized when the two are brought together." Besides this difference in form, there is also a difference in material. The ruder forms not being of jasper and allied minerals, but are almost exclusively of argillite. In addition to the foregoing, we must consider the different positions they occupy—the former being found only on or near the surface, the latter deeply buried within. These different reasons all point to the same conclusion: that is, that the Indians were preceded in this country by some other people, who manufactured the Paleolithic specimens recently discovered.

In Europe, Prof. Dawkins, as we have seen, maintains that the Cave-men were the predecessors of the Eskimos. This may serve us as a point of departure in the inquiry as to who the pre-Indian people were? It is manifest, however, that we must have some ground on which to base this theory. The Eskimo seem to belong to the Arctic region, as naturally as the white bear and the walrus. At the early time we are considering in America, glaciers had not retreated very far. So his climatic surroundings must have been much the same as at present. But the Eskimo may not live where he does now by choice: we may behold in him a people driven from a fairer heritage, who found the ice-fields of the North more endurable than the savage enemy who envied him his possession. It seems very reasonable to suppose that the Eskimos long inhabited this country before the arrival of the Indians, if it was not, in fact, their original home.

Mention has been made of the Eskimo traits still to be observed among the tribes of California. Prof. Putnam thinks that this fact can best be explained on the supposition that these tribes came in contact with primitive Eskimo people. Dr. Rink, from investigation of the language and traditions of the different Eskimo tribes, thinks they are of American origin, and must once have lived much farther south. He says, "The Eskimos appear to have been the last wave of an aboriginal American race, which has spread over the continent from more genial regions—following principally the rivers and water-courses, and continually yielding to the pressure of the tribes behind them until they have at last peopled the sea-coasts." Mr. Dall, in his explorations of the Aleutian Islands, comes to the same conclusion as Dr. Rink. He says his own conclusions are, "that the Eskimos were once inhabitants of the interior of North America—have much the same distribution as the walrus, namely, as far south as New Jersey."

All this tends to prove that the Paleolithic people of New Jersey were ancestors of the Eskimos. This becomes highly probable when we pursue the subject a little farther. Dr. Abbott has shown, from the similarity of implements, position in which found, and so forth, that the Paleolithic people continued to occupy the country down to comparatively recent times, when Indian relics took their place. This is such an important point that we must give his reasons more in detail. Remember that Dr. Abbott speaks from the experience gained by gathering over twenty thousand specimens of stone implements, and paying especial attention to the position in which they were found. The surface soil of that section of New Jersey, where he made his explorations, was formed by the slow decomposition of vegetable and forest growth. In this layer he found great numbers of undoubted Indian implements. The number, however, rapidly decreases the deeper we go in this stratum. This would show that the Indians were late arrivals. Below this surface soil is a stratum of sand, overlying the gravelly beds below and passing into the surface soil just mentioned. In this layer were found great numbers of implements inferior to the Indian types found on the surface, but superior to the Paleolithic specimens described. They are not only inferior in finish to the Indian specimens, but are of different material. They are always formed of argillite. It was further noticed that the number of these rapidly decreased in the layer of surface soil, and are but rarely found on the surface.

Now it might be said that these rude forms were fashioned by Indians when in a rude state of culture, and, as they became more advanced, they learned the superior qualities of flint, and so dropped the use of argillite. But it so happens that we have found several places where were veritable manufactories of Indian implements. It is very significant that we never find one where the workman used both flint and argillite. He always used flint alone. Every thing seems to point to the fact, that the tribes who fashioned the argillite implements were different from the Indian tribes who made the flint implements. It is Dr. Abbott's conclusions that the former, the descendants of the Paleolithic tribes, were the Eskimos, who, according to these views, must have inhabited the eastern portion of the United States to comparatively recent times.

In further support of these views, we think we have grounds for asserting that we have veritable historical accounts of the Eskimo people slowly retiring before the aggressions of their Indian foes. It is no longer doubted but that Norsemen, as early as the year 1000, made voyages of discovery along the coast of North America, as far south as Rhode Island: they called the country Vineland. It is true that the Icelandic accounts of these expeditions contain some foolish and improbable statements; but so do the writings of Cotton Mather, made many years later.

These accounts refer but very briefly to the inhabitants they saw, but enough is given to show that the people were not Indians, but Eskimos. The language used is: "The men were small of stature and fierce, having a bushy head of hair, and very great eyes, and wide cheeks." Their small size is frequently referred to, which would surely not be the case if they were describing the Algonkins that the English colonists found in the same section of country many years later. To the same effect is the assertion that the Eskimos did not reach Greenland until the middle of the fourteenth century. The traditions of the Tuscarawas Indians that place their arrival on the Atlantic coast in the year 1300, also refer to a tribe of people that were at least much like the Eskimos.

Thus we are led, step by step, to the recognition of a Paleolithic Age in America, and finally to the belief that the descendants of these people were Eskimos. We at once notice the coincidence of these results with some of the conclusions of Prof. Dawkins, of England, and it is desirable to trace a little farther the points of resemblance and difference between this age in America and in Europe. In this latter country we have seen the Paleolithic Age can be divided into two stages, or epochs, during which different races inhabited the country. The first, or the epoch of the men of the River Drift, long preceded the epoch of the Cave-men. It was those latter tribes only that Mr. Dawkins connects with the Eskimos.

We have not yet found evidence in this country that points to such a division of the Paleolithic Age. We have no relics of Cave-men as distinguished from the men of the River Drift. It is true, we are not lacking evidence of the use of caves by various tribes, but there is nothing to show that such use was very ancient, or that the people were properly Paleolithic. We can not say what future discoveries will unfold, but as yet we have only implements of the River Drift type, and these are the men Dr. Abbott considers to be the ancestors of the Eskimos. In this country, then, we have shown the existence of but one race of men in the same stage of culture as the men of the River Drift, but of the same race as the men of the Cave. These results may be cited as an argument in favor of those scholars who think that the men of the River Drift and the men of the Cave were in reality the same people.

In Europe there was apparently a long lapse of time between the disappearance of the Paleolithic tribes and the arrival of the Neolithic people, but we have no evidence of such a period in America. The Paleolithic people remained in possession until driven away by the Neolithic ones. All evidence of Paleolithic man in Europe terminated with the Glacial Age, and there is little doubt but what they date from preglacial times. Our present knowledge does not carry us any farther back in this country than the close of Glacial times. If we consider that the Glacial Age in America coincides in time with the same age in Europe, then the last statements would imply that the Paleolithic Age here was later than in Europe; in fact, that Paleolithic man had run his course in Europe before he appeared in America, and some might even go further, and say that he migrated from Europe to America. There are, however, no good grounds for such conclusions. We believe that future discoveries will show that in America also Paleolithic man was living in Glacial and preglacial times.

