M0' i** =■;.;>».•• KUli- ^,;7^j4»Vi£^'^ .. 'fipZ^p^' Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2009 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/antiquitiesdiscoOOprie H The Getty foCdout/map not digitize cf >*^ AMEUICAN ANTIQUITIES, » AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST : BEING AN EXHIBITION OF THE EVIDENCE THAT AH ANCIENT POPULATION OF PARTIALLY CIVILIZED NATIONS, DIFFERING ENTIRELY FROM THOSE OF THE PRESENT IN- DIANS, PEOPLED AMERICA, MANY CENTURIES BEFORE ITS DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS. AND XITQUZRZIIS INTO THSZR ORIGZK^ WITH A COPIOUS DESCRIPTIOIV Of mauy of their stupendous Works, uow iii rains* WITH CONJECTURES CONCERNING WHAT MAY HAVE BECOME OF THEM. COMPILED FROM TRAVELS, AUTHENTIC SOURCES, AND THE RESEARCHES or BY JOSIAH PRIEST Third EdlUon Revised. jILBjIJVV. fRINTED BY HOFFMAN AND WHITE, ^ No. 71, State-Street. * 1833. NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, To wit : Be it remembered, that on the twentj'-first day of March, Anno Domini, 1833, Josii^H Priest, of the said district, hath deposited in this office a book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit : " American Antiquities, and Discoveries in the West : Being an exhibition of the evidence that an ancient Po- pulation of partially civilized Nations/ differing entirely from thoae of the present Indians, peopled America, many Cf-nturies before its discovery by Columbus. And Inquiries into their Origin, with a copious description of many of their stupendous works, now in ruins. With Conjectures concerning what may have become of them. Compiled from travels, authentic sources, and tlie Researches of Antiquarian Societies. Ey Josiah i-'riest." The right whereof he claims as author and proprietor — In conformity with an Act of Congress, entitled An Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copy Rights. RUTGER B. MILLER, Cletk U. S. D. C. A". X>. JV. V. PREFACE. The volume now laid before the public, is submitted with the pleas- ing hope that it will not be unacceptable, although the subject of the An- tiquities of America is every where surrounded with its mysteries ; on which account, we have been compelled to wander widely in the field of conjecture, from which it is not impossible but we may have gathered and presented some original and novel opinions. * '■. We have felt that we are bound by the nature of the subject, to treat wholly on th-ose matters which relate to ages preceding the discovery of America by Columbus ; as we apprehend no subject connected with the history of the continent since, can be entitled to the appellation of Antiquities ol America. K we may be permitted to judge from the liberal subscription tliis work has met with, notwithstanding the universal prejudice against subscribing for books, we should draw the conclusion, that this curious subject, has not its on/y admi- rers within the pales of Antiquarian Societies. If it is pleasmg as well as iiseful to know the history of one's country, if to feel a rising interest as its beginnings are unfolded ; its sufferings, its wars, its struggles, and its victories, delineated ; why not also, when the stoiy of its an- tiquities, though of a graver and more majestic nature, are attempted to be reheai-sed. The traits of the antiquities of the old world are every where shown by the fragments of dilapidated cities, pyramids of stone, and walls of wondrous length ; but here are the wrecks of empire, whose beginnings it would seem, are older than any of these, which are the mounds and works of the west, towering aloft as if their builders were preparing against another flood. We have undertaken to elicit arguments, from what we suppose evidence, that the Jirst inhabitants who peopled America, came on by land, at certain places, where it is supposed once to have been united with Asia, Europe, and Africa, but has been torn asunder by tlie force of eartliquakes, and the irrup- tions of the waters, so that what animals had not passed over before this great physical rupture, were for ever excluded ; but not so with men, as they could resort to the use of boats. iV PREFACE We have gathered such evidence as induces a belief tl)at America wa^j, an^ ciently, inhabited witii jxirtially civilized and agricultural nations, surpassing in numbers, its present population. This, we imagine, we prove, in the disco- very of thousands of the traits of the ancient operations of men over the entire cultivated parts of the continent, in the forms and under the character of mounds and fortifications, abounding particularly in the western regions. We have also ventured conjectures respecting what nations, in some few in- stances, may have settled here ; also what may have become of them. We have entered on an examination of some of those works, and of some of the articles found on opening some few of their tumuli ; which we have compared with similar articles found in similar works in various parts of the other continents, from which very curious results are ascertained. As it respects some of the ancient nations who may have found their way hither, we perceive a strong probability, tliat not only Asiatic nations, very soon after the flood, but that also, all along the different eras of time, different races of men, as