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SELECT
ANTIQUITIES, CURIOSITIES,
BEAUTIES AND VARIETIES,
OF
NATURE AND ART.
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PART III. -- CHAP. I.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.
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Ancient Cities, Temples, Palaces, Castles, Monuments, &c.
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GENERAL VIEW OF AMERICA,
By the Editor, with the aid of Private Communications and Published Authorities.
How insignificant the conquerors and heroes of ancient or modern times must appear, when compared with Columbus, the Discoverer of a New World.
The treachery and deceit of a Portuguese King, the mutinous impatience of ignorant sailors, the ingratitude of Ferdinand and the Spanish nation, are only so many incentives to our admiration of the man, who has achieved more for the benefit of his race, than all the kings and emperors who. have ever lived. PROVIDENCE, with the beneficent intention of preparing an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and of giving to freedom a permanent sanctuary, no doubt, directed the passage of this enterprising Genoese, through the then unknown and trackless Atlantic: But, though the humble instrument of an Almighty power, he is, notwithstanding, an object of the grateful recollection of mankind. *
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
America, since its first discovery by Columbus, in the year 1492, has not ceased to be the subject of European
desire and enquiry. Volumes of travels, tours, and local histories, have in various periods, served to amuse
and to inform the naturalist, the antiquary, and the general reader: but we may fairly calculate that not one
half the wonders of the immense regions of Columbia have yet been brought to view.
The length of America, from north to south, is more than nine thousand miles, and its greatest width four
thousand six hundred. The objects which it presents to our notice, are chiefly distinguished by their grandeur
and magnificence. The operations of nature seem here to have been conducted on a larger scale, and with, a
greater proportion of materials than in any other quarter of the globe. All is noble and majestic. The Alps
and the Pyrennees, those long celebrated mountains of Europe, sink into insignificance before the Andes or
Cordilleras. Chimborazo, the loftiest point of the Andes hitherto known, has nearly five thousand feet of
elevation greater than that of the highest mountain in Europe. As the mountains of the new world are elevated
and grand, so its plains are extensive and beautiful. In some places, and at certain seasons of the year the eye
feels its imperfection when it attempts to look over the verdant surface of these plains; and the traveller
wishes in vain for rocks and woods to relieve his sight. In other parts, there are forests widely extended and
almost impenetrable, except to the animals which inhabit them, or to the savages by whom those animals are
pursued. Its rivers and lakes are equally remarkable. Of the former, the Plata, the Oronoko, the Marignon or
Amazon, and the Mississippi, flow in such spacious channels, that, towards the lower part of their course, they
resemble arms of the sea, rather than streams of fresh water. In dimensions and extent they far exceed any of the
rivers of the old continent. In North America a chain of lakes extends from east to west. These are of magnitude
so immense, that they are rather like inland seas than lakes, and, except the Caspian Sea, they exceed in size
the greatest collections of water which any other part of the globe can boast.
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In Europe and Asia mankind, and the distinctions of civilization, form the principal features which interest the traveller and the historian. In the new world, man and his productions almost disappear amidst the stupendous display of wild and gigantic nature. The human race here either presents but a few remnants of indigenous hordes, slightly advanced in civilization, or it presents that uniformity of manners and institutions which are observable in the European colonists. But if America occupy no very important place in the history of mankind, and those revolutions which have agitated the human race, it offers an ample field to the labours of the naturalist. A luxuriance of vegetation, an eternal spring of organic life, climates varying by stages as we climb the sides of the Andes: and the means afforded for the study of geology, mineralogy, and natural philosophy, infinitely exceed those of any other part of the world.
With respect to the original inhabitants of America. There are few inquiries more interesting to a philosophic mind, than that which would explain the original peopling of this great continent. Various conjectures have been formed on the subject. Some writers have ascribed the first settlements in America to the Canaanites; and others to the Phoenicians, to the Carthaginians, to the Greeks, to the Scythians, and to other nations. But, to account for these settlements, by supposing that, in a remote period, some vessel may have accidentally been driven thither from the eastern parts of the world, is to rely upon a rather improbable conjecture. Other writers are inclined to think, that the two continents of America and Africa were originally united, and that they were subsequently severed by some violent convulsion of nature. This likewise is a conjecture, unsupported by evidence. An inspection, of a map of the world, however, will show that, at this day, the north-eastern part of Siberia, and the north-west part of America, are nearly joined; that is, they are separated by a strait not more than twenty miles in width; and that, in a lower latitude, a chain of islands reaches almost from one shore to the other. The inhabitants of these opposite shores resemble each other
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
in features, complexion, manners, habits, and customs, and it is far from improbable, that some families or tribes of wandering Tartars may have migrated across Behring's Straits, and may thus have given origin to the population of America. Among all the American tribes, the Esquimaux excepted, there is a great resemblance, both in form of body, and in qualities of mind; and in every prevailing feature, both of person and disposition, they resemble the tribes that are scattered through the north-east parts of Asia. The Esquimaux are not unlike the Greenlanders, in their aspect, dress, mode of life, and language; and Labrador and Green- laud are separated from each other only by a narrow strait.
With the exception of some provinces of North America, and of a few individuals in the central regions, the native inhabitants of this country are of a light brown, or copper colour. In Africa, the torrid zone is inhabited by negroes, and the blackness of their colour is ascribed to the intensity of the heat in the tropical climates. Whence then does it arise that, within the region of the torrid zone, there are no negroes in America? And how is it that the copper-colour is there so prevalent? To the first of these questions it may be answered, that America is destitute of negroes, because there the heat of the torrid zone is more equally distributed than it is in Africa; and therefore the same effect could not be produced in both regions in the same degree. To the latter it may be replied, that the copper colour is preserved in the highest latitudes of the New World by the state of society, which, among the American Indians, is uniform; by most of them using certain red pigments, or by some modifying circumstances which we know to exist, but which cannot easily be explained. The whole race of American Indians is distinguished by a peculiar thickness of the skin. Another peculiarity has been remarked of them, that they have no beards. The latter, however, is occasioned by their constant practice of pulling out by the roots all the hairs, as soon as they appear.
The ordinary stature of the native Americans is not very different from that of Europeans. But, owing either
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to their inactive life, or to some constitutional tendency with which we are unacquainted, their bodies are peculiarly plump and full.
Of the manners and habits of life of the several tribes of American Indians, we shall hereafter have occasion to speak.
The great variation of climate affects very sensibly the constitution of the inhabitants. People become old in America sooner than in Europe. Upon females the influence of the climate is still more sensible. When young the women are generally beautiful, and particularly at Philadelphia: but after twenty, they begin to lose their fresh colour and teeth, and at twenty-five many of them would pass for Europeans of forty! The number of children which die in infancy is proportionably greater than in Europe; colds, hooping-coughs, and disorders of the throat, taking oft' great multitudes.
The character of the inhabitants of the different states may be expected to be as dissimilar as the climates of the countries which they inhabit are various. The climate itself, the original formation of the colonies, their ancient governments, and the diversity of European nations, of which the population of the United States is composed, has in reality impressed this difference between them. The possession and usage of slaves in some stales, a traffic now almost wholly abolished, must have introduced a considerable difference in their manners.
The traits of character common to all, are an ardour for enterprize, greediness of gain, and an advantageous opinion of themselves. Habituated to fatigue from their infancy, having for the most part made their fortune by labour, it is not become repugnant even to those in the most easy circumstances. While they wish to enjoy the sweets of life, they do not regard them as absolutely necessary; they know how to quit them, and travel in the woods whenever their interest requires it; they can forget them whenever a reverse of fortune takes them away; and they know how to run after fortune when she escapes them.
The NATURAL PRODUCTIONS of America are wholly different
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
from the productions of the old continents. Most of them differ, both in shape and appearance, from those of every other part of the world. The quadrupeds in general are smaller and weaker: there are none equal in size to the elephant and the giraffe, and few so large as the camel or the horse. Some of the reptiles, however, are of enormous size. The woods have an infinitely more majestic appearance than the forests of Europe: they represent, in their various ages, the succession of centuries; and a new soil, of immense depth, is in some places formed by the remains of ancient vegetation. But what is chiefly remarkable in America, is the existence, beneath the surface of the ground, of the fossil or mineralized remains of immense quadrupeds. Particulars of which will be given hereafter.
As it respects the Government of the United States, its political constitution is perhaps the freest and most incorrupt of any. It is a pure system of representation, which includes the voice and will of the whole population. The Legislature consists of a House of Representatives and a Senate, corresponding to our Commons and Lords, with a President, elected every four years, instead of an hereditary Monarch, for the executive power. Every private individual in the United States has perfect liberty of conscience. There are, however some states in which the constitution requires every citizen, entering upon the legislative or executive function, to swear, "that he believes in one God, in a future state of rewards and punishments, in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and that he professes the protestant religion."
Dr. Moore, anticipating a future era of improvement, says, "Here the sciences and the arts of civilized life, are to receive their highest improvement: here civil and religious liberty are to flourish, unchecked by the cruel hand of civil or ecclesiastical tyranny: here genius, aided by all the improvements of former ages, is to be exerted in humanizing mankind, in expanding and enriching their minds with religious and philosophical knowledge, and in planning and executing a form of government, which shall involve all the excellencies of
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former governments, with as few of their defects as is consistent with the imperfections of human affairs, and which shall be calculated to protect and unite, in a manner consistent with the natural rights of mankind, the largest empire that ever existed."
Speaking of the western portion of the United States, the learned Editor of the "Western Quarterly Reporter * of Medical and Natural Science,'' says, "the time which has elapsed since the first settlement of this country is so short, and the changes effected have succeeded each
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* Two numbers of the "Reporter" have just been received, from its printer and publisher J. P. Foote, Esq. by the editor of this work, accompanied by the following obliging letter; several particulars in which, are important to those who may design to emigrate to the Western portion of the United States.
Cincinnati, 9th September, 1822.
DEAR SIR, I lost an opportunity of replying to your esteemed favour by Mr. Hilditch sometime since, which I regretted very much; and the present I had nearly lost, owing to sickness and death in my family, which has confined me to my house for some days past; I have just learned from Mr. H. that he intends to depart in the course of a few hours, and the business that has accumulated on my hands during my confinement, gives me only an opportunity of employing a few minutes of that time in writing to you. I send you herewith some publications on the Geography of this Country, and two numbers of a periodical work of which I have commenced the publication here, hoping that you may derive some amusement and information from them. The Reporter may serve to give you some idea of the state of literature and science among us. The others will shew the rapid increase of this Western World.
The classes of men to whom the inducement for emigration to this country are greatest, are poor mechanics and labourers, and men with small incomes which are
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
other with such rapidity, that credit can scarcely be given to the fact, that forty years ago, the places now enlivened by cities, towns, villages and all the active bustle of society, were shadowed by ancient forests, reechoing with the howls of ferocious animals -- the more
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not sufficient to give them the comforts of life in other parts of the world. The soil of this country is so extremely fertile and our distance from market is so great that the necessaries of life are very plentiful and cheap, and a small annual income will supply a family very comfortably. There are, however, few or no ways open for a rapid accumulation of wealth; and speculations for that purpose have been tried very extensively and have failed in almost every instance. Our society is composed of emigrants from all parts of the United States, and the British dominions; and we have more men among us of liberal education, polished manners, and good talents, than are generally expected to be found in so new a country.
