the Mound-Builders, in whatever locality the remains occur, were of the same type; although recent investigation appears to have established the conclusion that the mounds of Illinois and Missouri belong to a later date than those of Ohio. The fact, however, that the mounds in the various localities are not identical would present the claim for different nationalities. The fact that a few isolated effigy mounds have been found in Ohio would not connect the inhabitants of that State with those of Wisconsin, where these mounds are found in abundance. It having been established that intercommercial relations were maintained (by the finding of works of art made of foreign material) would lead to the supposition that this bartering, constantly kept up, would have a tendency to unify the structures of different nations. The effect that commerce has on a nation cannot be fully realized, but it is well known that it has a wonderful influence in changing the characteristics of a people. Even the negroes, in America, although their type is widely separated from the Caucasian, are frequently seen with facial expressions similar to the whites, and this in cases where there has been no admixture of other blood. When a nation or tribe becomes separated wholly from other people, the hard line of demarkation is

soon developed.

Apparent Facts. There are connected with all branches of study certain things or phases which need no special or profound investigation. It requires no special wisdom or profound knowledge to discern that the Mound-Builders were a settled people. These vast and numerous structures show that this race was far removed from a nomadic life. A wandering people are not industrious. The erection of the wonderful earth-works prove the people to have been an industrious, a settled, and an agricultural race. Add to this testimony that in the vicinity of these works agricultural or domestic implements are very numerous, we then have additional weight in support of this decision. In regard to the quantity of implements, take Butler County, Ohio, one of the principal seats of the Mound-Builders. During the past twenty-five or

more years there has been almost a constant drain of implements from that county into the different States, as well as to foreign nations. Cabinets Irave been forming, and as soon as formed, are either sold to collectors or speculators. During the past two years, with some special effort, I have collected in the line of hatchets, bark-peelers, and axes, alone, within the county, about one hundred and fifty specimens, varying in weight from half an ounce to fourteen pounds, and représenting nearly all shapes and patterns.

The copper mines of Lake Superior, and the mica mines of North Carolina, establish the position that the Mound Builders either sent parties to work the mines, or else bartered with tribes or nations engaged in mining, for both mica and copper are found in the mounds, leaving no doubt but that they were placed there by the people who constructed the earth-works. A wandering or nomadic people leave no enduring earthworks. The American Indian, although he had his villages, and raised corn, leaves no permanent marks behind. History alone tells of the extinct habitations of the red man in the now settled States.

Government and Religion. The study of the government and religion of a lost race must be involved in more or less obscurity, especially when ruins alone furnish the evidence. The indigenous races of America, whom we have come in contact with, furnish us many lessons that throw light upon the more ancient people. The Natchez Indians erected temples, and offered sacrifices to the Sun, and upon the altars fires burned perpetually. The chiefs were priests as well as civil officers. The Hurons, Pawnees, Mandans, and Minatarees worshipped the Sun, while the Delawares and Iroquois worshipped both the Sun and Moon, and, in common with the Southern Indians, held a festival in honor of fire. Not only among the hunter tribes, but also among the Peruvians, Central Americans, and Mexicans, representing an advanced stage of civilization, we find a worship of the same objects. The ancient Toltecs were a refined people, and had a mild religion. Upon this religion the Aztecs engrafted one of un

mitigated ferocity. The Mexican temple and altar mounds have their counterparts in the basin of the Mississippi; and as it is well known that in the former country these mounds were used for religious purposes, so also by the law of analogy it is just as reasonable to suppose that the so-called sacred enclosures and temple mounds of the latter country were used for religious ceremonies, as it is to presume that the stone axe or hatchet was employed for domestic purposes.

It is a matter of great doubt whether or not phallic worship can be ascribed to the Mound-Builders. I have, however, met with tubes whose shapes might be an evidence in that direction. It has been claimed that the circle and square represent the reciprocal principles of nature, the former symbolizing the male, and the latter the female principle. When it was desired to worship both principles at the same time, the octagonal form was used.

