the ancient forest state had been regained. These evidences are therefore similar in one respect to all the other facts adduced to prove the age of these remains, for while they establish that the era of their erection is not modern; while they oppose not a single objection to their great antiquity; they still fail in pointing out with any degree of certainty the precise era of their

construction.

In attentively examining the localities in the vicinity of the mounds and mural remains, we observe various physical changes which have manifestly occurred since their construction-and which are usually the result only of the long, gradual, and continued action of natural causes. Thus in Florida, lakes which were formerly approached by artificial avenues, have since become dry. At the west, lakes and rivers upon whose margins these ruins are perceptible have deserted their ancient beds and channels,† and in the state of New York the line of mural remains is bounded by the ancient shores of lakes Erie and Ontario. There is nothing to contradict this conclusion, as to their

* A Discourse on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio, by William Henry Harrison.

"They are for the most part in rich soils and conspicuous situations. In the prairie regions, where I have seen the greatest number, they are covered with tall grass, and generally near benches which indicate the former course of rivers. In my farm on the beautiful prairie below St. Charles, the Mamelle or 'Point Prairie,' were two conical mounds of considerable elevation. A hundred paces in front of them was a high bench marking the shore of the Marais Croche, an extensive marsh, and evidently the former bed of the Missouri."Flint's Recollections, p. 166.

Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. iii. p. 154. Scientific Tracts, New Series, vol. iii. p. 157.

great antiquity, in the present state of preservation of the mounds and mural remains. Earthen structures are not greatly altered by age; but little perceptible change is made upon them by the action of the elements, if they are favorably located, and it is certain that monuments of a similar character are among the most ancient which have been preserved from antiquity, and are more enduring than the most solid specimens of architec

ture.

5. The means of subsistence of these nations.-The evidences of the numerous population formerly inhabiting the sites of these ruins, would suggest an inquiry as to their means of subsistence. It is probable some traces of their agriculture still existed not many years since; but the situation of the towns and cities would appear to be decisive of this question, for we find them usually upon the shores of streams and upon the richest soil, as if the choicest spots for the cultivation of the earth. had been selected.

6. Their institutions.-Civilized nations, living in populous communities, cannot subsist without some controlling form of government for law affords one of the elementary distinctions between savage and civilized life, and its protective influence is necessary and essential to the encouragement of the arts. The existence also of such vast public works would fortify this conclusion, and indicate some power capable of controlling and combining the labor of large numbers of men.

7. The objects of these structures.-That the tumuli, and many, if not all of the truncated mounds have served as sepulchres, may be inferred from the contents of the great number of them already examined; but we are not to conclude that this was the sole purpose of these enormous artificial elevations.

The level areas upon their summits, the careful manner in which some have been guarded by entrenchments, their relative situation to the fortified enclosures, and the regularity with which several of the groups have been arranged, suggest some other object. Numbers of them in the immediate vicinity of the fortifications are so disposed, as to demonstrate that they assisted in the defence of those positions. Others, and this remark applies to the majority of the important ones, from their astronomical position and their correspondence with the cardinal points, as well as from their analogy to the monuments of other nations, it is reasonable to presume were sacred edifices, and bore the altars of the gods.

The enclosures were likewise of two classes; some, of a regular geometrical form and small dimensions, as the one at Circleville, having been intended for religious purposes; and others, of a more irregular shape, and sometimes containing immense areas, having been occupied as cities and fortresses. It may be remarked, that, from a peculiarity in the disposition of some of the earthen embankments around the sites of cities, and from the existence of long and continued lines of others along the margins of rivers, it would appear as if they had also served for the protection of the enclosed areas, and the circumjacent plains from the disastrous effects of inundations.

Sometimes we find embankments extended to great distances, which, judging from their width, situation, and other circumstances, may very well have served as roads.* The

The Indians had wide and extensive paths-war or hunting paths-which stretched great distances, and having been opened from time immemorial, it has been supposed some of them denote the course of the roads of the ancient inhabitants.

long oval enclosures, often encircling a mound at one end, concerning which much conjecture has been exercised, and which resemble the Roman cursus, were probably devoted to a similar purpose, and were traversed on festival days by those religious processions which were so frequent in the sacred ceremonies of the Mexicans.

Where, it may be asked, are the remains of the dwellings of these nations? The same question arises upon viewing the ruins of the Mexican temples and pyramids now standing in solitude. Its solution rests in the fact, that, like all primitive people, while the houses of their princes and their gods were erected in the most durable manner, with the greatest labor, of the most massive materials, and adorned with the most exquisite and noble architectural embellishments, the tenements of the poor were of more humble dimensions, materials and structure. It is probable the latter were wooden and clay huts, or, at the best, like the dwellings of the Egyptians, composed of crude brick. Thus, as might have been anticipated, their religious monuments still remain, while of the dwellings that surrounded them hardly a trace can be distinguished.

8. The fortifications.-The best military judges have observed the skill with which the sites of many of the fortifications have been selected, and the artful combination of natural advantages with artificial means of defence exhibited in their con

* Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 96.

"What," says Denon in his Travels into Egypt, "has become of the residences or palaces of the kings? Were they built of unbaked and therefore perishable earth-or did the great men as well as the priests, inhabit the temples, and the people only huts?"-Denon's Travels, vol. iii. p. 58.

struction.* The care taken in their erection must have been necessary for protection against a powerful external enemy, or from internal wars. The latter probably was partially the case, as, extrinsic of other reasons, it is hardly likely that at so early a period, and in a state of semi-civilized society, this great people were united under one sovereign, or were free from internal commotions and revolutions.

Upon the whole, we may with justice say of these nations, from a review of their relics and monuments thus far,

1. That they were all of the same origin, branches of

*Bishop Madison (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. vi. p. 132,) has clearly shown that many of these enclosures never could have been intended as fortresses, and with this conclusion the following opinion of a competent judge coincides.-" Great as some of the latter are, and laborious as was their construction, particularly those of Circleville and Newark, I am persuaded they were never intended for military defences. On the contrary, those upon the Ohio river were evidently designed for that purpose. The three that I have examined, those of Marietta, Cincinnati, and the mouth of the Great Miami, particularly the latter, have a military character stamped upon them which cannot be mistaken.” The engineers" who directed the execution of the Miami work appear to have known the importance of flank defences, and if their bastions are not as perfect, as to form, as those which are in use in modern engineering, their position, as well as that of the long lines of curtains, are precisely as they should be."--Harrison's Discourse.

Carver, who was one of the first to notice these works, makes a similar remark in relation to the entrenchments he discovered near Lake Pepin. "Though much defaced by time," he observes, "every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself."--Carver's Travels, p. 45.