Our climate is unfavourable to children, particularly those from a colder climate, for adults it is probably as healthy as any part of the United States. It is always found that a fertile soil in a new country is sickly for a time. A few years will probably render this part of the country as healthy as any part of the world, as every thing is favourable, except the recent state of cultivation, every additional year of improvement adds to the salubrity of the country.
1 shall be pleased to hear from you as occasions may offer, and if I can afford you any service in this remote quarter of the globe it will give me pleasure to receive your commands.
I remain, dear Sir,
With esteem,
Your obedient Servant,
J. P. FOOTE.
To Mr. C. Hulbert,
SHREWSBURY.
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discordant and terrifying yells of savage men, or the sullen roar of mighty rivers rolling their tributary waters to the ocean.
Such is, however, the truth. An immense population, widely extending cultivation, cities and manufactories, a rapidly advancing state of society, and an increasing refinement, are to be found here. A country singularly interesting to the moral, medical and natural philosopher, reaches to vast distances on all sides, and the progress of time will shew, that those who anticipate the future wealth and strength of this region, have not been mistaken in their views.''
The UNITED STATES comprehend an extensive portion of North America; bounded on the south, since the acquisition of the Floridas in 1819, by the gulf of Mexico; on the cast by New Brunswick and the Atlantic ocean; on the west by the territory inhabited by the Indians; although, with the exception of Louisiana, there are few settlers to the west of the Mississippi; and on the north and north-west by the river St. Lawrence, and a line drawn through the middle of lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and along the northern shore of lake Superior, whence it is prolonged westward into the desert territory of the Indians.
In the Michigan territory the settlers, however, are not numerous; and in the north-west territory, bounded by lake Superior on the north, and lake Michigan on the west, population has scarcely begun.
But in the United States the progress of population is much quicker than in the old and long settled countries of Europe. The fertile and unoccupied countries which lie westward, afford an ample expanse, on which the overflowing population may freely spread itself. So long as there is plenty of vacant ground, provisions must be abundant and cheap, the wages of labour will be high, and these circumstances are an extraordinary stimulus to the increase of inhabitants.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
The following topographical table contains a view of the United States, with the divisions of the country into different states:
[image]
The population of the United States is at least 10 millions; and, which according to the regular progression, will double itself in 25 years; to which may be added 400,000 Indians.
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This extensive territory is diversified by a tolerably equal proportion of hill and valley, and is watered by a great variety of navigable (streams. The country is intersected in almost its whole length by the great chain of mountains called the Allegany or Appalachian mountains, which extend 900 miles in length, from near the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the confines of Georgia, and are about 200 miles in breadth.
On the western side of the Allegany chain, the country is spread out into that vast valley which if bounded by the Rocky mountains on the west, and which is from 1200 to 1500, miles in breadth. The great river the Mississippi, which runs generally in a direction from north to south, and falls into the gulf of Mexico, is the common channel through which all the waters of this vast valley flow out into the ocean. The rivers which have their rise on the western declivity of the Allegany range, as well a* those which flow from the Rocky mountains, including the great river Missouri, all terminate in this general drain.
For 250 miles above the mouth of the Mississippi, the country is a perfect flat, and it afterwards rises by a gradual ascent. In consequence of this favourable configuration of the ground, vessels may ascend by the course of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Allegany rivers, an inclined plane of 2400 miles, to an elevation of 1200 or 1400 feet, without the help either of canals or locks. The advantages of this disposition of the ground for the purpose of commerce and navigation, need hardly be explained. With a greater elevation of the mountains, the streams would have run to the ocean with a rapidity that would have impeded navigation; and a lower elevation would not have been sufficient to have poured the surplus waters into the ocean.
Immense and, important as the United States of Northern America may appear, some have supposed that the SOUTHERN CONTINENT is destined to be more than its rival.
The following description of the Nations, recently Spanish Colonies, now Independent States, is from the Literary Chronicle, No. 1 70.
"The nations who have declared themselves independent,
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
are the empire of Mexico, and the republics of Columbia, Buenos Ayres, Peru, and Chili.
Mexico, including the kingdom of New Mexico and the province of Guatimala, extends from the Pacific Ocean on the south and west, to the uncertain limits of Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico on the east. The population of Mexico alone, exclusive of New Mexico and Guatimala, was estimated by Humboldt, in 1803, at 6,500,000. Since the beginning of their contest with Spain, the inhabitants of these provinces have taken a census, which may be considered tolerably accurate. They report the numbers to be, in --
Mexico 5,400,000
Guatimala 1,800,000
New Mexico 800,000
Total 8,000,000
The city of Mexico, the capital, contains, according to Humboldt, 137,000 inhabitants.
The independence of the Mexican empire was declared on the 24th of August, 1821.
The republic of Columbia consists of the provinces of Venezuela and New Grenada; and probably includes also the neighbouring provinces of Cumana, Guiana, and and Maracaybo. If so, it extends from the Spanish Main on the north, to Buenos Ayres and Peru; and from Dutch Guiana, on the east, to the Pacific Ocean; and contains about 3,500,000 inhabitants. Its principal city is Santa Fe de Bogoda, containing a population of 40,000.
It will be recollected that the provinces of New Grenada separately declared their independence; and, since the year 1808, have maintained a bloodier contest with the arms of Spain, than any of the provinces. On the 19th of December, 1819, they united themselves under one government, on the model of that of the United States, and assumed the name of 'the Republic of Columbia.'
Buenos Ayres, beginning at the 38th degree of south latitude, extends nearly 1600 miles to the north, where it is bounded by the unknown regions of Amazonia and Matto-Grosso; and from the Atlantic on the east, about
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1000 miles to Chili on the west. -- Its population is estimated at 1,100,000. -- The city of Buenos Ayres is supposed to contain about 60,000 inhabitants, and Monte Video about 30,000. The viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres declared its independence in 1816; but, though it encountered no opposition from the government of Spain, it has been distracted by civil wars, particularly with the Banda Orientale -- the eastern shore of La Plata; and by contests with the neighbouring provinces. It is said now to enjoy entire tranquility.
Peru is perhaps the least known of all the Spanish provinces. It is more than 1000 miles in length, from New Grenada to Chili, and stretches westward from Buenos Ayres to the Pacific Ocean. The Patriots have estimated its population at 1,700,000.
Lima, its principal city, was founded by Pizarro, and now contains about 53,000 inhabitants; of whom 17,000 are Spaniards, 9000 Negroes, 3000 Indians; and the rest a mixed race, the descendants of Spaniards and Indians.
Peru was liberated from the power of the Spaniards last Summer, by an army from Buenos Ayres and Chili, under the command of General San Martin. On the capture of Lima, on the 12th of June, 1821, they proclaimed their independence.
Chili, extending from Peru to the Archipelago of Chiloe, has, in fact, never been entirely conquered from the natives. The Arancanians, inhabiting about 300 miles of the southern part of Chili, having resolutely maintained their independence against all the attacks of the Spaniards since the first invasion of Diego Almagro; and the possession of the northern part of the country, which the Spaniards ultimately acquired, cost them more blood and treasure, than all the rest of the Continent. One of the finest poems in the Spanish language, the Arancana of Alonzo de Ercilla, celebrates the wars of this nation with their Spanish invaders.
Spanish Chili is about 780 miles long and 250 broad. Santiago, the capital, contains about 46,000 inhabitants; Valparaiso about 20,000. The number of inhabitants in the province has never been estimated. The people proclaimed their independence of Spain in 1818; and
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have since been unmolested in the possession of their sovereignty.
These five communities are now introduced into the great society of nations. It is impossible to predict the moral and political effects of their independence; but when it is remembered that the blessings of freedom and knowledge are now placed within the reach of fifteen millions of the human race, no sentiments can arise in our hearts, but those of gratitude and joy. It is worthy of remark, that the human character has attained its highest perfection either in times of great agitation and calamity, or immediately after such periods. -- An age of revolutions is always an age of great mental energy. In times of civil contention, there is a development of talent, that, on ordinary occasions, would have remained concealed. And even among those, who, by birth or fortune, are placed at the summit of society, there is, in stirring times, an excitement of feeling -- a kindling of imagination -- that prepares them for great enterprises. From being obliged to act for themselves, they learn to think for themselves.
If these remarks are correct, we may indulge the brightest hopes of these Southern republics, including also the kingdom of Brazil. They have entered upon a career of almost endless improvement. And, though much disorder and confusion may attend the beginning of their course, they will soon attain the knowledge and freedom and civilization of the happiest states of Europe."
The extensive Portuguese kingdom, or empire of the Brazils, above alluded to, is divided into eight governments, besides that of Rio Janeiro, including a population of 200,000 whites, 600,000 negroes, and 1,000,000 of natives.
The climate in the south is delicious, and the soil fertile; but the north is exposed to rains, thunder and storms. The vallies are rich, the forests extensive, and the rivers and mountains are both numerous and grand.
Brazilian Diamond Mines are greatly celebrated, though inferior to those of the east; but diamonds constitute not the real wealth of this immense territory, they are inconsiderable when compared with the herd»
GENERAL VIEW OF AMERICA. 19
of wild cattle which range the forests, and medicinal plants of rare virtues which every where abound.
British North America comprehends the extensive and valuable Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada, extending from the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Lake Winnipeg 1400 miles, and of the average breadth of 200 miles: To which may be added Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the Bermudas or Summer Islands, about half way between Nova Scotia and the West Indies.
The West Indian Islands pertaining to Great Britain are not only numerous but valuable and important: comprising Jamaica, Barbadoes, St. Christopher, Antigua, Nevis, Barbuda, Anguila, Dominica, St. Luica, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Virgin Islands; we have also the thriving settlement of Demerara, a part of the Southern Continent, &c.
Canada is in general mountainous and woody, but in the Upper Province there are savannas and plains of great beauty. The climate of the western parts of Upper Canada is not only healthful but agreeable. The cold, in winter, in every part is undoubtedly severe, but in compensation for this the sky is bright and cloudless, particularly conducive to health and longevity. The autumns of Upper Canada resemble very much those of Great Britain, though the spring is far from being as pleasant. The soil of the Upper Province is excellent, as is some portion of the Lower.
The Upper Province may probably contain at: this time 230,000 inhabitants, and daily increasing; while the population of the Lower may not exceed 120,000, and is nearly stationary. One principal hindrance to the more rapid settlement of these valuable Colonies is, their proximity to the United States, and consequent exposure to invasion in case of any disagreement between the governments of Great Britain and America. Some future day, it appears almost certain, that the Canadas will either establish their own independence, or fraternise with their republican neighbours.