We feel that we have done but scant justice to this subject, but we assure our readers that this question has been but little studied in this country. Referring all relics of stone to the Indians, our scholars have been slow to recognize traces of an earlier race in America. Our sources of information are as yet but few, and much remains to be done in this field. In Europe as in America, scholars are still hard at work on the Paleolithic Age, and we are to hold ourselves in readiness to modify our opinions, or to reject them entirely and adopt new ones as our knowledge increases.

There is one thought that occurs to us. From the combined investigations of both European and American scholars, the Eskimo is seen to be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) races of men now living. They afford a striking illustration of the fact that a race may early reach a limit of culture beyond which, as a race, they can not pass. Should the American discoveries establish the fact that the River Drift tribes are also Eskimos, then we are fairly entitled to consider them the remnant of a people who once held possession of all the globe, but who have been driven to the inhospitable regions of the North by the pressure of later people. What changes have come over the earth since that early time? In the long lapse of years that have gone by newer races, advancing by slow degrees, have at last achieved civilization. The fiat of Omnipotent power could have created the world in a perfected form for the use of man, but instead of so doing, Infinite Wisdom allowed slow-acting causes, working through infinite years, to develop the globe from a nebulous mass. Man could, indeed, have been created a civilized being, but instead of this, his starting-point was certainly very low. He was granted capacities in virtue of which he has risen. We are not to say what the end shall be, but we think it yet far off.

Illustration of Stone Implement.—————

REFERENCES

(1) The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey, for criticism. (2) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 735, et seq. (3) Ibid., p. 753. (4) Whitney's "Geology of California," Vol. I. (5) Whitney's "Geological Survey of California," Vol. I. (6) Dr. Newbury's "Geological Survey of California." (7) Whitney's "Auriferous Gravels of California," p. 283. (8) Cambridge Lecture, 1878. (9) Cambridge Lecture, 1878. (10) "Native Races," Vol. IV, p. 698. (11) In general, all about Sonora, in the auriferous gravels, are found bones of extinct animals, and, associated with them, many relics of the works of human hands. These are found at various depths down to one hundred feet. (Whitney's "Auriferous Gravels," p. 263.) (12) American Journal of Science, Vol. XIX, p. 176, 1880. (13) "Auriferous Gravels," p. 279. (14) Wright's "Studies in Science and Religion," p. 289. (15) Dawkins, in Southall's "Pliocene Man," p. 18. (16) Southall's "Pliocene Man," p. 19. (17) Schoolcraft's "Archaeology," Vol. I, p. 105. (18) As bearing on the question of Pliocene man, we might refer to the impression of human (?) foot-prints in the sand-stone quarry of the State prison at Nevada. At one time this area was the bottom of a lake, and we can plainly see the tracks of various animals that came down to drink. A huge mammoth visited the place; so also did horses and other animals. Among these is one series of tracks evidently made by a biped. Some think they are the sandaled foot of a human being. This question is still under discussion. (19) "Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 11. (20) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 583. (21) Putnam, in "Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 11. (22) Ibid., p. 18. (23) "Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 12. (24) "Prehistoric Times," p. 436. (25) "Human Species," p. 147. (26) The researches of Mr. Dall in the Aleutian Islands demonstrate the long-continued occupation of them by a savage people, and a gradual advance of the same in culture—though this apparent advance may have been simply the inroads of more advanced tribes. U.S. Geographical Survey W. of 100th M., p. 12. (27) Wright's "Studies in Science and Religion," p. 292. (28) Morgan's "Ancient Society," p. 108, note. (29) "Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 3. (30) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. III, pp. 646, 647. (31) "U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 12. (32) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 591. (33) LeConte's "Elements of Geology." (34) Prof. Winchell, in his last work, "World Life," p. 363, et seq., goes over the entire subject. As might be expected, no decisive results are obtained. He sums up the arguments to show that in this country the close of the Glacial Age is not more than seven thousand years ago (p. 375). The student who reads these pages and then Mr. Geikie's work, "Prehistoric Europe," will be sorely puzzled to know what conclusions to adopt. We can not do better than refer to the chapter on Antiquity Paleolithic Age. (35) Dana's Am. Journal of Science, May, 1875. (36) Foster's "Prehistoric Races," p. 62. (37) See Lockwood, in Popular Science Monthly for 1883, for account of beaver dam built on a mastodon skeleton and evidence of contemporaneity of Indians and mastodons. (38) "The Missouri was a stream thirty miles wide." (39) "Hayden," p. 255. (40) For the facts on which this paragraph rests, see Report of Samuel Aughey, Ph.D., in "U.S. Survey of the Territories, for 1874," p. 243, et seq. (41) "American Assoc. Rep.," 1880, p. 720. (42) "Illinois Geological Reports," Vol. III, p. 123. (43) "Prehistoric Races," p. 69. (44) Jones's "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," p. 293. (45) Jones's "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," p. 295. (46) Quoted by Abbott's "Primitive Industry," p. 3. (47) Peet's "Archaeology of Europe and America," p. 11. (48) Short's "North Americans of Antiquity," p. 27. (49) Up to the present time (1884) Dr. Abbott has collected over 20,000 specimens of stone implements, and all his more recent "finds" but confirm the opinion he expressed as to their significance ten years ago. His collection is at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology, at Cambridge, Mass. (See last Peabody Report.) (50) "Nature," Vol. XI, p. 215. (51) Ibid. (52) "Nature," Vol. XI, p. 215. (53) Ibid. (54) "Primitive Industry," Abbott, p. 506. (55) Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 354 and note. (56) "Primitive Industry," p. 551. (57) "Studies in Science and Religion," p. 324. (58) Ibid., p. 324. (59) We believe that similar results will attend the careful exploration in other sections. As bearing on this subject, it is interesting to know that Paleolithic implements are reported from one locality in Mexico. Our information in regard to them is very slight. (Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1881; Pres. Address, Count De Saporte, Popular Science Monthly, Sept., 1883.) (60) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 540. (61) "Geographical and Geological Survey," 1874, p. 254. (62) Abbott's "Primitive Industry," p. 483. (63) Abbott: "Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History," Vol. XXII, p. 102. (64) "Primitive Industry," p. 512. (65) "Primitive Industry," p. 512. (66) U.S. survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 12. (67) Abbott's "Primitive Industry," p. 520. (68) Ibid., p. 519. (69) U.S. Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region," Vol. I, p. 102, quoted from "Primitive Industry," p. 519. (70) Popular Science Monthly, Jan., 1883. (71) DeCosta's "Precolumbian Discovery of America," p. 69. (72) Winchell's "Preadamites," p. 389. (73) Brinton's "Myths of the New World," p. 23. Note. (74) Prof. DeHass's "Paper" read before Am. Assoc., 1882. (75) See chapter, "Cave-men," p. 113. Note. (76) See remarks of Prof. Boyd Dawkins quoted earlier.