Polynesians, Malays, Australasians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Tartars, Scandinavians, Danes, Norwegians, Welch, and Scotch, have colonized different parts of the continent. We have also attempted to show that America was-peopled before the flood ; that it was the country of Noah, and the place where the ark was erected. The highly interesting subject oi American Antiquities, we are inclined to be- lieve, is but just commencing to be developed. The immensify of country yet beyond tlie settlements of men, towards the Pacific, is yet to be explored by cultivation, when other evidences, and wider spread, will come to view, afford- ing, perhaps, more definite conclusions. As aids in maturing this volume, we have consulted the works of philosophers, historians, travellers, geographers, and gazetteers, with miscellaneous notices on tliis subject, as found in the periodicals of the day. The subject has proved as diificult as mysterious ; any disorder and inaccuracies, therefoie, in point of in- ferences which we have made, we beg may not become the subjects of the se- verities of criticism. If, however, we should succeed in awakening a desire to a farther investiga- tion of this curious subject, and should have the singular happiness of securing any degree of public respect, and of giving the subscriber an equivalent for his patronage, tho utmost of the desires of the author will be realized. JO SI AH PRIEST. CONTENTS. Page Location of Mount Ararat, 9 Traits of the history of the Chinese before the flood, and their account of it, with other curious matters, 10 The supposed origin of human complexions, with the ancient significations of the names of the three sons of Noah, see pages, 14, 291, 294, 351 Respecting a division of the earth by Noah among his three sons, 21 Supposed identity and real name of Melchisedec of the Scrip- tures — of qualifications for the Jewish priesthood — and of the location of Paradise, 23 Division of the earth in the days of Peleg, and of the spread- ing out of the nations from Ararat, with other curious mat- ters, 31 Antiquities of the west, consisting of mounds, tumuli, and for- tifications, 37 Ruins of a Roman fort at Marietta, with conjectures how they may have found this country, 41 Discovery of a subterranean cavity of mason work, supposed to have been erected by one of tlic admirals of Alexander, in America, 300 years before Christ, 44 Ireland known to the Greeks 200 years before Christ, 48 Discoveries of subterranean hearths and fire places, on the shores of the Ohio, with conjectures about their origin, • • • « 49 Discovery of a curious cup of earthen ware, 52 Course of tlie Ten lost Tribes of Israel, with conjectures about the land of Asareth, and convulsions of the globe, 55 Traits of Israelites in Lapland, with accounts of their theology, resembling that of the Jews, 62 Traits of the Jews found iu Pitlsfield, Mass. ti6 A late discovery of a vast body of Jews in India, 67 Vi CONTENTS. Page. A farther account o' the convulsions of the globe, with the re- moval of islands, &c. ' ^ Of the island Atalantis, of the ancients, supposed to have been situated between Europe and America, • ■ • • 80 Evidences of an ancient population in America, different from thatof the Indians, ^^ Discoveries on the Muskingum, of the traits of ancient nations, consisting of mounds, tumuli, a vault, brass rings, a large skeleton, stone abutments of ancient bridges, a tesselated pavement, with ai tides denoting a Hindoo population, 87 Origin of houses amcag men, ^ ' Great works of the ancient nations at Zanesville, Ohio, 99 Discovery of a quar ity of metallic balls hidden by the an- cient nations, supposed to have been gold, with conjectures concerning their use, • • ^"^ Use of the sling by the ancient nations in America, &c..« • • • 104 Remains of ancient pottery in the west, • • • 106 A catacomb of embalmed mummies found in Kentucky, sup- posed to be of Egyptian origin, with suppositions how they may have found America, 110 A fac simile of the true Phrenician letters, 116 Ancient letters or alphabets of Africa and of America, with a fac simile of their shapes, showing them to be one in origin, 118 A further account of western antiquities, with antediluvian traits, the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and of the building of the ark of Noah in America, 125 The skeleton of a whale recently found in Virginia, near an hundred miles from the sea, 13^ Discovery of an ivory image in a bone mound at Cincinnati, with conjectures respecting it, l-^*^ Sculptured hieroglyphics found in a cave on the Ohio, and of the banditti who inhabited it, 138 Accounts of the bones of the mammoth in the west, 144 Tracks of men and animals in the rocks of Tennessee and elsewhere, Cotubamana, the giant chief of an American island, his tragi- cal end, with other curious notices, 1^'^ A further account of discoveries in the west, as given by the Antiquarian society at Cincinnati, 158 CONTENTS. Vii Page Vast works of the ancient nations on the east side of the Mus- kingum, with a map of three fortifications as they now appear in ruins, 16) Ruins ol ancient works at Circle ville, Ohio, 163 Ancient works on Paint Creek, Ohio, * . . 