Our possessions in the West Indies are no less likely eventually to desert the nation which now renders them support.
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The passing of the law for the abolition of the Slave Trade, and other restrictive measures of the parent country, have given to the planters and merchants of the West Indies no inconsiderable offence; and in most of their speeches on public occasions they manifest strong feelings of dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction is not unknown to the slaves, who are many times the numerical strength of the planters; and in the event of any rupture, must necessarily contemplate complete emancipation, if not the entire possession of the property of their masters.
In case of their being voluntarily emancipated by the planters, the consequence, probably, would be union, and an attempt to establish a government, or governments independent of Great Britain. That such a change would be to the advantage of the islands is not very certain. But, supposing a revolt among the slaves, and their final ascendancy, the scenes which would follow are too horrible for contemplation; and we sincerely pray that the moderation and wisdom of government and the planters, will devise such means, and adopt such measures, as shall secure the just rights of all parties, and prevent the horrors of an insurrection. -- Gradual, but total emancipation, with due encouragement to free blacks commencing business or planting, would attach them to that island, and to that community, of which they may form a part; and give them a fellow feeling, and a fellow interest in the peace and prosperity of the whole of the islands.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
[image]
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ANTIQUITIES, &c.
Primeval woods and forests, vast and rude,
Where reigns one deep, unbroken solitude!
Eternal oaks who've wider stretch'd their arms,
And deeper struck their roots, amidst the storms,
Beneath their aged trunks (whose fibres sleep
In earth's dark central caverns founded deep,)
Entombed in earth, and mighty waters lie,
Towers which invaded yonder Lofty sky!
There the proud ruins of those days of yore,
Reveal In groans, Columbia's ancient power:
Strong forts repose beneath that fertile soil,
Which time has, formed of Nature's mould'ring spoil.
Where the bright temple echoed songs divine,
The roots firm anchor of the stately pine;
Low in the halls where glittering minarchs sat.
Reign in their solemn gloom, the mole and bat!
Where fluttering lords their honey'd venom spake,
Devours his prey, the deadly rattle-snake!
Hush! for what horrid stillness dwells on all,
Silent the holy fane, -- the mirthful hall. --
Silent, historic, truth and fable there,
Swept from the earth as though they never were!
Oblivion of thy treasures spare one view,
Spirits of olden time, inform the new. –
Say, were ye Scythian tribes, whose wandering feet
Cross'd the cold north, a warmer clime to greet;
Or Canaan's exiled children whom the wave,
Bore from your conquered homes, to meet this grave;
Or Madog's vent’rous bands who fill'd the west,
The brave Columbus this far clime address' d:
Say were these ponderous walls like Egypt's towers,
Raised by a captive nation's fainting powers?
Had freedom's sinewy children bid them grow.
They had not fallen so soon, or sunk so low!
Sepulchr’d giants! slumbering sons of old,
No more your voices ring your domes of gold,
No more your pompons palaces remain,
But freedom builds her never dying fane;
Fade, thrones of tyrant kings, a nobler race
Erect their tents in your forsaken place!
Slaves I had ye known of freedom's charms one glance,
Oh, ye had burst your chains, and gain'd deliverance!
C. A. H.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANTIQUITIES IN
THE STATE OF OHIO.
UNITED STATES, NORTH AMERICA.
(From Kilbourii's Ohio Gazetteer, published at Columbus, U. S. 1819.)
The most prominent antiquities are the numerous mounds and forts of earth, in the state of Ohio, as well as the western states generally, which are found interspersed throughout almost the whole extent of country, as far west and south-west of the Allegany mountains as the country is much known. The general direction in which these fortifications, as they are called, lie, is from north east to south west. The place where they commence, or at least, where they are very remarkable, is in the western part of the state of New York, near the southern shores of lake Ontario. From thence they extend in a south-westerly direction through the western states and territories, and terminate in Mexico.
Various have been the conjectures of the learned concerning the time when, by what people, and even for what purpose, these stupendous monuments of human ingenuity were erected. Their origin is so deeply involved in the obscurity of remote antiquity, without any light of history, or even authentic tradition, to conduct our enquiries concerning them to the desired result, that no certainty upon the subject will probably ever be attained. The writer will therefore only give an account of facts, or a mere statement of the present appearances of those antiquities; and even within these limits, he will confine himself chiefly to a description of those which have fallen within the limits of his own personal observation. It will likewise be unnecessary to describe, minutely, every individual mound and fortification; for, almost always, the same general plan and principle of their structure is discoverable in them all. Therefore, a particular description of a few will substantially be a description of the whole.
Some of the most remarkable forts and mounds in this state, are at Worthington, at Granville, m Athens, in Marietta, in Gallipolis, in Chillicothe, on Paint creek
(U. States) MOUNDS, FORTS, &c. 23
18 miles north west from Chillicothe, on a plain 3 miles north east of Chillicothe, and at Circleville on the east bank of the Scioto river, about 60 miles in direct line from its mouth, and on the little Miami river. There are no fortifications, (or not any of much notoriety,) at any of these places, except at Granville, at Circleville, near Chillicothe, on Paint creek, and the little Miami; but, at these places, there are both mounds and forts. Mounds of earth, of various sizes, are found interspersed over almost the whole face of the country; but the forts, as they are called, are not so numerous. The mounds vary, in magnitude, vastly from each other, and somewhat so in shape; some are of a conical figure, ending on the top in a point, and as steep on the sides as the earth could be made to lie; others are of the same form, except that they present a flat area on the top, like a cone cut off at some distance from its vertex, in a plane coincident with its base, or with the horizon. Others again are of a semi-globular shape. Of this latter description is that standing in Gallipotis. The largest one near Worthington is of the second kind, and presents, on the summit, a level area of 40 feet in diameter. There is one at Marietta of the same kind, but the circular area on the top does not exceed 20 feet in diameter. Its perpendicular height is about 50 feet; and is 20 rods in circumference at its base. Those in Worthington, and Gallipolis, are each from 15 to 20 rods in circumference, at their bases. There are a number of others of less magnitude, which have fallen within the limits of the writer's observation, particularly on the west side of the Hockbocking river in the township of Athens; on the south side of Shade river about 20 miles south of Athens; and in the French Grant about 60 rods north of the Ohio river, and opposite to the mouth of Little Sandy river, in Kentucky. At each of the two latter places, respectively, there are three several mounds within a few feet of each other. These are much smaller than those before described, and are each from 5 to 10 or Id feet in perpendicular height, and proportionally large in circumference.
Many of these mounds are composed of earth of a different quality from that which is found in their immediate
24
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
vicinity. This circumstance seems to indicate that the earth of which they were composed, was transported from some distance. A striking instance of this difference of composition was observed, a few years since, in a mound at Franklinton, near the main fork of the Scioto river. This mound was composed altogether of clay, of which the bricks for the court house, in that town, were made. In it were likewise found a much greater number of human bones, than have been discovered in almost any other of its size.
It is believed, from the best information which can be obtained upon the subject, that the largest of all the mounds which have yet been discovered, is the one adjoining Big Grave creek, near the Ohio river, 14 miles below Wheeling. This mound, according to the account given of it by an intelligent gentleman, who examined it personally, is about 33 rods in circumference, and consequently between 10 and 11 rods in diameter, in its base. Its perpendicular height is about 70 feet. On the summit is an area of nearly 60 feet in diameter, in the middle of which is a regular concavity, the cubical content of which is about 3000 feet. Within a short distance of this large one, are five small ones, some of which are thirty feet in diameter.
The epithet Grave has been applied to the creek which runs by the large mound, and to another called Little Grave creek, one mile north of the former, on account of the great number of these mounds which have been discovered in their vicinity: which mounds, both here and elsewhere, are pretty generally supposed to have been cemeteries for the dead. One principal reason for this supposition, is the circumstance of human bones having been discovered in most of those which have been examined. Most of those bones presently crumble in pieces or moulder into dust, shortly after being exposed to the air; except in some instances, wherein the teeth, jaw, scull, and sometimes a few other bones, by their peculiar solidity, resist the above described effects of a contact with the air.
Among those places, where are the greatest number, and most prominent and entire of the earthen walls, which are commonly supposed to have been forts and
25
military fortifications, are Granville and Circleville, in this state, and the land bordering on the Great Kanhawa river in Virginia, towards its mouth, and from thence down the Ohio 10 or 12 miles; at the latter place, in particular, the country is very thickly bestrewn with them. And among these is a mound of similar magnitude with the largest at Grave creek.
The fortifications throughout the western country generally, consist of a circular wall composed of earth, and usually, as steep, on the sides, as the dirt could conveniently be made to lie. Sometimes, though rarely, their form is elliptical or oval, and a few of them are square. Their height is almost infinitely various. Some of them are so low as to be scarcely perceptible: some are from 20 to 30 feet in perpendicular height; while others again are of an intermediate elevation. But the wall of the same fort, is pretty uniformly of the same height all around. They are likewise equally various in the contents of ground, which they enclose: some containing but a few perches of land; others again, containing nearly 100 acres. The number of their entrances or gate-ways, varies in different forts from one to eight or more, in proportion to the plan of construction, and magnitude of the enclosure. The walls are, mostly, single; but, in a few instances, the forts have been found consisting of two walls parallel, and adjacent to each other. As to their local situation, it may perhaps, suffice to observe that they are, generally, situated on a comparatively elevated site of ground, adjoining a river or stream of water. Some, even among the most learned men, have controverted the idea of their having been designed for forts; but a strong argument in favour of the idea is, that they seem in a majority of instances to have been constructed in such advantageous and commanding ground as skilful military positions: still, numbers of them seem to be erected, without any regard to the choice of situation, as it respects eligibility either for offence, or defence.
One of the most remarkable collections of these fortifications, is at Circleville, the chief town of Pickaway county. This town derives its name from the circumstance of being laid out within one of the old circular
26
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
forts, and with circular streets, corresponding with the external fortification. The town plat, however, includes the area of a square fort, adjoining the circular one on the east, besides two streets circumscribing nearly the whole.
The circular fort consists of two parallel walls, whose tops are, apparently, about three rods asunder; the inner one of which is forty seven rods in diameter. Between these two walls is a fosse, excavated sufficiently broad and deep; and not more than sufficiently so, to have afforded earth enough for the construction of the external wall alone. From this circumstance, among others, the earth composing the inner wall, is supposed to have been transported from a distance. Another particular, corroborating this supposition, is, there being a level foot way, of about four feet wide, left on the original surface of the ground, between the interior base of the inner wall. Although this circumstance is far from being conclusive upon the subject; yet, the following fact almost infallibly proves this conjecture to be well founded. This is, that the interior wall is composed of clay, of which the inhabitants manufacture brick; whereas, the exterior circle is composed of dirt and gravel of similar quality with that which composes the neighbouring ground.