Chapter X

THE MOUND BUILDERS.

Meaning of "Mound Builders"—Location of Mound Building tribes—All Mounds not the work of men—Altar Mounds—Objects found on the Altars—Altar Mounds possibly burial Mounds—Burial Mounds—Mounds not the only Cemeteries of these tribes—Terraced Mounds—Cahokia Mound—Historical notice of a group of Mounds—The Etowah group—Signal Mounds—Effigy Mounds—How they represented different animals—Explanation of the Effigy Mounds—Effigy Mounds in other localities—Inclosures of the Scioto Valley—At Newark, Ohio—At Marietta, Ohio—Graded Ways—Fortified Inclosures—Ft. Ancient, Ohio—Inclosures of Northern Ohio—Works of unknown import—Ancient Canals in Missouri—Implements and Weapons of Stone—Their knowledge of Copper—Ancient mining—Ornamental pipes—Their knowledge of pottery—Of Agriculture—Government and Religion—Hard to distinguish them from the Indians.

The past of our race is irradiated here and there by the light of science sufficiently to enable us to form quite vivid conceptions of vanished peoples. As the naturalist, from the inspection of a single bone, is enabled to determine the animal from which it was derived, though there be no longer a living representative, so the archaeologist, by the aid of fragmentary remains, is able to tell us of manners and times now long since removed. In the words of another: "The scientist to-day passes up and down the valleys, and among the relics and bones of vanished people, and as he touches them with the magic wand of scientific induction, these ancient men stand upon their feet, revivified, rehabilitated, and proclaim with solemn voice the story of their nameless tribe or race, the contemporaneous animals, and physical appearance of the earth during those prehistoric ages."

We have already learned that the world is full of mysteries, and though, by the exertion of scholars, we begin to have a clearer idea of some topics, yet our information is after all but vague and shadowy. The amount of positive knowledge in regard to the mysterious tribes of the older Stone Age, or the barbarians of the Neolithic period, or the struggling civilization of the early Metallic Ages, is lamentably deficient. On our Western Continent we have the mysterious remains in the gold-bearing gravels of the Pacific coast, the significance of which is yet in dispute. We have the Paleolithic Age of Europe, represented by the remains found in the gravels of the Delaware at Trenton, New Jersey. When deposited there, and by what people used, is, perhaps, still enshrouded in doubt.

Leaving now the past, expressed by geological terms, or by periods of thousands of years, we draw near to our own tribes, near, at least, comparatively speaking, and behold, here, also, we discern evidence that an ancient culture, as marked as that which built its cities along the fertile water-courses of the Old World, had its seat on the banks of our great rivers; that here flourished in full vigor for an unknown length of time a people whose origin and fate are yet in doubt, though, thanks to the combined efforts of many able men, we begin to have clearer ideas of their social organization. We know them only by reason of their remains, and as these principally are mounds, we call them the "Mound Builders."

The name is not a distinguishing one in every sense, since mankind, the world over, have been mound and pyramid builders. The pyramids of Egypt and the mound-dotted surface of Europe and Asia bear testimony to this saying, yet nowhere else in the world are they more plainly divided into classes, or marked with design than here. In some places fortified hills and eminences suggest the citadel of a tribe or people. Again, embankments of earth, mostly circular or square, separate and in combination, generally inclosing one or more mounds, excite our curiosity, but fail to satisfy it. Are these fading embankments the boundaries of sacred inclosures, or the fortification of a camp, or the foundations on which to build communal houses? Here graded ways, there parallel embankments raise questions, but suggest no positive answer. We are equally in doubt as to the purposes for which many of the mounds were built. Some seem to have been used as places of sepulcher, some for religious rites, and others as foundation site of buildings. Some may have been used as signal mounds, from which warning columns of smoke, or flaming fires, gave notice of an enemy's approach.

Before coming to details let us, at a glance, examine the picture as a whole. This country of ours, with its wide plains, its flowing rivers and great lakes, is said by scholars to have been the home of a people well advanced in the arts of barbarian life. What connection, if any, existed between them and the Indians, is yet unsettled. We are certain that many years before the Spanish discovery of America they made their settlements here, developed their religious ideas, and erected their singular monuments. That they were not unacquainted with war, is shown by their numerous fortified inclosures. They possessed the elements of agriculture, and we doubt not were happy and contented in their homes. We are certain they held possession of the fairer portions of this country for many years.

We must now seek to gather more particular knowledge of them, and of the remains of their industry. We must not forget that these are the antiquities of our own country; that the broken archaeological fragments we pick up will, when put together, give us a knowledge of tribes that lived here when civilization was struggling into being in the East. It should be to us far more interesting than the history of the land of the Pharaohs, or of storied Greece. Yet, strange to say, the facts we have just mentioned are unknown to the mass of our people. Accustomed to regard this as the New World, they have turned their attention to Europe and the East when they would learn of prehistoric times. In a general way, we have regarded the Indians as a late arrival from Asia, and cared but little for their early history. It is only recently that we have become convinced of an extended, past in the history of this country, and it is only of late that able writers have brought to our attention the wonders of an ancient culture, and shown us the footprints of a vanished people.

We must first try and locate the territory occupied by the remains of the mound builders. They are not to be found broadcast over the whole country. We recall, in this connection, that the early civilization of the East arose in fertile river valleys. This is found to be everywhere the case, so we are not surprised to learn that the broad and fertile valley of the Mississippi, with its numerous tributaries, was the territory where these mysterious people reared their monuments and developed their barbarian culture. Throughout the greater portion of this area we find numerous evidences of a prolonged occupation of the country. We are amazed at the number and magnitude of the remains. Though this section has been under cultivation for many years, and the plow has been remorselessly driven over the ancient embankments, yet enough remain to excite our curiosity and to amply repay investigation.