166 Ancient wells found in the bottom of Paint Creek, 168 A recent discovery of one of those ancient works among the Alleghanies, 169 Description of western tumuli and mounds, 170 A copper cross found on the breast of a skeleton, also traits of a Hindoo population in the west, 180 Great works of the ancient nations on the north fork of Paint Creek, 1S3 Traits of ancient cities on the Mississippi, 187 Tradition of the native Mexicans, respecting their migrations from the north, 189 Supposed uses of the ancient roads found connected with the mounds, 193 Traits of the Mosaic history found among the Azteca Indians, with an engraving, which represents men, receiving the languages from a bird, and Noah in his ark, 196 Ceremonies of the worship of fire as practised by certain In- dian tribes on the Arkansas, 209 Origin of the worship of fire, , 212 A further account of western antiquities, 214 Discovery of America by the Norwegians, Danes and Welch before the time of Columbus, 224 Traditions of the Florida Indians, that Florida was once in- habited by white people, before Columbus, with evidences of the same, 234 Specimens of mason- work of the ancient nations, 238 Ruins of the city of Otolum, in America of Peruvian origin 241 Great stone calendar of the Mexicans, with an engraving, .... 246 Great stone castle of Iceland, 249 A further account of the evidence of colonies from Europe be- fore Columbus, 251 Large quantity of brass found in Scipio in a field once belong- ing to the ancient nations, 254 A further account of western antiquities,. .,,,.,,.., 256 Vlii CONTENTS. Page. A disciiption of articles found in the tumuli, 260 Great size of some of the Mexican mounds, 267 Predilection of the ancients to pyramid building, 268 - Shipping and voyages of the Mongol Tartars, and their set- tlements on the western coast of North America, 273 A further account of western antiquities, 279 Various opinions respecting the original inhabitants of Ame- rica, 282 Further remarks on the subject of human complexions,.... 291 Still further remarks on human complexions, 294 Canibals in America, 299 Ancient languages of the first inhabitants of America, ........ 304 A fac simile, or engraving of the glyphs of Otolura, a city, the ruins of which is found in South America,. .........<.. 307 Languages and nations of North America, 309 Languages and nations of South America, 310 The Atlantic nations of America, 312 Further accounts of colonies from Europe before the time of Columbus, < < . . 316 Primitive origin of the English language, 325 Colonies of the Danes in America, 333 Chron(^gy of the the Iroquois Indians, * 346 African tribe found in South America, 349 Disappearance of many of the western lakes, and of the for- mation of sea 'Coal, 352 Further remarks on the draining of the western country of its ancient lakes, 367 Causes of the disappearance of the ancient nations, 373 Lake Ontario formed by a Volcanoe, 376 Resemblance of the western Indians to the ancient Greeks,... 383 Traits of the ancient Romans in America, 389 American Indian languages, 393 Languages of Oregon Chopunish and Chinuc, 395 Grold mines in the Southern States, 397 These mines known to the ancients by the instruments dis- covered, 30& AMERICAN ANTIQ.UITIKS AND l>I§COVI5II.IE8 ir¥ THE WEJ§T, A LOFTY summit on a range of mountains, called Ararat, in Asia, furnished the resting place of the Ark, which contained the progenitors of both man and animals, who have replenished the Globe since the era of the Deluge. Ararat is a chain of mountains, running partly round the south- em end of the Caspian, and is situated between the Caspian and Black Seas ; in latitude north, about 38 deg. agreeing with the middle of the United States, and is from London a distance of about two thousand four hundred miles, in a southeasterly course, and from the city of Albany, in the United States, is n'jarly six thou- sand, in an exact easterly direction, and the same latitude, except a variation of but three degrees south. We have been thus particular to describe the exact situation, as generally allowed, of that range of mountains; because from this place, which is nearly on the western end of the Asiatic continent, Noah and his posterity descended, and spread themselves over ma- ny parts of the earth, and, as we suppose, even to America, re- newing the race of man, which well nigh had become extinct from the devastation and ruin of the universal flood. But that the flood of Noah a'v as universal, is gravely doubted ; in proof of which, the abettors of this doubt, bring the traditional his- tory of the ancient Chinese. Professor Rafinesque, of the city ot Philadelphia, confessedly a learned and most able antiquarian, has recently advanced the following exceedingly interesting and cu- rious matter. 