There is but one original regular opening, or passage, into the circular fort; and that is in the east side from the square one. The latter has seven avenues leading into it, exclusively of that which communicates with the circle; there is one at every corner, and one on each side equidistant from the angular openings. These avenues are each 12 or 15 feet wide; and the walls, on either hand, rise immediately to their usual height; which is above 20 feet. The trees, which are growing upon these, and all the other forts and mounds throughout the country, are, apparently, of equal age and size, and those which are down are in equal stages of decay, with those, in like situations, in the surrounding forests. This circumstance, incontestibly proves the great antiquity of those stupendous remains of former labour and ingenuity.
27
ANCIENT WORKS IN PERRY COUNTY, OHIO.
(From the Archaeologist Americana, printed at Worcester, Massachusetts, U. S. 1820.)
Southwardly from the great works on the Licking, four or five miles in a northwestern direction from Somerset, the seat of justice for Perry county, and on section twenty-one, township seven, range sixteen, is an ancient work of stone. In the centre is a stone mound. This stone mound is circular, and in the form of a sugar loaf, from twelve to fifteen feet in height There is a smaller circular stone tumulus, standing in the wall, which encloses the work, and constitutes a part of it.
There is a large and high rock, lying in front of an opening in the outer wall. This opening is a passage between two large rocks, which lie in the wall, of from seven to ten feet in width. These rocks, on the outside, present a perpendicular front of ten feet in altitude, but after extending fifty yards into the enclosure, they enter the earth and disappear.
There is also a small work, whose area is half an acre; the walls are of earth, and of a few feet only in height. This large stone work contains within its walls forty acres and upwards. The walls, as they are called in popular language, consist of rude fragments of rocks, without any marks of any iron tool upon them. These stones lie in the utmost disorder, and if laid up in a regular wall, would make one seven feet or seven feet six inches in height, and from four to six feet in thickness. I do not believe this ever to have been a military work, either of defence or offence; but if a military work, it must have been a temporary camp. From the circumstance of this work's containing two stone tumuli, such as were used in ancient times, as altars and as monuments, for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of some great era, or important event in the history of those who raised them, I should rather suspect this to have been a sacred enclosure, or "high place," which was resorted to on some great anniversary. It is on high ground, and destitute of water, and. of coarse, could not have been a place of habitation for any length of time, It might have
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
been the place, where some solemn feast was annually held by the tribe by which it was formed. The place has become a forest, and the soil is too poor to have ever been cultivated by a people who invariably chose to dwell on a fertile spot. These monuments of ancient manners, how simple and yet how sublime. Their authors were rude, and unacquainted with the use of letters, yet they raised monuments, calculated almost for endless duration, and speaking a language as expressive as the most studied inscriptions of latter times upon brass and marble. These monuments, their stated anniversaries and traditionary accounts, were their means of perpetuating the recollection of important transactions. Their authors are gone; their monuments remain; but the events, which they were intended to keep in the memory, are lost in oblivion.
----------
ANCIENT TUMULI.
THE SAME.
f The following information is extracted from the Letter of Dr. Hildreth, to the President of the American Antiquarian Society, dated Marietta, Nov. 3, 1819.)
There is another species of ancient works in this country which deserves our notice. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones, which were intended for many sacred and important purposes. In many parts of the world similar mounds were used as monuments, sepulchres, altars, and temples.
The accounts of these works, found in the scriptures, show that their origin must be sought for among the Antideluvians. That they are very ancient, were used as places of sepulture, public resort and public worship, is proved by all the writers of ancient times, both sacred and profane. Homer frequently mentions them. He particularly describes the tumulus of Tytyus and the spot where it was. In memory of the illustrious dead, a sepulchral mound of earth was raised over their remains; which from that time forward became an altar, whereon to offer sacrifices, and around which, to exhibit games of athletic exercise. These offerings and games
29
were intended to propitiate their manes, to honour and perpetuate their memories. *
"In addition to the articles found at Marietta," says Dr. Hildreth, "I have procured, from a mound on the Little Muskingum, about four miles from Marietta, some pieces of copper, which appear to be the front of a helmet. It was originally about eight inches long, and four broad, and has marks of having been attached to leather; it is much decayed, and is now quite a thin plate. A copper ornament in imitation of those described, and found in Marietta, was discovered with the plate, and appears to have been attached to the centre of it by a rivet, the hole for which remains both in the plate and ornament. At this place the remains of a skeleton were found. No part of it retained its form, but a portion of the forehead and skull, which lay under the plate of copper.
"The mound in which these relics were found, is about the magnitude of the one in Marietta, and has every appearance of being as ancient. I have in any possession some pieces of ancient potters' ware, found within the ancient works at Marietta. They are, some of them, neatly wrought, and composed of pounded flint stone and clay. ** They are yet quite solid and firm although they have lain for several years, exposed to rain and frost, on the surface of the ground.
"We often find pieces of broken ware, near the banks of the river, and in the bottoms; but they are composed of clay and pounded clam shells; are much less compact and firm, and do not appear to have been burnt They are evidently of the same composition with those made by the modern Indians.
"Some time in the course of this month, we propose opening several mounds in this place; and if any thing is discovered, which will throw light on the subject of
__________
* Alexander the Great paid great honours when at Ilion, to the manes of Achilles, and caused games to be celebrated round his tomb. -- ED.
** Vessels are found in some instances equal to any now manufactured in any part of the world.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
the "Ancients of the finest," it shall be communicated to your Society, with a portion or all of the articles found. It seems to be a well established fact, that the bodies of nearly all those buried in mounds, were partially, if not entirely, consumed by fire, before the mounds were built. This is made to appear, by quantities of charcoal being found at the centre and base of the mounds; stones burned and blackened, and marks of fire on the metallic substances buried with them. It is a matter of much regret that on no one of the articles yet found, has been discovered any letters, characters, or hieroglyphicks, which would point to what nation or zzzapre these people belonged. 1 have been told by an eye witness, that a few years ago, near Blackshurgh in Virginia, eighty miles from Marietta, there was found about half of a steel bow, which, when entire, would measure five or six feet; the other part was corroded or broken. The father of the man who found it was a blacksmith, and worked np this curious article, I suppose, with as little remorse as he would an old gun-barrel. Mounds are very frequent in that neighbourhood, and many curious articles of Antiquity have been found there."
1 have also been told from good authority, that an ornament, composed of very pure gold, something similar to those found here, was discovered a few years since in Ross county, near Chillicothe, lying in the palm of a skeleton's hand, in a small mound. This curiosity, I am told, is in the Museum at Philadelphia. "
As we still descend the Scioto, through a most fertile region of country, mounds and other ancient works frequently appear, untill we arrive at Circleville, twenty- six miles south of Columbus, where are to be seen some of the most interesting Antiquities any where to be found.
"The works (at Circleville) have been noticed, but the mounds remain to he described. Of these there were several which the ruthless hum! of man is destroying. Near the centre of the round fort, was a tumulus of earth, about ten feet in height, and several rods in diameter at its base. On its eastern side, and extending nix rods from it, was a semicircular pavement, composed of pebbles, such as are now found in the bed of the Scioto
31
river, from whence they appear to have been brought.
The summit of this tumulus was nearly thirty feet in diameter, and there was a raised way to it, leading from the east, like n modern turnpike. The summit was level. The outline of the semicircular pavement and the walk is still discernible. -- The earth composing this mound was entirely removed several years since. The writer was present at its removal, and carefully examined the contents. It contained,
1. Two human skeletons, lying on what had been, the original surface of the earth.
2. A great quantity of arrow heads, some of which were so large, as to induce a belief that they were used for spear heads.
3. The handle either of a small sword or a large knife, made of an elk's horn; around the end where the blade had been inserted, was a ferule of silver, which, though black, was not much injured by time. Though the handle showed the hole where the blade had been inserted, vet no iron was found, but an oxyde remained of similar shape and size.
4. Charcoal and wood ashes, on which these articles lay, which were surrounded by several bricks very well burnt. The skeleton appeared to have been burned in a large and very hot fire, which had almost consumed the bones of the deceased. This skeleton was deposited a little to the south of the centre of the tumulus; and about twenty feet to the north of it, was another, with which were
5. A large mirror, about three feet in length, one foot and a half in breadth, and one inch and a half in thickness. This mirror was of isinglass, (mica membranacea) and on it,
6. A plate of iron, which had become an oxyde; but before it was disturbed hy the spade, resembled a plate of cast iron. The mirror answered the purpose very well for which it was intended. This skeleton had also been buried like the former, and lay on charcoal and a considerable quantity of wood ashes. A part of the mirror is in my possession as well as a piece of a brick, taken from the spot at the time.
The knife, or sword handle, was sent to Mr. Peale's Museum, at Philadelphia.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
To the south west of this tumulus, about forty rod* tram it, is another, more than ninety feet in height. It stands on a large hill, which appears to be artificial. This must have been the common cemetery, as it contains an immense number of human skeletons, of all sizes and ages.
The skeletons are laid horizontally, with their heads generally towards the centre, and the feet towards the outside of the tumulus. A considerable part of this work still stands uninjured, except by time. In it have been found, besides these skeletons, stone axes and knives, and several ornaments, with holes through them, by means of which, with a cord passing through these perforations, they could be worn by their owners.
On the south side of this tumulus, and not far from it, was a semicircular fosse, which, when I first saw it, was six feet deep. On opening it, was discovered at the bottom a great quantity of human hones, which, I am inclined to believe, were the remains of those who had been slain in some great and destructive battle. First, because they belonged to persons who had attained their full size; whereas, in the mound adjoining, were found the skeletons of persons of all ages; and secondly, they were here in the utmost confusion, as if buried in a hurry. May we not conjecture, that they belonged to the people who resided in the town, and who were victorious in the engagements? otherwise they would not have been thus honourably buried in the common cemetery.
ANCIENT TUMULI CONTINUED.
(From Mc.Murtrie's Sketches of Louisville.)
Dr. McMurtrie modestly remarks "the antiquities of the western country in general, have been already so minutely described by others, that I shall, no doubt be readily excused for the brevity of the present article, and the more so, as there is nothing of the kind peculiarly interesting in the immediate vicinity of Louisville.
Mounds or tumuli are occasionally met with, some of which have been opened; nothing, however, was found to repay the trouble of the search, but a few human
33
bones, mixed with others apparently belonging to the deer.
With respect to the uses of these accumulations, there can be no doubt; their contents speak plainly on the subject, and from the circumstance of some of them having been found to contain but one skeleton, while from others, of not more than equal magnitude, the remains of twenty have been disinterred, we may reasonably conclude, that the former were designed for the mausolea of chiefs, or distinguished persons, the latter for those of the community.