This portion of the United States seems to have been the home, the seat of the mound building tribes. We can not expect to find one type of remains scattered over this entire section of country. Indeed, to judge from the difference of the remains, they must have been the work of different people or tribes, who were doubtless possessed of different degrees of culture. We will notice in our examination how these remains vary in different sections of the country. But it is noticeable that these remains become scarce and finally disappear as we go north, east, and west from the great valley. Although they are numerous in the Gulf States, yet they are not to be found, except in a few cases, in States bordering on the Atlantic. Some wandering bands, perhaps colonies from the main body of the people, established works on the Wateree River, in South Carolina, In the mountainous regions of North Carolina occur mines of mica, which article was much prized by the mound builders; and here also are to be found traces of their early presence. We do not know of any authentic remains in New England States. In Western New York there exists a class of remains which, though once supposed to be the work of these people, are now generally considered as the remains of works erected by the Indians, and of a similar origin appears to have been the singular fortification near Lake Winnipiseogee, in New Hampshire.

We have no record of their presence north of the great lakes. Passing now to the western part of the valley, we do not find definite traces of their presence in Texas. On this point, however, some authors state the contrary, apparently basing their views on a class of mounds mentioned by Prof. Forshey. But the very description given of these mounds, and the statements as to the immense number of them, seem to show they are not the work of men. We do not think the West, and especially the North-west, has been carefully enough explored to state where they begin. It is certain that the head waters of the Mississippi and the Missouri were thickly settled with tribes of this people, and some writers think that they spread over the country by way of the Missouri Valley from the North-west. Mr. Bancroft quotes from the writings of Mr. Dean, to show the existence of mounds and inclosures on Vancouver Island, and in British Columbia. And the statement is made that a hundred miles north of Victoria there is a group of mounds ranging from five to fifty yards in circumference, and from a few feet to fifty feet in height.

The inclosures, however, are described as being very similar to those in Western New York, and are probably simply fortified sites, common among rude people the world over, and such as were often erected by Indians. The remains on the upper Missouri and its tributaries are very numerous, and to judge from the brief description given us of them, they must be very interesting. This section has, however, been too little explored to speak with confidence of these works.

As showing how much care should be exercised in this matter, we refer to the account given by Capt. Wilkes in his journal of the United States exploring expedition. Speaking of the mounds on the gravelly plains between the Columbia River and Puget Sound, he tells us that the Butte Prairies are covered with small mounds at regular distances asunder. Some of them are thirty feet in diameter, six or seven feet above the level of the ground, and many thousands in number. He opened some of them, and found a pavement of round stones, and he thought he could detect an arrangement of the mounds in groups of five, thus.

Illustration of arrangement of mounds.————-

It was his impression that they were the works of men, and had been constructed successively and at intervals of several years. This observation of Capt. Wilkes is referred to by many as evidence of the former existence of Mound Builders in this section.

More careful research in recent times has established the fact that these mounds were certainly not erected by human hands, and no one else has been able to discover the supposed arrangement in groups of five. The pavement of round stones is common to the whole prairie.

But the greatest objection is the number of the mounds. A population larger than could have found a living in the country must have been required to erect them, unless we assume that a great length of time was consumed in this work. Some other explanation must be given for these mounds, as well as for those mysterious ones mentioned by Prof. Forshey. This cut gives us a fair idea of the scenery of this section and the mounds.

Illustration of Mound Prairie.—————-

Within the area we have thus defined are located the works of the people we call the Mound Builders. What we wish to do is to learn all about these vanished people. A great many scholars have written about them, and large collections of the remains of their handiwork have been made. There is, however, a great diversity of opinion respecting the Mound Builders and their culture. So we see we have a difficult subject to treat of. In order to gain a clear understanding of it, we must describe the remains more closely. About all we can learn of these people is from a study of their monuments. We can not call to our aid history or tradition, or rock-carved inscription, but must resort to crumbling mounds, broken down embankments; study their location, and observe their forms. To the studies in the field we must add those in the cabinet, and examine the many objects found in and above the mounds and earth-works, as well as the skeletons of the builders of the works. Rightly used, we can draw from these sources much valuable information of the people whose council-fires blazed all along the beautiful valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in times far removed from us.

Illustration of Mound and Circle.—————-

We will first speak of the simplest form of these works, the ordinary conical mound. This is the one form found all over the extensive area designated. They exist in great numbers on the banks of the upper Missouri, as well as the river bottoms of the South. This cut represents a very fine specimen of a mound, in this instance surrounded by a circular embankment. We must not forget that mounds are found all over the world. "They are scattered over India, they dot the steppes of Siberia and the vast region north of the Black Sea; they line the shores of the Bosphorus and the Mediterranean; they are found in old Scandinavia, and are singularly numerous in the British Islands."

The principle in human nature which leads to the erection of mounds is living and active to-day. The shaft which surmounts Bunker Hill is but a modern way of memorizing an event which in earlier ages would have led to the erection of a mound, and the polished monument which marks the resting place of some distinguished man was raised for the same purpose as the mounds heaped over the chiefs and warriors of another age. The feeling which moves us to crown with steeples or spires our houses of worship is evidently akin to that which induced older races to erect a mound on which to place their temples, their idols, and altars of sacrifice.

If mounds were the only works remaining of these ancient people, we would not take so great an interest in them, and, as it is, we are not to suppose that all the mounds are the works of those people we call the Mound Builders. Recent investigation and historical evidence unite in showing that some comparatively recent Indian tribes formed and used mound structures. Early explorers have left abundant testimony to show that in many cases the Indians resorted to mound-burial. Thus, it seems that it was the custom of the Iroquois every eighth or tenth year, or whenever about to abandon a locality, to gather together the bones of their dead and rear over them a mound. To this custom, which was not confined to the Iroquois, are doubtless to be ascribed the barrows and bone mounds which have been found in such numbers in various parts of the country. Although it is well to bear these facts in mind, yet it is not doubted that the larger number, and especially the more massive ones, were erected by the same people who built the other mysterious works, and so it is necessary that they be carefully studied.

Illustration of Altar Mound.—————————-

In the valley of the Ohio there have been found a class of mounds known as Altar Mounds. These, it should be stated, nearly always occur in or near inclosures. This cut gives us a good idea of mounds of this kind. Near the top is seen an instance of what is called "intrusive" burial. After the mound was completed it had been dug into and a body buried near the surface. This burial was evidently later in time, and had no connection with the purpose for which the mound was originally built. We also notice in this mound the different layers of which it was composed. These layers are of gravel, earth, and sand, the latter being only a few inches thick. Mounds made in this manner are called stratified mounds, and all altar mounds are probably of this kind. The lines of stratification have been described as curving so as to correspond with the shape of the mound, and such we are told is the general rule.

