Specimens of aboriginal art and ingenuity are being continually disinterred, in the progress of the cultivation of newly occupied lands, and they vary but slightly from those fabricated by the present tribes, evincing no evidences of a superior state of society. Their proximity to the surface of the earth affords one clue to distinguish them from such as can boast of a higher antiquity, which are usually found some distance beneath the soil. The domestic utensils, flint arrow-heads, stone ornaments, pipes, chisels, knives and tomahawks thus brought to light seldom surpass, in workmanship and design, those of acknowledged Indian manufacture, and of more modern date. An inferior kind of earthenware is of very usual occurrence, but its composition is more rude, and its execution less finished than those of the ancient pottery, while it does not excel such as the Indians have been accustomed to construct.*

There are no indications of any military or architectural structures, exhibiting much art, which can be clearly assigned to the present tribes.† Some fortifications and intrenchments have been ascribed to them, but merely by conjecture; and their dwellings are usually formed of the most fragile materials. The Esquimaux afford, however, an exception in the latter particular; for the remains of their habitations are frequently to be observed in small rude circles of rough stones, and trenched divisions of ground in a circular form.‡ Their method of con

*Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, p. 200.-Charlevoix's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 93.-"The nations of the south had only vessels of baked earth to dress their meat." Charlevoix, ibid.

† Description of Ohio, Louisiana, &c., p. 172.-Pike's Expedition, p. 56.

Back's Narrative, p. 253.--Parry's Second Voyage, p. 15.

structing their huts is also worthy of notice. They are built with blocks of snow, in the shape of a dome, each block being cut with great regularity and art, into the shape requisite to form a substantial arch, and having no support whatever but what this principle supplies.* It may be remarked, also, that the Esquimaux are accustomed to place stones and slabs in an upright position, in every conspicuous spot, some of which have been compared to obelisks. Similar monuments have been observed in other districts of the continent; but they are all unhewn, extremely rude, and bear no inscriptions.†

Many of the tumuli formed of earth, and occasionally of stones, are of Indian origin, and they may generally be distinguished by their inferior dimensions, and isolated situations. They are mostly sepulchral mounds: either the general cemetery of a village or tribe; funeral monuments over the grave of an illustrious chief, or upon a battle-field, commemorating the event and entombing the fallen; or the result of a custom, prevalent among some of the tribes, of collecting at stated intervals the bones of the dead, and interring them in a common repository. A mound of the latter description was formerly situated on the low grounds of the Rivanna river, in Virginia, opposite the site of an old Indian village. It was forty feet in diameter and twelve in height, of a spheroidal form, and surrounded by a trench, whence the earth employed in its erection had been excavated. The circumstances indicating the custom alluded to, were the great number of skeletons, their confused position, their situation in distinct strata exhibiting different

* Parry's Second Voyage, p. 34.

† Back's Narrative, p. 273.-Hodgson's Travels, vol. ii. App. p. 434. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, pp. 100, 103.

stages of decomposition, and the appearance of the bones of infants. A mound of similar character, and constructed in layers or strata at successive periods, existed near the south branch of the Shenandoah, in the same state.

There are other tumuli ascribed to the Indians, consisting of stones thrown rudely together, but they are less frequent than those formed of earth. One of these, upon the Blue Ridge, upon being opened was found to contain human bones; and another, in New York, is said to have marked the grave of a distinguished warrior.* The size of all of them is not invariably diminutive, as we are informed that Fort Watson, in South Carolina, was built upon the summit of one upwards of thirty feet in height; and, according to an authentic report, a mound of the largest dimensions has been thrown up within a few years, in Illinois, over the remains of an eminent chief.

So materially have the customs and institutions of the Indians been changed since the discovery, that most of these tumuli are of considerable age, and it has even been doubted, whether they were constructed by the immediate ancestors of the present Indians; but it appears, from a very respectable authority, that many tribes still continue to this day to raise a tumulus over the grave, the magnitude of which is proportioned to the rank and celebrity of the deceased. We find these mounds scattered at intervals over the surface of both Americas, from the country of

* Macauley's History of New York, vol. ii. p. 239.

† Ramsay's History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 34.

Beck's Gazetteer, p. 308.

§ James, vol. ii. p. 1.-Description of the Red River, p. 152.Brackenridge's View of Louisiana, p. 137.

the Esquimaux to that of the Fuegians;* and though neither by their size nor their contents, do they impress us with a high opinion of the civilization of their authors, still they shed some light upon their ancient history. If the Indians are the branches and descendants of a more civilized people, and have retrograded from a higher condition of society-an opinion supported by many curious facts—we may expect to find the greatest differences between them, and their more civilized ancestors, in such circumstances as are always affected by a change in mode of life; and to discover the strongest signs of affinity, if any, in religious belief, and in such customs as are arbitrary, and not the spontaneous and natural growth of a particular state of society. Accordingly we can trace a few such resemblances in their productions of art, and in their domestic manners; but the moment we contemplate their religion, and, above all, their method of disposing of the dead and their sepulchral monuments, a great and striking uniformity is exhibited. Reverence for the dead, though it be a feeling common to all mankind, and natural to the human heart, is a most marked and distinguishing trait in the character of the members of the Red race-not however as a sentiment, but as a religious and mystic feeling, springing less from the kindly affections of the soul, than from a superstitious impression, deeply imprinted in the very elements of their character. Even among such barbarous native tribes, as possess the lowest estimate of social virtues and duties, and as are characterized by the most savage indifference and selfishness in all the near and tender relations of life, the moment the spirit has left the body, a new chord seems to be struck in the hearts of

* Parry's Voyages.--Silliman.

the survivors, and those, who were neglected and perhaps hated when living, are venerated in death; and thus monuments have been reared over the bones of the departed, which, when alive and in the full tide of successful power and commanding influence, they could not have extorted as tributes of respect or obedience. Amid the barren waste of Indian apathy, here is a green spot whereon to rest the eye—a singular exception to that impenetrable, obdurate stoicism, possessed by them, in common with the more cultivated nations of the same race. Herein we perceive the reason, why the tumuli are the only monuments of the Indians; for with this religious feeling, as transmitted to them from their forefathers, they have also preserved the custom of erecting sepulchral mounds. In this view, these rude monuments are of important consideration; for, appearing alike, among the remains of art, and in the seats of the ancient civilized nations, and in remote regions whither civilization never penetrated, they develope one of the arguments tending to establish the common origin of all the American aborigines, whether barbarous or cultivated.