Hatchets of stone, pestles or grain beaters, of the same material, arrow beads, of flint, together with the remains of hearths, indicated by flat stones surrounded I iv, and partly covered with broken shells, fragments of bones, charcoal, calcined earth, Sec. are every where to be seen, and some of them in situations affording an ample fund for speculation to the geognost. Two of the first mentioned instruments were discovered, a few miles below the town, at the depth of forty feet, near an Indian hearth, on which, among other vestiges of a fire, were found two charred brands, evidently the extremities of a stick that had been consumed in the middle, on this identical spot: the whole of this plain, as we before observed, is alluvial, and this fact shows to what depth that formation extends. But at the time the owners of these hatchets were seated by the fire, where, I would ask, was the Ohio? Certainly not in its present bed, for these remains are below its level; and where else it may have been, I am at a loss even to conjecture, as there are no marks of any obsolete water course whatever, between the river and Silver Creek hills, on the one side, and between it and the Knobs, on the other.
Not many years past, an iron hatchet was found in a situation equally singular. A tree of immense size, whose roots extended thirty or forty feet each way, was obliged to be felled, and the earth on which it grew to be removed, in order to afford room for a wall connected with the foundations of the great mill, at Shippingport. A few feet below the surface, and directly under the centre of the tree, which was at least six feet in diameter,
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
was found the article in question, which, as was evident upon examination, had been formed out of a flat bar of wrought iron, heated in the fire to redness, and bent double, leaving a round hole at the joint for the reception ol a handle, the two ends being nicely welded together, terminated by a cutting edge.
Many others of a similar description have been found at different times and places, but as they were always attributed to the settlers of Kentucky, subsequent to 1769, no care was taken to note such local circumstances as might have determined a greater quantity; and the one above mentioned would have, no doubt, shared the same fate, but for this obvious fact, that the tree must necessarily have grown over the axe previously deposited there, and that no human power could have placed it in the particular position in which it was found, after that event had taken place. The tree was upwards of two hundred years old.
A little below Clarksville, immediately on the hank of the river, is the site of a wigwam, covered with an alluvial deposition of earth, six feet in depth Interspersed among the hearths, and scattered in the soil beyond them, are large quantities of human bones, in a very advanced stage of decomposition. Facts most generally speak for themselves, and this one, tells a very simple and probable tale. The village must have been surprised by an enemy, many of whose bodies, mixed with those of the inhabitants, were left upon the spot. Had it been a common burial place, something like regularity would have been evinced in the disposition of the skeletons; neither should we have found them in the game place, with the fire places of an extensive settlement, (or near it) but below it.
That walls, constructed of bricks and hewn stones, have been discovered in the western country, is a fact as clear as that the sun shines when he is in his meridian splendour, the dogmatical assertions of writers to the contrary, notwithstanding. Among the great variety of the latter, I shall name but one, which I have selected, because, the gentleman who is my authority for the story, is now in this town, was himself on the spot, and is one on whose simple word the most implicit reliance may be
35
placed: Mr. R. W. Todd assured me, that he was present, during the year 1809, where some workmen were employed in sinking a well on Todd's Fork, a branch of the Little Miami. At the depth of eighteen or twenty feet, they came to the stump of a tree and a grape vine, and, lower down, to a wall, regularly constructed of hewn stone. Having dug a few feet along the side of this, their spades, &c. were arrested by a pavement composed of the same materials. They had but little time to comment on this discovery, for the water rushed in and obliged them to ascend so speedily, that they could hardly loosen one of the stones from the wall which, however, they accomplished, and brought it up with them. Mr. Todd examined the stone attentively, and declares it to have been a piece of a silicious limestone rock, of a regular oblong figure, evidently fashioned by some iron instrument.
With respect to the existence of the former, Mr. Savage, of this place, has lately made a discovery, that puts the fact beyond a possibility of doubt, and one that tends to throw much light upon the race of people now supposed extinct, that once inhabited the vallies of the Mississippi and Ohio.
This gentleman fatigued by the continual ennui of his situation, the natural consequence of his confinement to the Buffaloe steam boat, which, from accidents happening to her machinery, running aground, &c. was detained a long time in the Mississippi, determined upon an excursion to the shores of the river, where accident directed his steps to the ruins of a fortified town of considerable extent, near the river St. Francis; among which were still standing, part of the walls of a citadel, built of bricks cemented by mortar.
Over these walls were spread, the extended branches of a number of gigantic trees, which grew upon them. To ascertain the age of the largest of these, was a point of primary importance, to fell them, no easy task; perseverance, however, soon accomplished, what curiosity had commenced, and several of them were leveled with the earth, when it was found, from the number of annual . rings visible on the surface of the stumps, that they . must lave stood there, at least, three hundred years!
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
which furnishes a hint, respecting the probable time the town became a ruin. The bricks (several of which are now in this place) are composed of clay mixed with chopped and twisted straw, of regular figures hardened by the action of fire, or the sun. It is a subject of deep regret to me, that I am only able to furnish this very lame and imperfect account of one of the most interesting discoveries, respecting the arts of the ancient inhabitants of America, that has ever been made, but the public will probably be the gainer, as Mr. Savage himself contemplates, ere long, laying before it every circumstance connected with this curious fact. I cannot, however, take leave of the subject without observing, that had common attention, and but a small portion of curiosity existed in the minds of the earlier settlers of Kentucky, and in those of the western country generally, we should, no doubt, at the present moment, possess a sufficient mass of evidence to enable us to decide, most positively, on the nation or origin of that race of men, who have left behind them marks of civilization and refinement, that serve to distinguish them from the more savage inhabitants of the forest.
MOUNDS BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE
STATE OF OHIO.
(Archaeologia Americana.)
These tumuli are very common on the river Ohio, . from its utmost sources to its mouth. Few and small, comparatively, they are found on the waters of the Monongahela; but increase in number and size, as we descend towards the mouth of that stream, at Pittsburgh. Then rapidly increasing in number, they are of the largest dimensions at Grave Creek, below Wheeling.
"For an able and interesting account of those last mentioned,'' says Dr. Hildreth, "I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, of Brooke county, Virginia. An Extract from his communication follows, dated,
"WELLSBUBGH, VA. May 27, 1819.
"DEAR SIR,
"As to your inquiry concerning the ancient works at
37
Grave Creek, below Wheeling, I will give you the best account which I can.
The 'Big Grave,' as it is called, is certainly one of the most august monuments of remote Antiquity any where to be found. Its circumference at the base, is three hundred yards; its diameter, of course, one hundred. Its altitude, from measurement, is ninety feet; and its diameter, at the summit, is forty-five feet. The centre, at the summit, appears to have sunk several feet, so as to form a small kind of amphitheatre. The rim enclosing this amphitheatre, is seven or eight feet in thickness. On the south side, in its edge, stands a large beach tree, whose bark is marked with the initials of a great number of visitants.
This lofty and venerable tumulus has been so far opened, as to ascertain that it contains many thousands of human skeletons, but no farther. The proprietor of the ground, Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, will not suffer its demolition in the smallest degree. I, for one, do him honour for his sacred regard for these works of Antiquity. I wish that the inhabitants of Chillicothe and Circleville had acted like Mr. Tomlinson. In that case, the mounds in those towns would have been left standing. They would have been religiously protected, as sacred relics of remote and unknown Antiquity.
Following the river Ohio downwards, the mounds appear on both sides, erected uniformly on the highest alluvions along the stream. Their numbers increase all the way to the Mississippi, on which river they assume the largest size. Not having surveyed them, we shall use the description of Mr. Brackenridge, who has devoted great attention to them. With his discriminating powers of mind the public are acquainted.
These tumuli, as well as the fortifications, are to be found at the junction of all the rivers, along the Mississippi, in the most eligible positions for towns, and in the most extensive bodies of fertile land. Their number exceeds, perhaps, three thousand; the smallest not less than twenty feet in height, and one hundred in diameter at the base. Their great number, and the astonishing size of some of them, may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidence of their antiquity.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
I have been sometimes induced to think, that, at the period when these were constructed, there was a population as numerous as that which once animated the borders of the Nile, or of the Euphrates, or of Mexico. The most numerous, as well as the most considerable of these remains, are found precisely in those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, viz. from the mouth of the Ohio, on the east side of the river, to the Illinois river, and on the west side from the St. Francis to the Missouri, I am perfectly satisfied that CITIES, SIMILAR TO THOSE OF ANCIENT MEXICO, OF SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND SOULS, HAVE EXISTED IN THIS COUNTRY."
Nearly opposite St. Louis, there are traces of two such cities, in the distance of five miles. They are situated on the Cahokia, which crosses the American bottom opposite St. Louis. One of the mounds is eight hundred yards in circumference at the base, (the exact size of the pyramid of Asychis) and one hundred feet in height. Mr. Brackenridge, noticed "a mound at New Madrid of three hundred and fifty feet in diameter at the base." Other large ones are at the following places, viz. at St. Louis, one with two states, another with three; at the mouth of the Missouri; at the mouth of Cahokia river, in two groups; twenty miles below, two groups also, but the mounds of a similar size; on the bank of a lake, formerly the bed of the river, at the mouth of Marameck, St. Genevieve; one near Washington, Mississippi state, of one hundred and forty-six feet in height; at Baton Rouge, and on the bayou Manchac; one of the mounds near the lake is composed chiefly of shells. The inhabitants have taken away great quantities of them for lime.
The mound on Black River, has two stage* and a group around. At each of the above places there are groups of mounds, and there was probably once a city. Mr. Brackenridge thinks that the largest city belonging to this people, was situated between the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois. On the plains between the Arkansaw and St. Francis, there are several very large mounds.
Thus it will be seen, that these remains which were
39
so few and small along the northern lakes, are more and more numerous as we travel in a south-western direction, until we reach the Mississippi, where they are lofty and magnificent. Those works similar to the Teocalli of Mexico, by the Spaniards called "Adoratorios," are not found north of the mound at Circleville on the Scioto, or at least, I have seen none of them. They are very common and lofty, it seems, on the Mississippi river. An observing eye can easily mark, in these works, the progress of their authors, from the lakes to the valley of the Mississippi; thence to the Gulph of Mexico, and round it, through Texas, into New Mexico, and into South America; their increased numbers, as they proceeded, are evident; while the articles found in and near these works, show also the progressive improvement of the arts among those who erected them.
Miscellaneous Remarks on the Uses of Mounds.
Though they were used as places of sepulture and of worship, yet, were they not sometimes in the last resort, used also as places of defence? Solis, who describes the destruction of the Mexicans, and the conquest of their empire by the Spaniards, informs us that the " Teocalli." which were like many of our works, in cases of extreme necessity, appeared like "living hills;" they were covered with warriors. Standing upon their altars and in their temples; upon the tombs of their lathers; defending themselves, their wives, their children, their aged parents, their country, and their gods, they fought with desperation. These mounds being elevated on high grounds, in situations easily defended. Is it not highly probable, that their authors, in cases of the last resort, used them as places of defence?"
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
ANCIENT MEXICAN CITIES AND PYRAMIDS.
(Humboldt's Views of the Cordilleras.)