Illustration of Plan and Section of Altar.————-

The peculiar feature, however, is the altar at the bottom of the mound, directly above the natural surface of the ground. The small cut gives us a clear idea of the altar, the light lines running around it showing the plan. These altars are almost always composed of clay, though some of stone have been discovered. They are of various shapes and sizes. We notice the dish-shaped depression on the top of the altar. The clay of which they are composed seems to have been moulded into shape directly over the surface of the ground. Sometimes a layer of sand was put down as a foundation. They are nearly always thoroughly burned, the clay being baked hard, sometimes to the depth of fifteen or twenty inches. This must have required intense and long continued heat.

We are at once curious to know the object of this altar. Within the basin-shaped depression are generally found all manner of remains. Sometimes portions of bones, or fragments of wood, arranged in regular order; pieces of pottery vessels, and implements of copper and stone; spear-heads, arrow-heads, and fragments of quartz and crystals of garnet. Pipes are a common find, carved in miniature figures of animals, birds, and reptiles. Two altar-mounds but recently examined near Cincinnati had altars about four feet square that were loaded down with ornaments.

One especially contained quantities of ornaments of stone, copper, mica, shells, the canine-teeth of bears and other animals, and thousands of pearls. They were nearly all perforated, as if for suspension. Several of the copper ornaments were covered with native silver which had been hammered out into thin sheets and folded over the copper. One small copper pendant seems to have been covered with a thin sheet of hammered gold, as a small piece was still clinging to it. This is the first example of finding native gold in the mounds. On this altar were also found masses of meteoric iron, and ornaments of the same material. One piece of mica showed the profile of a face.

In all cases the articles found on the altars show the action of fire. We seem justified, then, in supposing that after the altar was formed, fires were lit on them, and into this fire were thrown the various articles just enumerated. But what was all this for? This will probably never be very clear to us, beyond the fact that it was a religious rite. Portions of the human skeleton have been found on these altars, and it has been suggested that human victims were at times part of the sacrifice; but as it is known that this people practised cremation, it may be that the altars were sometimes used for that purpose, the remains being afterwards gathered and buried elsewhere.

After the offerings had been flung into the fire, while it was yet glowing on the altar, earth or sand was heaped over them for a few inches, then successive layers of earth and sand, or ashes, clay, or gravel. Sometimes the altars were used several different times, in which case a layer of clay several inches thick was laid over the old altar. In one case three layers had been burned in before the final addition of earth and sand were heaped over it. These strange monuments of a by-gone people hint to us of mysterious rites. We wish we had more positive knowledge of the ceremonies they commemorated; but at present we must rest satisfied with conjecture.

The next class of mounds are known as burial mounds, some of which are stratified, and resemble the so-called altar mounds. A mound explored in Butler County, Ohio, had in the center a layer of clay an inch thick, which had been burned until it was red. Underneath this was another layer of clay, beneath which was found charcoal, burnt cloth, and charred bones. Mr. Foster thinks that in this mound the body was placed on a rude altar, fires were lit, and that while yet burning, clay was thrown over it all, and that then fires were built all over the mound, sufficient to burn the clay for an inch in thickness. We have also a description of a group of mounds explored near the Mississippi River, in which there were evident signs of cremation. At least in several mounds fires had been built close above the bodies. But in cremation other victims may have been burned to accompany the departed chiefs or warriors. In one mound evidence of such a custom was observed.

In another mound the center was found to be a mass of burned clay interspersed with calcined human bones. No less than ten or fifteen bodies had been burned here. "They must have worshiped some fierce ideal deity, and the ceremony must have been considered of great importance to have required so many victims." This may have been, however, nothing more than simple cremation.

Pidgeon has described mounds in Minnesota, in many respects like the altar mounds. In one case he mentions there was an altar or pavement of stone on the original surface of the ground, a few feet above which was a layer of clay, showing the action of fierce and long-continued fires. We furthermore are told that cremation, especially of chiefs, was more or less common among the Village Indians of North America, that similar usage was observed among many of the tribes of Mexico, and that the Mayas, of Yucatan, burnt the bodies of their lords, and built temples over their remains. So it may be that the altar mounds are but varieties of funeral mounds, the remains of the bodies burned here being buried elsewhere.

Illustration of Burial Mounds.——————-

The nations that celebrated their mysteries around these mounds have long since departed; the altar fires long since burned low. We are not sure that we understand their purport, but we are certain they were regarded as of great importance, and we can readily imagine that when the fires were lit on the altars, gathering crowds stood round, and participated in the religious observance, throwing into the fire their most valued ornaments, in this manner paying their last respects to the departed chiefs and great men of their tribe.

The true burial mounds are very numerous, an comprise by far the larger number of mounds. They are to be found all over the Mound Builders' territory, and are about the only class of remains found in the prairie regions of the West. From the upper waters of the Missouri and the great lakes on the north to the Gulf States on the south, and from west of the Mississippi to the Alleghenies of the East, in all this vast region they are the prevailing class of remains, and occur by hundreds, and even thousands, along the valleys. The mounds themselves are often not very conspicuous; as a rule they are simply heaps of dirt raised above the surface and rounded over, and from two or three to fifteen or twenty feet high, although many are of much larger size. They are seldom found on the lower, or recent river terrace, but are common on the upper terrace, and are often built upon the high bluffs bordering the streams, where a wide stretch of country is exposed to view. Black-bird, an Omaha chief, who died about the year 1800, desired to be buried on a high bluff overlooking the Missouri, so that he might see the boats passing up and down the river. Perhaps from a similar superstitious wish the Mound Builders sometimes chose the sites of their burial mounds where they could watch over their country; or it may be that the monuments over the dead were placed in such conspicuous positions that they might be readily seen by the people.

The next cut represents an ordinary burial mound, which was explored by tunneling in from one side. We notice there are no different layers or stratifications in this case. In some cases, at least, the building of such a mound occupied several years. We can see where the dirt was thrown down in small quantities, averaging about a peck, as if from a basket. In one case grass had started to grow on the unfinished surface of the mound, to be covered up by fresh dirt.