In both Mexico and Peru were immense buildings which no country could pay for, unless the labor in constructing them was illy rewarded. Their cost is unknown, but a historian informs us that it required the labor of 200,000 men to erect the royal palace of Mexico. The terraced pyramid of Cholula is one hundred and seventy-two feet high, and covers an area of forty-five acres; and the sole object of this immense expenditure of human labor was to cover the remains of two persons, the names of whom have long since passed from recollection. In a country like that, there were, there could be, but two classes, viz., the ruling, and the subject, class. The former exacted of the latter personal servitude and an abnegation of every principle that approached individual rights. The latter must be content to toil, exercise no influence in the choice of his master, and be perfectly satisfied with the ruling power, however tyrannical it might be. When the archæologist views the remains of the ancient monuments of the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, he is irresistibly led to conclude that here was once a government similar to that of Mexico and Peru; and where now are the silent sentinels of the past were once the scenes of busy life, and upon

the crowns of many of these mounds, in times gone by, were enacted the bloody rites of a sacrificial religion.*

Shell-Heaps. The shell-heaps of our Atlantic coast are still wrapped in much obscurity. Whether the people dwelt in wigwams, or possessed more durable domiciles, must for the present be left in doubt. That they lived on shell-fish, and hunted wild animals, the heaps give evidence. The country must have been thinly populated, and the people in a savage condition. Had they been progressive, or in a somewhat advanced state of civilization, evidences of this enlightenment would be found.

Antiquity. The study of high antiquity has become a branch of science almost of itself. In the investigation of the habits of any pre-historic people, this branch is very important, for not infrequently the main part of the investigation depends on the time when that people flourished. Again, we are not content to know about a people unless we can fix the epoch of their existence. If we study the people who feasted on the edible shell-fish of our coast, or built the monuments in the basin of the Mississippi, or constructed the wonderful abodes in the canons of the Rio San Juan, the time when they flourished is of peculiar interest.

Some of the shell-heaps are composed of two distinctive layers, separated by a formation of vegetable mould. Time must be allowed for this mould to form, and then time given for the accumulation of the upper layer of shells. Over all is another layer of vegetable mould thick enough to support forest trees. It is related that the first settlers saw a heavy growth of forest trees on the deposits of clam-shells near Mt. Desert. If any bones found in these heaps belong to extinct animals, then the question must be referred to geology.

Many reasons have been given for assigning a high antiquity to the Mound-Builders. Some of these will be enumerated. The effigy of the Mastodon in Grant County, Wisconsin, and

4 It is possible that the day is not far distant when it will be shown that the MoundBuilders held slaves belonging to a different and inferior type of mankind. The human skulls from Merom, Indiana, and other localities, may fully sustain the position.

the Mastodon pipes from Illinois, fully persuade us to believe that the constructors of these images were contemporary with that animal. They may have seen it north of Ohio, or else in Mexico, or possibly received their models from images brought from south of the Rio Grande. It is a question essentially geological, and does not imply that the geologist must reconstruct his ideas relative to the time when the mastodon became extinct in the United States, although he may be forced to prolong its time in Mexico. Time must be given for the accumulation of vegetable mould found in the ditches accompanying the walls of forts. In one instance we have a depth of nearly four feet of mould. The growth of the forest trees on the works require not only time, but also more time must be given for the reappearance of the same trees that were originally cleared off. The condition of the skeleton affords an evidence of antiquity. The graves of the Mound-Builders were very favorable for the preservation of the body. As the skeletons are almost invariably in an extreme state of decay, it is evident that time alone could effect so great a change. There are instances of streams encroaching upon the works, carrying away a portion of the embankment, and then receding a distance of three-quarters of a mile. This is a question also for the geologist, although so intimately connected with archæology. It is possible, and even probable, that the earthwork extended to the verge of the river's bank, and the encroachment took place soon after the abandonment of the structure. Still time must be given for the stream to cut its way to its present bed.

A high antiquity will hardly be claimed for the CliffDwellers of the far West. When these dwellings were first discovered, the cedar timber was well preserved. Besides this, the stained walls bear a remarkable freshness. Time. must be given for the building of these wonderful houses, as well as the towns or cities upon the level lands. But as all this apparently belongs to comparatively recent times, it is probable that we soon will have a complete history of all the questions involved.

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