"Among those swarms of nations, which, from the seventh to the twelfth century of the Christian era, successively inhabited the country of Mexico, five are enumerated, the Toltecks, the Cieimecks, the Acolhuans, the Tlascaltecks, and the Aztecks, who, notwithstanding their political divisions, spoke the same language, followed the same worship, and built pyramidal edifices, which they regarded as teocallis, that is to say, the house of their gods. -- These edifices were all of the same form, though of very different dimensions; they were pyramids, with several terraces, and the sides of which stood exactly in the direction of the meridian, and the parallel of the place. Each house of a Mexican divinity, like the ancient temple of Baal Berith, burnt by Abimelech, was a strong place. A great staircase led to the top of the truncated pyramid, and on the summit of the platform were one or two chapels, built like towers, which contained the colossal idols of the divinity, to whom the Teocalli was dedicated. The in . side of the edifice was the burial place of the kings and principal personages of Mexico. It is impossible to read the descriptions, which Herodotus and Diodorus Sivulus have left us of the temple of Jupiter Belus, without being struck with the resemblance of that Babylonian monument to the Teocallis of Anahuac.
At the period when the Mexicans, or Aztecks, one of the seven tribes of the Anabuatlacks, (inhabitants of the banks of rivers,) took possession, in the year 1190, of the equinoctial region of New Spain, they already found the pyramidal monuments of Teotihuacan, of Cholula, or Cholollan, and of Pupantla. They attributed these great edifices to the Toltecks, a powerful and civilized nation, who inhabited Mexico five hundred years earlier, who made use of hieroglyphical characters, who computed the year more precisely, and had a more exact chronology than the greater part of the people of the old continent. We ought not to be astonished, that no history of any American nation should precede the seventh
(Mexico) CITIES, PYRAMIDS, &c. 41
century; and that the annals of the Toltecks should be as uncertain as those of the Pelasgi and the Ausonians. The learned Mr. Schloezer has clearly proved, that the history of the north of Europe reaches no higher than the tenth century, an epocha when Mexico was in a more advanced state of civilization than Denmark, Sweden and Russia.
The Teocalli of Mexico was dedicated to Tezcatlipolica, the first of the Azteck divinities after Teotl, who is the supreme and visible Being; and to Huitzilopochtli, the God of war. It was built by the Aztecks, on the model of the pyramids of Teotihuacan, six years only before the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. This truncated pyramid, called by Cortez the principal temple, was ninety-seven metres * in breadth at its basis, and nearly fifty-four metres in height.
The group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan is in the valley of Mexico, eight leagues north east from the capital, in a plain that bears the name of Micoatl, or the Path cf the Death. There are two large pyramids dedicated to the Sun (Tonatiuh,) and to the Moon (Meztli); and these are surrounded by several hundreds of small pyramids, which form streets in exact lines from north to south, and from east to west. Of these two great Teocallis, one is fifty-five, the other is forty-four metres in perpendicular height. The basis of the first is two hundred and eighty metres in length; whence it results, that the Tonntiuh Yztaqual, according to Mr. Oteyza's measurement, made in 1 803, is higher than the Mycerinus, or third of the three great pyramids of Geeza in Egypt, and the length of its base nearly equal to that of the Cephren. The small pyramids, which surround the great houses of the Sun and the Moon, are scarcely nine or ten metres high; and served, according to the tradition of the natives, as burial places for the chiefs of the tribes. Around the Cheops and the Mycerinus in Egypt, there are eight small pyramids, placed with symmetry, and parallel to the fronts of the greater. The two Teocallis
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* A French revolutionary measure of 3 feet, 11 1/2 inches. -- ED.
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
of Teotihuacan had four principal stories, each of which was subdivided into steps, the edges of which are still to be distinguished. The nucleus is composed of clay mixed with small stones, and it is encased by a thick wall of tezontli, or porous amygdaloid. * This construction recalls to mind that of one of the Egyptian pyramids of Sakharab, which has six stories; and which, according to Pocock, is a mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outside with rough stones. On the top of the great Mexican Teocallis were two colossal statues of the Sun and Moon: they were of stone, and covered with plates of gold, of which they were stripped by the soldiers of Cortez. -- When bishop Zumaraga, a Franciscan monk, undertook the destruction of whatever related to the worship, the history, and the Antiquities of the natives of America, he ordered also the demolition of the idols of the plain of Micoatl. We still discover the remains of a staircase built with large hewn stone, which formerly led to the platform of the Teocalli.
On the east of the group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan, on descending the Cordillera towards the Gulph of Mexico, in a thick forest, called Tajin, rises the pyramid of Papantla. This monument was by chance discovered scarcely thirty years ago, by some Spanish hunters; for the Indians carefully conceal from the whites whatever was an object of ancient veneration. The form of this Teocalli, which had six, perhaps seven stories, is more tapering than that ol any other monument of this kind; it is nearly eighteen metres in height, while the breadth of its basis is only twenty-five. This small. edifice is built entirely with hewn stones, of an extraordinary size, and very beautifully and regularly shaped. Three staircases lead to the top. The covering of its steps is decorated with hieroglyphical sculpture, and small niches, which are arranged with great symmetry. The number of these niches seems to allude to the three hundred and eighteen simple and compound signs of the days of the Cempobualilhuitl, or civil calendar of the Toltecks.
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* Mandelstein of the German mineralogists.
43
The greatest, most ancient, and most celebrated of the whole of the pyramidal monuments of Anahuac is the Teocalli of Cholula. It is called in the present day the Mountain made by the hand of man (monte hecho a manos.) At a distance it has the aspect of a natural hill covered with vegetation.
A vast plain, the Puebla, is separated from the valley of Mexico by the chain of volcanic mountains) which extend from Popocatepetl, toward Rio Frio, and the peak of Telapon. This plain, fertile though destitute of trees, is rich in memorials, interesting to Mexican history. In it flourished the capitals of three republics of Tlascalla, Huexocingo and Cholula, which, notwithstanding their continual dissensions, resisted with no less firmness the despotism and usurping spirit of the Azteck kings.
The small city of Cholula, which Cortez, in his Letters to Charles V. compares with the most populous cities of Spain, contains at present scarcely sixteen thousand inhabitants. The pyramid is to the east of the city, on the road which leads from Cholula to Puebla.
The Teocalli of Cholula has four stories, all of equal height. It appears to have been constructed exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points; but as the edges of the stories are not very distinct, it is difficult to ascertain their primitive direction. This pyramidical monument has a broader basis than that of any other edifice of the same kind in the old continent. I measured it carefully, and ascertained, that its perpendicular height is only fifty metres, but that each side of its basis is four hundred and thirty -nine metres in length. Torquemada computes its height at seventy-seven metres; Betancourt, at sixty-five; and Clavigero, at sixty-one. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a common soldier in the army of Cortez, amused himself by counting the steps of the staircase, which led to the platform of the Teocallis; he found one hundred and fourteen in the great temple of Tenochtitlan, one hundred and seventeen in that of Tezcuco, and one hundred and twenty in that of Cholula. The basis of the pyramid of Cholula is twice as broad as that of Cheops; but its height is very little more than that of the pyramid of Mycerinus. An adit dug
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through the Teocalli of Cholula, to examine its external structure, would bean interesting operation; and it is singular, that the desire of discovering hidden treasure has not prompted the undertaking. -- During my travels in Peru, in visiting the vast ruins of the city of Chimu, near Mansiche, I went into the interior of the famous Huaca de Toledo, the tomb of a Peruvian prince, in which Garci Gutierez de Toledo discovered, on digging a gallery, in 1576, massive gold amounting in value to more than five millions of francs, as is proved by the hook of accounts, preserved in the mayor's office at Truxillo.
The size of the platform of the pyramid of Cholula, on which I made a great number of astronomical observations, is four thousand two hundred square metres. From it the eye ranges over a magnificent prospect; Popocatepetl, Iztaceihuatl, the peak of Orizaba, and the Sierra de Tlascalla, famous for the tempests which gather around its summit. We view at the same time three mountains higher than Mount Blanc, two of which are still burning volcanoes. A small chapel, surrounded with cypress, and dedicated to the Virgin de los Remedies, has succeeded to the temple of the god of the air, or the Mexican Indra. An ecclesiastic of the Indian race celebrates mass every day on the top of this antique monument.
In the time of Cortez, Cholula was considered as a holy city. No where existed a greater number of Teocallis, of priests, and religious orders (tlamacazque;) no spot displayed greater magnificence in the celebration of public worship, or more austerity in its penances and fasts. Since the introduction of Christianity among the Indians, the symbols of a new worship have not entirely effaced the remembrance of the old. The people assemble in crowds, from distant quarters, at the summit of the pyramid, to celebrate the festival of the Virgins. A mysterious dread, a religious awe, fills the soul of the Indian at the sight of this immense pile of bricks, covered with shrubs and perpetual verdure."
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45
RUINS OF AN ANCIENT CITY NEAR PALENQUE, IN GUATEMALA. (Captain Rio's Discoveries.)
“From Palenque, the last town northward in the province of Cindad Real deChiapa, taking a southwesterly direction, and ascending a ridge of high land that divides the kingdom of Guatemala from Yucatan, or Campeachy, at the distance of two leagues, is the little river Micol, whose waters, flowing in a westerly direction, unite with the great river Tulija, which bends its course towards the province of Tabasco; having passed the Milcot, the ascent begins, and, at half a league from thence, the traveller crosses a little stream called Otolum, discharging its waters into the before-mentioned current; from this point heaps of ruins are discovered, which render the road very difficult for another half league, when you gain the height whereon the stone houses are situated, being fourteen in number, some more dilapidated than others, but still having many of their apartments perfectly discernable.
A rectangular area, three hundred yards in breadth by four hundred and fifty in length, presents a plain at the base of the highest mountain forming the ridge, and in the centre is situated the largest of these structures which has been as yet discovered: it stands on a mound twenty yards high, and is surrounded by the other edifices; namely, five to the northward, four to the southward, one to the south-west, and three to the eastward. In all directions the fragments of other fallen buildings are to be seen extending along the mountain, that stretches east and west, about three or four leagues either way, so that the whole range of this ruined town may be computed to extend between seven and eight leagues; but its breadth is by no means equal to its length, being little more than half a league wide at the point where the ruins terminate, which is towards the river Micol, that winds round the base of the mountain, whence descend small streams, that wash the foundation of the ruins mi their banks, so that, were it not for the thick
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umbrageous foliage of the trees, they would present to the view so many beautiful serpentine rivulets.
It might be inferred that this people had had some analogy to, and intercourse with the Romans, from a similarity in the choice of situation as well as a subterranean stone aqueduct of great solidity and durability, which passes under the largest building.
I do not take upon myself to assert that these conquerors did actually land "in this country; but there is reasonable ground for hazarding a conjecture that some inhabitants of that polished nation did visit these regions; and that, from such intercourse, the natives might have imbibed, during their stay, an idea of the arts, as a reward for their hospitality.