Illustration of Burial Mounds.—————————-

In the majority of cases the mounds contain the remains of but one individual, with various relics of a rude and barbarous people. Where but one body was buried, the usual mode of procedure seems to have been to first clear a space on the surface of the ground; the body was then placed in the center of this prepared place, and often a rude framework of timber was placed around it, sometimes a stone chamber was built up. Over this the mound was erected to the desired height. This description would apply to nearly all of the many thousands of burial mounds in the country.

In the cut a layer of charcoal is noticed near the top. Nearly all mounds show evidence of the existence of fire during some period of their construction. In some cases these fires were fierce and long continued, as if the object had been to cremate the body. It may have been a part of their religious belief that it was necessary to keep fires blazing on the mound for a short length of time to keep off evil spirits, or to comfort the soul of the departed. Such at any rate was the custom among some Indian tribes. We are told that among the Iroquois, a "fire was built upon the grave at night to enable the spirit to prepare its food."

In some cases, many individuals were buried in the same mound. These may be communal burials, such as we have already referred to. Mounds of this kind have been examined near Nashville, Tennessee. One mound alone was the burial place of over two hundred persons. Pidgeon describes some triangular burial mounds in Minnesota, differing in shape only from the ordinary circular mounds that belong to this division. In general, burial mounds are not very high, yet there are exceptions to this rule.

Illustration of Grave Creek Mound.—————-

This cut represents one of the largest of these mounds. It is situated at the junction of Grave Creek and the Ohio River, twelve miles below Wheeling, in West Virginia. It measures seventy feet in height, and its base is nearly one thousand feet in circumference. An excavation made from the top downward, and from one side of the base to the center, disclosed the fact that the mound contained two sepulchral chambers, one at the base and one near the center of the mound. These chambers had been constructed of logs, and covered with stone. The lower chamber contained two skeletons, one of which is supposed to have been a female. The upper chamber contained but one skeleton. In addition to these, there were found a great number of shell beads, ornaments of mica, and bracelets of copper.

A moment's thought will show us what a great work such a mound must have been for a people destitute of metallic tools and domestic animals. The earth for its construction was probably scraped up from the surface and brought thither in baskets. A people capable of erecting such a monument as this, with only such scanty means at their command, must have possessed those qualities which would sooner or later have brought them civilization.

Another very interesting mound of this class once stood in the city of St. Louis. The rapidly growing city demanded its removal in 1869. It was an oblong mound, one hundred and fifty feet long by thirty in height. In its removal it was shown that it contained a burial chamber seventy-five feet long, from eight to twelve feet wide, and from eight to ten feet high, in which about thirty burials had taken place. The surface of the ground had first been leveled, then the walls raised to the desired height, made firm and solid, and plastered with clay. Timbers formed the roof, over which the mound had been raised to the desired height.

Illustration of Cross-section St. Louis Mound.————

In process of time the roof decayed and fell in, thus giving a sunken appearance to the top of the mound. This view is a cross section of the mound as it was revealed by the workmen. We notice where the roof has fallen in, and the outline of the interior chamber. This burial chamber was perhaps an exact model of the cabins in which the people lived. Can it be that this mound was the final resting place of some renowned chief, and that the other bodies were those of his attendants sent to accompany him to the other world? This is perhaps as reasonable a conjecture as any. Certain it is that this tumulus and that at Grave Creek were fit pyramids for the Pharaohs of the New World.

It is not to be supposed that the mounds were the sole cemeteries of the people who built them. Like the barrows of Europe, they were probably erected only over the bodies of the chiefs and priests, the wise men, and warriors of the tribe. The amount of work required for the erection of a mound was too great to provide one for every person. The greater number of the dead were deposited elsewhere than in mounds, but it is doubtful whether we can always distinguish the prehistoric burial places from those of the later Indians. An ancient cemetery, discovered near Madisonville, Ohio, proved to be a most interesting find, as it was thought to be a burial place of the Mound Builders, but it seems there is strong doubt on this point. One writer thinks this was a cemetery of the Erie tribe of Indians, and not very ancient in date.

In Tennessee are to be found numerous burial places known as the stone-grave cemeteries. Stone graves of a similar character are found in Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. These are as yet but few facts which can be used as indicating that all the stone graves are of one people. Many of these cemeteries are of great antiquity, while similar stone graves are of quite recent date. In some places the cemeteries cover very large areas.

Illustration of Terraced Mound.——————-

We have now to describe a class of mounds that are always regarded with great interest, as a number of our scholars think they see in them the connecting link between the remains in this country and those of Mexico and the South. These are generally known as "temple mounds," from the common impression that they were sites of temples or public buildings. In general terms, mounds of this class are distinguished by their large size and regularity of form, and they always have a flat or level top. On one side there is generally a graded way leading up to the summit, in some instances several such methods of approach. Sometimes the sides of the mound are terraced off into separate stages.

We have already noticed that different sections of country are distinguished by different classes of mound remains. In the present State of Ohio are found many altar mounds and inclosures. In the West are large numbers of burial mounds, but the so-called temple mounds are most numerous in the South. At one place in Wisconsin is found a low embankment inclosing four low mounds with leveled tops. But the resemblance between these and the regular temple mounds is certainly slight. Only a few instances of these flat-topped mounds are found in Ohio. Of these the still existing "elevated squares" at Marietta are good examples.

Illustration of Elevated Square, Marietta.—————-

This cut represents the mound preserved in the park at Marietta. It is ten feet high, one hundred and eighty-eight feet long, by one hundred and thirty-two feet wide. The platform on the top has an area of about half an acre. Graded ways lead up on each of the four sides. These grades are twenty-five feet wide, and sixty feet long.

As we approach the Gulf States, these platform mounds increase in number. The best representative of this class, the most stupendous example of mound builders' work in this country, is situated in Illinois, not far from St. Louis. The mound and its surroundings are so interesting that they deserve special mention. One of the most fertile sections of Illinois is that extending along the Mississippi from the Kaskaskia to the Cahokia river, about eighty miles in length, and five in breadth. Well watered, and not often overflowed by the Mississippi, it is such a fertile and valuable tract that it has received the name of the "Great American Bottom." It is well known that the Mound Builders chose the most fertile spots for their settlements, and it is therefore not surprising to find the evidence that this was a thickly settled portion of their territory. Mr. Breckenridge, writing in 1811, says: "The great number of mounds, and the astonishing quantity of human bones, everywhere dug up or found on the surface of the ground, with a thousand other appearances, announces that this valley was at one time filled with habitations and villages. The whole face of the bluff, or hill, which bounds it on the east, appears to have been a continuous burying ground."