The entrance to the large building is on the eastern side, by a portico or corridor thirty-six varas, or yards, in length, and three in breadth, supported by plain rectangular pillars, without either basis or pedestals, upon which there are square smooth stones of more than a foot in thickness, forming an architrave, while, on the exterior superficies are species of stucco shields, the designs of some of them, while over these stones, there is another plain rectangular block, five feet long and six broad, extending over two of the pillars. Medallions or compartments in stucco, containing different devices of the same material, appear as decorations to the chambers: and it is presumable, from the vestiges of the heads which can still be traced, that they were the busts of a series of kings and lords to whom the natives were subject. Between the medallions there is a range of windows like niches, passing from one end of the wall to the other, some of them are square, some in the form of a Greek cross, and others, which complete the cross, lire square, being about two feet high and eight inches deep. Beyond this corridor there is a square court, entered by a night of seven steps; the north side is entirely in ruins, but sufficient traces remain to show that it once had a chamber and corridor similar to those on the eastern side, and which continued entirely along the several angles. The south side has four small chambers with no other ornament than one or two little windows, like those already described. The western side is correspondent
ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT WORKS. 47
to its opposite in all respects, but in the variety of expression of the figures in stucco: these are much more rude and ridiculous than the others, and can only be attributed to the most uncultivated Indian capacity. The device is a sort of grotesque mask, with a crown and long beard like that of a goat; under this are two Greek crosses, the one delineated in the other. Proceeding in the same direction, there is another court, similar in length to the last, but not so broad, having a passage round it that communicated with the opposite side; in this passage there are two chambers like those above-mentioned, and an interior gallery looking on one side upon the court-yard, and commanding, on the other, a view of the open country. In this part of the edifice some pillars yet remain."
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CONJECTURES RESPECTING THE ORIGIN
AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORKS
IN AMERICA.
( McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville.)
"But few settlements, in any portion of the known world, have ever been effected under so many discouraging circumstances, as that of Louisville and its adjacent country. The great bone of contention, between the northern and southern tribes of Indians, who disputed the possession of it with each other for a hunting ground, it was not likely they could see a foreign people step in between them, and take possession of it, without a violent struggle, on their part to prevent it.
Man, in his natural and savage state, is by far the most remorseless and cruel animal of the creation, surpassing the tiger in ferocity, and incapable of forgiving an injury, however unintentionally it may have been offered to him. No matter what length of time may have elapsed, from the moment in which it is committed: no matter what motives may have palliated, excused, or justified the deed -- nothing, no, not the silence of the tomb, can protect the object of his hatred; he must have blood! and, in default of the offender, by a refinement im cruelty, making reYenge to reach beyond the gravs.
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he wreaks it on his defenceless widow or helpless children!
Such were the people, 'among whom the daring settlers of Kentucky first pitched their tents, in 1769. No sooner did they appear among the tawny sons of the forests, than the war-whoop was heard, the hell-hounds of death were let loose, and murder stalked triumphantly abroad. Every surf that rose witnessed some work of destruction; and every wind that blew, wafted on its wings the heart-appalling yells of an infernal pack, fresh from their butcher chase; and that dust, which had be . fore oft imbibed the blood of the savage, now became saturated with that of his civilized brother.
The fury of an ever-active and wary foe, was not the only danger that threatened extermination to those few brave spirits who ventured to this land of blood; * Disease reared her pale and spectre form among them: so that many escaped unhurt, the hatchet and the knife, only to receive their doom from her fell influence.
Hunted and watched by the natives, like the beasts of the forest; depending upon their rifles for their support, the pursuit of which forced them into the toils; their bodies enervated by sickness, and their minds enfeebled by the continual apprehension of danger; deprived of all medicine or medical aid -- it is not to be wondered at, that so few were added to, their number, that a settlement, so situated, progressed but slowly.
From an attentive consideration of the various reliques of the western country, I am led to believe however, that several hundred years previous to this epoch, the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi, were inhabited by a race of men instructed by, and descended from Europeans, (probably the French,) who were the authors of all those more perfect specimens of human art alluded to. Whether we consider the iron hatchets, and other manufactured pieces of that metal, which, at different times and places, have been found buried in the earth, in situations indicative of their great antiquity, or whether we reflect upon the existence and composition
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* The name by which Kentucky at first was designated.
49
of the bricks taken from the crumbling wall of the lately discovered ruins on the Mississippi, we are equally certain that neither the Mexicans, nor any other nation of either North or South America, could have been the manufacturers.
The use of iron was unknown among them, until after the year 1519, which, according to the principle assumed, by which we have calculated the lapse of time, since those instruments were buried, and these walls constructed, is about the period in which the latter were abandoned.
To some other quarter, then, we must look for an explanation of these bricks, iron hatchets, hewn stones, and regularly constructed fortifications, the three latter of which are so commonly dispersed throughout the western country. To attribute them to the Egyptians, Phoenicians, or any other elder nations of Asia, would be as ridiculous, as to suppose them the work of the native, uncivilized American Indian, and it is evident, from the great age of the timber often found growing on the embankments, that they must have been constructed at or prior to the discovery of St. Salvador, by Columbus, in 1492.
Greenland was said to have been visited by the Icelanders and the Norwegians, 982, and a colony planted by the former in Finland, a part of Labrador, or Newfoundland, in 1003. From this epoch until the discovery of St. Salvador, 1492, intervenes a period of four hundred and ninety years, during which time, history makes no mention of any attempt at further discoveries; all remarks, therefore, relative to what may have passed during this interim, are purely conjectural; but upon the discovery of such a country as Greenland was represented to be, by Eric-raude, and particularly when, in a few years, we see the same people, who, by his persuasion, were induced to follow him thither, extending that discovery to Vinland, we are a little surprised that the flame which hitherto bad animated them, should be smothered in their bosoms, at the very moment they began to reap the reward of their enterprise in the possession of a country far superior to their own.
But even admitting that the Danes, Icelanders, or
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Norwegians, never ventured in the trade, which finally guided Columbus to the American coast, are we sure that accident or design, the spirit of enterprise or stress of weather, may not have led individuals * of other nations to the same spot?
Europe long rang with the noise of the discovery of Newfoundland; and although the first expedition by the French, fitted out with a view to similar purposes, by
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* According to Caradoc and other authorities, on the death of Owen Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, about the year 1169, several children contending for his dominions, Madog, one of his sons, perceiving his native country likely to he engaged in civil wars, fitted up a few ships, and passing Ireland, sailed to the westward, where he met with a rich fertile country; when he again returned to North Wales, and described the beauty of the new country, and prevailed on numbers to accompany him, and sailed back with 10 ships. The descendants of these Welsh emigrants are supposed to be the inhabitants of western and southern America, whose sepulchres, remains of cities, and proofs of civilization remain to this day.
The existence of a nation of Welshmen, in the interior of America, has long been maintained by various writers, and many respectable individuals have declared that they have seen and conversed with Indians who could speak the Welsh language. The editor of this work has frequently heard a Mr. Lawson of Shrewsbury, declare that when he was in Canada, he had many conversations with an Indian whose native language was Welsh, and that he conversed with him in that language with the greatest facility. The same Indian described the distance between Canada and the settlement of his tribe to be nine moans journey.
Dr. Williams who made this interesting enquiry his study for 30 years, declares his belief of the story of Madog, and also of the existence of Welsh Indians in America; he published two pamphlets on the subject » bout the year 1791. Various other writers have expressed the same belief, and upon the whole it appears
51
the imperial order, was in 1524, ** yet such is the enthusiasm with which that people engaged in the pursuit of every thins; that is novel or uncommon, I think not unreasonable to suppose, that, stimulated by the hope of gain, and the desire of distinction, or, perhaps, disgusted with their country or its government, and desirous of seeking new ones, some few individuals, without parade or noise, leaving the soil of France, long prior to the expedition of 1524, and trusting to their fortune, may have been conducted safely to the forests of America; where, finding a country, lovely beyond description, abounding with every gift that nature can bestow, and delighted with the uncontrolled exercise of man's natural heritage, of unlimited freedom, they determined to remain forever, incorporating themselves with some friendly tribe of Indians, and communicating to them the knowledge of such arts as would tend to their comfort and security.
Whatever proof may be wanting, to establish the time or mode in which these adventurers became the inhabitants of the forest, of their nation, or that of the people who were the constructors of the town lately discovered on the Mississippi, there exists much positive and specific evidence in the bricks of which the walls are composed. As early aa the latter end of the ninth, and the beginning of the tenth century, the inhabitants of Anjou were in the habit of building their houses with clay, well tempered and thoroughly mixed with chopped or twisted straw, in which state it was termed pizay, and when divided into pieces of regular and determinate figures, and dried in the sun or by fire, assumed the
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quite as reasonable to believe, that there is now or may have been a nation or tribe of Indians originally descended from natives of Ancient Britain, as to maintain the contrary opinion.
The story of Prince Madog's emigration has been rendered popular and interesting by Mr. Southey.
** Giovanni Verazzoni visited America in 1524, by order of Francis I.
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name of bricks. This practice, I believe, subsequently extended to Picardy and several other provinces of France where the custom, I have no doubt, in a great measure still exists. The similarity between this substance and that of which the ancient bricks (if they may be so called) are composed, is striking -- they are, in feet, one and the same. When, in addition to this circumstance, we take into consideration, the facility with which the French are known to mingle with the Indians of this country, adopting their dress, manners, mode of living, &c. together with the existence of walls now buried in the earth, whose stones have evidently been cut by some metallic instrument, above all, when we rind one of those instruments lying immediately under the centre of an immense tree, whose roots covered a circle of forty feet in diameter, we cannot hesitate to acknowledge, that some persons acquainted with the art of working metals, and the uses to which they may be applied, possessing a tolerable notion of the comforts of life, and the best possible mode of screening themselves from the "pollings of the pitiless storm," as well as the peltings of their more pitiless enemies, could alone have been the workmen; that the aborigines of America, possessing no knowledge of these things, until after their acquaintance with Europeans, could of themselves never have produced them; and, finally, that of all the nations of Europe, who might have had a hand in their formation, facts are in favor of the French.
If, then, there once existed in this country a people so far advanced in the arts of civilized life, as these relics indisputably prove to have been the case, the question very naturally arises of, What has become of them? this is not so easily answered. They may have been all destroyed at one fell sweep by war, pestilence, or famine, singly, or united. If my supposition respecting the introduction of Europeans among them be admitted, it will furnish a clew, which may enable us to thread the labyrinth, and to account at once for the disappearance of those people, and the origin of the white Indians.
Incorporated as I have previously supposed, with one particular, or several friendly tribes, to whom they taught the art of fortifying themselves in the field, and
53
Europe, as well as of the greater importance of iron, in the various uses to which it may be applied, thereby enabling them to be superior to their neighbours, in peace as well as war, pratitude to the authors of such signal services, may have induced those tribes to have clothed them with power and command, privilegio gynaecei.