Mounds are numerous in this section. We learn that there are two groups of mounds or pyramids, one about ten miles above the Cahokia, and the other about the same distance below it, more than one hundred and fifty in all. Speaking of the group above the Cahokia, Mr. Breckenridge says: "I found myself in the midst of a group of mounds mostly of a circular shape, and, at a distance, resembling enormous hay-stacks scattered through a meadow. One of the largest which I ascended was about two hundred paces in circumference at the bottom, the form nearly square, though it had evidently undergone considerable alteration from the washing of rains. The top was level, with an area sufficient to contain several hundred men." He represents the view from the top of the mound to be a very extensive and beautiful one. From this elevation he counted forty-five mounds or pyramids, besides a great number of small artificial elevations. This group was arranged in the form of a semicircle, about a mile in extent, the open space being on the river.

Illustration of Cahokia Mound.——————————

Three miles above occurs the group in which is found the famous big mound. This cut gives us a good idea of the mound as it was in its perfect state. All accounts given of this mound vary. From a cut of the model, as prepared by Dr. Patrick, the area of the base is a trifle over fifteen acres. The ascent was probably on the south side of the mound, where the little projection is seen. The first platform is reached at the height of about fifty feet. This platform has an area of not far from two and four-fifth acres. Large enough for quite a number of houses, if such was the purpose for which this mound was erected. The second platform is reached at about the height of seventy-five feet, and contains about one and three-fourth acres. The third platform is elevated ninety-six or ninety-seven feet, while the last one is not far from one hundred feet above the plain. The area of the last two is about three-fourths of an acre each. The areas of all the platforms are not far from six acres. We require to dwell on these facts a moment before we realize what a stupendous piece of work this is. The base is larger than that of the Great Pyramid, and we must not lose sight of the fact that the earth for its construction was scraped up and brought thither without the aid of metallic tools or beasts of burden, and yet the earth was obtained somewhere and piled up over an area of fifteen acres in one place to a height of one hundred feet, and even the lowest platform is fifty feet above the plain. Some have suggested that it might be partly a natural elevation. There seems to be, however, no good reason for such suggestions.

What motive induced the people to expend so much labor on this mound? It is not probable that this was a burial mound, though it may ultimately prove to be so. The most probable supposition is that the mound was erected so as to secure an elevated site, perhaps for purpose of defense, as on these platforms there was abundant room for a large village, and an elevation or height has always been an important factor in defenses. In this connection, Prof. Putnam has called our attention to a fact which indicates that a very long time was occupied in the construction of the mound, and further, that a numerous population had utilized its platforms as house sites—that is, that "everywhere in the gullies, and over the broken surface of the mounds, mixed with the earth of which it is composed, are quantities of broken vessels of clay, flint chips, arrow-heads, charcoal, bones of animals, etc., apparently the refuse of a numerous people." The majority of writers, however, think that this elevated site, obtained as the result of so much labor, was utilized for important public buildings, presumedly the temple of their gods, and no one can help noticing the similarity between this structure and those raised by the ancient Mexicans for both religious purposes and town sites.

Mr. Foster thinks that "upon this platform was reared a capacious temple, within whose walls the high-priests gathered from different quarters at stated seasons, celebrated their mystic rites, while the swarming multitudes below looked up with mute adoration." Mr. Breckenridge, whose writings we have already referred to, at the time of his first visit, "everywhere observed a great number of small elevations of earth, to the height of a few feet, at regular distances apart, which appeared to observe some order: near them pieces of flint and fragments of earthen vessels." From this he concludes that here was a populous town, and that this mound was a temple site. It is doubtful whether we shall ever pierce the veil that lies between us and this aboriginal structure. The pyramids of the Old World have yielded up their secret, and we behold in them the tombs of Egypt's kings. But this earthen pyramid on the western prairie is more involved in mystery, and we do not know even its builders. If the result of religious zeal, we may be sure that a religion which exacted from its votaries the erection of such a stupendous piece of work was one of great power.

As before remarked, "temple mounds" increase in numbers and importance as we go south. In Kentucky they are more frequent than in the States north of the Ohio River, and in Tennessee and Mississippi they are still more abundant. We also learn that they are often surrounded, or nearly so, with moats or ditches, as if to fortify their location. Our next cut illustrates such an arrangement—a circular wall of earth four feet high and two thousand three hundred feet in circumference, incloses four mounds, two of which are temple mounds. According to the late Prof. Forshey, temple mounds abound in Louisiana. He described a group situated in Catahoola County, in which the principal mound has a base of more than an acre, a height of forty-two feet, and the upper platform an area of nearly one-third of an acre. The smaller mounds are arranged around this larger one. This group is defended by an embankment. From this point for a distance of twenty miles along the river, are scattered similar groups of mounds; in all cases the smaller ones arranged around the larger one, which is presumably the site of a temple.

Illustration of Temple Mounds inclosed in a Circle.———

A digression right here may not be devoid of interest. We are not sure but that the dim, uncertain light of history falls on the origin of this group of mounds. When the French first commenced their settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, the Natchez Indians was the most powerful tribe in all that section. In the course of time, wars ensued between them and the French, and in the year 1730 they fled into Upper Louisiana, and settled at the place where these mounds are now found. But the French followed them a year or so afterwards, and nearly exterminated. them. Some of our scholars think that they erected these mounds. The historian of that epoch simply says they had "built a fort there." It is however questioned whether they had time to build works of such magnitude. But they were both a mound-building and a mound-using people, and we are not prepared to say how long it would take them to do the work, until we know the number engaged, methods employed, and other considerations. If they did not build these works, they doubtless cleared them of trees and utilized them; and this place was therefore the scene of the final downfall of the Natchez—a people we have every reason to regard as intimately connected with the prehistoric mound-building tribes.

The largest temple mound in the South is near Seltzertown, Mississippi. Its base covers about six acres, and it rises forty feet. This slope was ascended by means of a graded way. The summit platform has an extent of nearly four acres. On this platform three other mounds had been reared—one at each end, and a third in the center. Recent investigation by the Bureau of Ethnology have shown that the base of this mound is a natural formation. Lumps of sun-dried, or partially burnt clay, used as plastering on the houses of the Mound Builders, gave rise to a sensational account of a wall of sun-dried bricks two feet thick, supporting the mound on the northern side. The famous Messier Mound, in Georgia, is said to reach a height of ninety-five feet. But a large part of this elevation is a natural eminence; the artificial part is only a little over fifty feet.

Illustration of Etowah Mound, Georgia.—————-

A work of unusual interest occurs on the Etowah River, Georgia. This cut gives us a plan of the work. We notice, first of all, the moat or ditch by which they fortified their position. The ditch is still from five to twenty-five feet deep, and from twenty to seventy-five feet wide. It connects directly with the river at one end, but stops short at the other. It surrounds nearly fifty acres of land. At two points we notice reservoirs, each about an acre in size, and an average depth of not less than twenty feet. At its upper end is an artificial pond. This ditch, with its reservoirs and pond, is no slight work. The large mound seen in the center of the space is one of the largest of the temple mounds. Its shape is sufficiently shown in the cut. The height of the mound is sixty-five feet. We call especial attention to the series of terraces leading up the south side of the mound. Graded ways afford means of access from one terrace to the other. A pathway is also seen on the eastern side.

To this group of works an interest attaches similar to that of the group of works mentioned in Louisiana. We are not certain but that we catch a glimpse of it while it was yet an inhabited Indian town. This is contained in the brief accounts we have of the wanderings of the unfortunate De Soto and his command. One of the chroniclers of this expedition La Vega, describes one of the towns where the weary Spaniards rested, and which we are sure was somewhere in Northern Georgia, in such terms, mentioning the graded way leading to the top, that Prof. Thomas, who has spent some time in this investigation, thinks his description can apply only to the mound under consideration. Whether this conclusion will be allowed to stand, remains to be seen. But, if true, then the darkness which rests upon this aboriginal structure lifts for a moment and we see around it a populous Indian town, able to send five hundred warriors to battle. The Spaniards marched on to sufferings and death, and darkness again closed around the Etowah Mound. When the Europeans next beheld it around it was the silent wilderness; the warriors had departed; the trees of the forest overspread it.

We have now described the principal mound structures, and shown the different classes into which they are divided. But a large class of mounds are found scattered all through the Mound Builders' territory that were probably used as signal mounds. Burial mounds were also often used for this purpose. This was because their location was always very favorable for signal purposes. Signaling by fire is a very ancient custom. The Indians on our western plains convey intelligence by this means at the present day. Some tribes use such materials as will cause different shades of smoke, using dried grass for the lightest, pine leaves for the darkest, and a mixture for intermediate purposes. They also vary the signal by letting the smoke rise in an unbroken column, or cover the fire with a blanket, so as to cause puffs of smoke. The evidence gathered from the position of the mounds, and traces of fire on their summit, is that the Mound Builders had a very extensive system of signal mounds.

Illustration of Hill Mounds.———————-

To illustrate this system, we would state that the city of Newark, Ohio, was the site of a very extensive settlement of the Mound Builders. This settlement was in a valley, but on all the surrounding hills were located signal mounds. And it is further stated that lines of signal mounds can be traced from here as a center to other and more distant points. The large mound at Mt. Vernon, twenty miles to the north, was part of this system. As the settlements of the Mound Builders were mostly in river valleys, we would expect to find all along on the bluffs fronting these valleys traces of signal mounds. In the Scioto Valley, from Columbus to Chillicothe, a distance of about forty miles, twenty mounds "may be selected, so placed in respect to each other that it is believed, if the country was cleared of forests, signals of fire might be transmitted in a few minutes along the whole line." Some think the chain is much more extensive than this, and that the whole Scioto Valley, from Delaware County to Portsmouth, was so provided with mounds that signals could be sent in a very few minutes the whole distance.

Illustration of Miamisburg Mound.—————

The valley of the Miami River was equally well provided with signal mounds. This great mound, at Miamisburg, Ohio, rising to the height of sixty-eight feet, was one of the chain by which signals were transmitted along the valley. Not only was each river valley thus provided, but there is evidence that communication was established between different river systems, so we can easily see how quickly the invasion of their country by an enemy from any quarter would become known in widely scattered sections. Immediately across the river from Chillicothe, Ohio, on a hill nearly six hundred feet high, was located a signal mound. A fire built upon it would be visible twenty miles up the valley, and an equal distance down. It would be also visible far down the valley of Paint Creek. Some think that such a system of lofty observatories extended across the whole State of Ohio, of Indiana, and Illinois, the Grave Creek mound, on the east, the great mound at Cahokia, on the west, and the works in Ohio filling up the line. We do not believe, however, it is safe to draw such conclusions. It is doubtful whether there was any very close connection between the tribes in these several sections.

In the State of Wisconsin are found some of the most interesting remains of the Mound Builders. They are so different from the ordinary remains found elsewhere that we must admit that the people who built them differed greatly from the tribes who built the great temple mounds of the South, or the earthworks of Ohio. The remains in Wisconsin are distinguished not by their great size or height, but by their singular forms. Here the mound building instincts of the people were expressed by heaping up the earth in the shape of animals. What strange fancy it was that led them to mould the figures on the bluffy banks of the rivers and the high lands about the lakes of their country, we shall perhaps never know. That they had some design in this matter is, of course, evident, and if we would try and learn their secret, we must address ourselves to a study of the remains.

Effigy mounds are almost exclusively confined to the State of Wisconsin. We, indeed, find effigy mounds in other sections, but they are of rare occurrence. They, however, show that the same reasons, religious, or otherwise, exists in other localities, while in the area covered by the southern portion of the State of Wisconsin it found its greatest expression. This cut affords us a fair idea of effigy mounds. Here are seen two animals, one behind the other. On paper we can readily see the resemblance. Stretched out on the ground, and of gigantic proportions, the resemblance is not so marked, and some might fail to notice it at first sight. Either of those figures is over one hundred feet long, and about fifteen feet wide. With few exceptions, effigy mounds are inconsiderable in height, varying from one to four feet. These mounds have been carefully studied of late years, and there is no doubt that in many instances we can distinguish the animals represented.

Illustration of Effigy Mounds.—————————

We learn, then, that tribes formerly living in Wisconsin had the custom of heaping up the earth in the shape of the various animals peculiar to that section. But no effigies are found of animals that have since become extinct, or of animals that are to be found only in other lands.

Our next cut represents the famous elephant mound of Wisconsin, on the strength of which a number of fair theories have been given relating to the knowledge of the mastodon by the builders of the mound, and its consequent antiquity. It now bears some resemblance to an elephant, but we learn that the trunk was probably produced by the washing of the banks and, from the same cause, a projection above the head, supposed to represent horns, has disappeared. Taking these facts into consideration, it is quite as likely that it represented a buffalo. One writer even thinks he found a representation of a camel, but the fact is, the more these effigy mounds are studied, the more certain are we that they are representations of animals formerly common in that region.