Hence arose a race of light complexioned men, distinguished from their savage brethren, not more by a difference of colour, than by a refinement of intellect, and a knowledge of the arts. Superiority is always envied. Disturbances were excited between these tribes, and those who remained in a perfectly savage state; wars ensued and battles were fought, in which the white Indians and their allies necessarily proved successful, as, in addition to an equal portion of bodily courage and address with their antagonists, they were acquainted with the art of war, which taught them the utility of raising those more perfect specimens of fortifications, which have of late exercised the pens of so many ingenious writers.
Perceiving the great and decided advantages resulting from the mode in which their enemies carried on the war, a mode that enabled a handful of resolute men to resist an army, and having acquired some little knowledge by woeful experience, the black Indians hastened to imitate them, throwing up the earth and forming breast-works, behind which they could fight, retire for shelter when too hard pressed, and within whose limits they would be secure from a nocturnal surprise, producing a series of works similar to the former, but inferior in point of execution. Having made this approximation to an equality with their foes, superior numbers, combined with accident, may have turned the scales of victory, and gradually put the hitherto triumphant party in the power of their mortal enemies: extermination was the word, and thus the white Indians with the arts they cultivated, forever disappeared.
About the time when general Clarke first visited this country, art old Indian is said to have assured him, that there was a tradition to this effect -- that there had formerly existed a race of Indians whose complexion was
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lighter than that of the other natives, which caused them to be known by the name of the white Indians; that bloody wars had always been waged between the two, but that at last the black Indians got the better of the others in a great battle fought at Clarksville, wherein all the latter were assembled; that the remnant of their army took refuge in Sandy Island, whither their successful and implacable enemies followed and put every individual to death.'' How true this maybe I know not; but appearances are strongly in its favour. A large field a little below Clarksville, contains immense quantities of human hones, whose decomposed state and the irregular manner in which they are scattered, as well as the circumstance of their being covered with an alluvial deposition of earth, six or seven feet deep, evidently prove that it was not a regular burial place, but a field of battle, in some former century. Relics of a similar description are said to have been seen in great plenty on Sandy Island, in 1778, none of which, however, are visible at this day, (upon the surface) which may be owing to the constant deposition of sand upon the island, and the action of the water in high floods, whose attrition may have finally removed every vestige of such substances.
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ADDITIONAL CONJECTURES.
(From the latter of the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, of Brooke, Virginia, cited in the Archaeologia Americana.)
Who then were the Authors of our Ancient Works?
If we look into the Bible, the most authentic, the most ancient history of man, we shall there learn, that mankind, soon after the deluge, undertook to raise a tower high as heaven, which should serve to keep them together, as a place of worship, and stand to future ages as a monument of their industry, their religious zeal, their enterprize, their knowledge of the arts. Unacquainted, as they undoubtedly were, with the use of letters, in what better way could their names have been handed down to their posterity with renown? But in this attempt they were disappointed, and themselves
55
dispersed through the wide world. Did they forget to raise afterwards, similar monuments and places of worship? They did not; and, to use the words of an inspired penman, "high places," of various altitudes and dimensions, were raised "on every high hill, and under every green tree," throughout the land of Palestine, and all the east.
Some of these "high places" belonged to single families, some to a mighty chieftain, a petty tribe, a city, or a whole nation. Some were places of worship for the individual, the tribe, the village, the town, the city, or the nation, to which they respectively belonged.
At those "high places," which belonged to great nations, great national affairs were transacted. Here they crowned and deposed their kings; here they concluded peace and declared war. Here the nation assembled at stated seasons, to perform the solemn worship of their deities. Here they celebrated anniversaries of great national events, and buried the illustrious dead.
The Jews, on many great occasions, assembled at Gilgal. The name of the place, signifies "a heap." Here was a pile of stones, which were brought from the bed of the river Jordan, and piled up on the spot where they encamped for the first night after they crossed that river, on their entrance into "the promised land.'' Let the reader examine similar piles of stones on the waters of the Licking, near Newark, in the counties of Perry, Pickaway and Ross, and then ask himself, Whether those who raised our monuments, were not originally from Asia? Shiloe, where the Jews frequently assembled to transact great national affairs, and perform acts of devotion, was situated upon a high hill. When this place was deserted, the loftier hill of Zion was selected in its stead. Upon Sinai's awful summit the law of God was promulgated. Moses was commanded to ascend a mountain to die. Solomon's temple was situated upon a high hill by Divine appointment. Samaria, a place celebrated for the worship of idols, was built upon the high hill of Shemer, by Omri, king of Israel, who was there buried. How many hundreds of mounds in this country are situated on the highest hills, surrounded by the most fertile soils? Traverse the counties of Licking, Franklin,
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
Pickaway and Ross; examine the loftiest mounds, and compare them with those described as being in Palestine. Through the wide world, 'such places seem to have been preferred by the men of ancient times who erected them. In England, Scotland, and Wales, they are thus situated.'
By examining Pennant's drawing and description of the Antiquities of Delvin, otherwise called Iuch-Tuthel, on the river Tay, the reader will see how much the works on the Tay resemble ours on the Licking, near Newark. Pennant, however, imagines these to be Roman works, but Boethius, the only authority quoted hy him, says, that Delvin is a work of the ancient Picts, and was by them called "Tulina.'' The reader is requested to compare the works near Newark, with those of Delvin.
The same author describes two works on the river Loder or Lowther, and one near the river Eimet, exactly like ours in the west. The strong resemblance between the works in Scotland and ours, I think no man will deny.
I shall not trouble myself to examine authorities, as to the works of the same kind in various parts of the British isles, because I might fatigue without instructing the leader. What has been said already, applies to many, very many others, throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They were places of worship, burial, and defence, for the Picts, so called by the Romans, because they painted themselves, like the aborigines of this continent.
The acquaintance of the Egyptians with the useful and ornamental arts, was of an earlier date than that of the nations around them. Their pyramids and temples, medals and monuments, show a comparatively civilized people, whilst their neighbours were rude barbarians -- the former were shepherds, the latter hunters. In Egypt, a lofty pyramid is a place of sepulture and an altar, whilst a rude pile of stones at Gilgal, is raised for the purpose of commemorating a great national event.
For many ages we have reason to believe there were none but such altars. From Wales, they may be traced to Russia, quite across that empire, to our continent; across it from the mouth of the Columbia on the Pacific
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ocean, to Black River, on the east end of lake Ontario. Thence turning in a south-western direction, we find them extending quite to the southern parts of Mexico and Peru.
In the Russian empire, mounds are numerous, and were every where seen by the learned Dr. Clarke, in his tour from St. Petersburg to the Crimea, in the year 1800. In his travels in Russia, Tartary, and Turkey, the author, in speaking of the country between St. Petersburg and Moscow, says, "Conical mounds of earth or tumuli occur very frequently. They are common all over the Russian empire.'' Again, the author says, "There are few finer prospects than that of Woronetz, viewed a few versts from the town on the road to Paulovsky. Throughout the whole of this country are seen dispersed over immense plains, mounds of earth, covered with a fine turf, the sepulchres of the ancient world, common to almost every habitable country. If there exists any thing of former timer, which may afford monuments of antediluvian manners, it is this mode of burial. -- They seem to mark the progress of population in the first ages, after the dispersion, rising wherever the posterity of Noah came. Whether under the form of a mound in Scandinavia and Russia, a barrow in England, a cairn in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or those heaps, which the modern Greeks and Turks call Tepe; lastly, in the more artificial shape of a pyramid in Egypt; they had universally the same origin. They present the simplest and sublimest monuments, which any generation could raise over the bodies »f their progenitors; calculated for almost endless duration, and speaking a language more impressive than the most studied epitaph upon Parian marble. When beheld in a distant evening's horizon, skirted by the rays of the setting sun, and touching, as it were, the clouds which hang over them, imagination pictures the spirits of heroes of remoter periods descending to irradiate the warrior's grave. Some of them rose in such regular forms, with so simple and yet so artificial a shape, in a plain, otherwise so perfectly level and flat, that no doubt whatever could be entertained respecting them. Others, still more ancient, have at last sunk into the earth, and
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AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, &c.
left a hollow place, which still marks their pristine situation. Again, others, by the passage of the plough upon their surfaces, have been considerably diminished."
How exactly does this description of Dr. Clarke's apply to our mounds in the west? Who ever described with more accuracy, that species of mounds of earth in Ohio, which were used as cemeteries? Unless we knew to the contrary, who of us in Ohio, would ever suspect, that Dr. Clarke was not describing with fidelity, our western mounds? In one conjecture, however, he is mistaken; that is, in supposing those to be the most ancient, which were but just begun. I have seen them in all stages, from the time that a circular fosse, with a hole in its centre, was made, until these mounds were brought to a perfect point at the summit.
In Scioto country, a few miles from Portsmouth, is a circular fosse, with a hole in the centre of the area which it encloses. The owner makes use of this work as a barn yard.
There is a work of a similar form between two walls, belonging to the works at Newark; and I have seen several on the Kenhawa river, not far from Point Pleasant, and others, left in the same unfinished state, in a great number of places. It would seem that where a ditch was to enclose a tumulus, this ditch was first dug, then a hole made in the centre, which was covered over with wood, earth, stones, or brick, then a large funeral pile constructed, and the corpse of some distinguished personage placed on it and burnt. An examination of the works already described, will amply justify these conjectures.
I have a brick, now before me, over which lay, when found, wood ashes, charcoal, and human bones, burnt in a large and hot fire. And from what was found at Circleville, in the mound already described, it would seem that females were sometimes burnt with the males. I need not say, that this custom was derived from Asia, as it is well known to all my readers, that that is the only country to look to for the origin of such a custom. -- The Greeks and Romans practised burning their illustrious dead. It was practised by several other nations, but they all derived it from Asia,
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In the same volume of travels, Dr. Clarke says, "Tumuli, so often mentioned before, abound in all seeppes; and,
in working the cliff for a magazine, or storehouse, where one of these tumuli had been raised, they found, in the
sandy soil of which it consisted, an arched vault, shaped like an oven, constructed of large square bricks, and
paved in a style of exquisite workmanship with the same materials."
We are told by the same author, that "The Cossacks at Ekaterinedara, dug into some of these mounds for the purpose
of making cellars, and found several ancient vases.'' Such vases are discovered in ours. Several have been found
in our mounds, which resemble one found in Scotland, and described by Pennant. Another, somewhat resembling a small
keg in its construction, and a tea kettle in the use to which it was put. This vessel appears to be made of a
composition of clay and shells. An urn was found in a mound a few miles from Chillicothe.
Thus we learn from the most authentic sources, that these ancient works existing in Europe, Asia, and America,
are as similar in their construction, in the materials with which they are raised, and in the articles found
in them, as it is possible for them to be. Let those who are constantly seeking for some argument, with which
to overthrow the history of man by Moses, consider this fact. Such persons have more than once asserted, that
there were different stocks or races of men; but this similarity of works almost all over the world, indicates
that all men sprung from one common origin. I have always considered this fact, as strengthening the Mosaic
account of man, and that the scriptures throw a strong and steady light on the path of the Antiquarian.
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