10 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES " History of China before the Flood. The traditions preserved by many ancient nations of the earliest history of the earth and man- kind, before and after the great geological floods, which have deso- lated the globe, are highly interesting ; they belong at once to geology, archeology, history and many other sciences. They are the only glimpses to guide us where the fossil remains or medals of nature, are silent or unknown. Ancient China was in the eastern slopes and branches of the mountains of Central Asia, the hoary Imalaya, where it is as yet very doubtful whether the flood thoroughly extended." But though this is doubted, we cannot subscribe to the opinion, however great our deference may be for the ability and research of those who have ventured to doubt. We feel by far a greater de- ference to the statement of the author of the Hebrew Genesis ; a historian of the highest accredited antiquity. This author says plainly, that " all the high hills under the whole heaven were cover- ed ;" and that " fifteen cubits," and upwards, did the waters pre- vail ; and the mountains were covered. But not so, if we are to believe these doubters. A very large tract of country of Central Asia was exempt from the flood of Noah, as also a part of South America. This opinion, which contradicts the Bible account of that floods is founded on " the traditional history of China, which speaks of two great floods which desolated, but did not overflow the land. They answer, says Mr. Rafinesque, to the two great floods of Noah and Peleg, recorded in the Bible. " The latter, the flood of Peleg, or Yao, in China, was caused, he says, by volcanic paroxysms all over the earth ;" but " much less fatal than the flood of Noah, or Yu-ti, in China." ^ Respecting this flood, " the following details are taken chiefly from the Chinese historians, Liu-yu and Lo-pi, whose works are called Y-tse, and Uai-ki, as partly translated by Leroux." These says, that " the first flood happened under the 8th Ki, or period called Yu-ti, and the first emperor of it," was " Chin-sang, about 3,170 years before Christ," S26, before the flood. But neither can this be, as the flood of Noah took place 1,65^ years from the creation, which would, therefore, be but 2,344 years before Christ ; being a mistake of about 826 years. And, therefore, if there i:; any truth iu the Chinese history at all, those AND DISCOVERTES IK THE WtsT- ll bistorians must have alluded to some flood before that of Noah ; an account of which may have been received from Noah himself, and preserved in the Chinese histories written after the flood. The flood alluded to, by the above named historian, did not, it is true, overflow the whole earth, but it was such as that the waters did not return to their usual channels for a long time ; " the misery of mankind was extreme ; the beasts and serpents were very numerous ;" being driven together by the pursuit of the wa- ters, and also " storms and cold " had greatly increased. Chin-sang collected the wandering men to unite against the wild beasts, to dress their skins for clothing, and to weave their fur into webs and caps. This emperor was venerated for these benefits, and be- gan a Shi, or dynasty, that lasted 350 years." This account would suit very well to the character of Nimrod, whom we are much inclined to think the Chinese historians point out, instead of any king before the era of the flood of Noah. But to the research of this highly gifted antiquarian, Rafinesque, we are greatly indebted in one important respect : It is well known that persons in the learned world have greatly admired the boasted antiquity of the Chinese nations, who, by their records, make the earth much older than does Moses. But this philosopher on this subject writes as follows : " The two words, Ki and Shi^ trans- lated periodzxidi dynasty, or family, are of some importance. As they now stand translated, they would make the world very old ; since no less than ten Ki, or periods, are enumerated, (we are in the iOth;) wherein 232 Shi, or dynasties of emperors, are said to hare ruled in China, during a course of 276,480 years before Christ, at the loicest computation ; and 96,962,220 before Christ, at the highest ; with many intermediary calculations, by various authors. But if Ki, he says, may also mean a dynasty, or division, or peo- ple, as it appears to do in some instances, and Shi, an age, or & tribe, or reign, the whole preposterous computation will prove false, or be easily reduced to agree with those of the Hindoos, Persians and Egyptians ;" and come within the age of the earth as given in the Scriptures. If the central region of Asia, and parts of South America, may have been exempted from that flood, we may then safely inquire, whether other parts of the globe may not also have been exempt ; where men and animals were preserved ; and thus the account of 12 AMERICAN ANTIQCITIES the ark-, in which, as related by Moses, both men and animals were saved, is completely overturned. But the universal traditions of all nations, contradict this, while the earth, every where, shows signs of the operations of the waters, in agreement with this uni- versal tradition. If such a flood never took place, which rushed over the earth with extraordinary violence, how, it may be inquired, are there found in Siberia, in north latitude 60 and 70 deg , great masses of the bones of tlie elephant and rhinoceros — animals of the hot regions of the equator. From this it is evident that the flood which wafted the bodies of those animals, rolled exactly over all China and the Hindoo regions. In all parts of the earth, even on the highest regions and mountains, are found oceanic remains. Whales have been found in the mountains of Greenland, and also in other parts, as in America, far from the ocean. Chinese history, it is true, gives an account of many floods, which have ruined whole tracts of that country, as many as sixty- five, one of which, in the year 185 before Christ, it is said, formed that body of water called the Yellow Sea, situated between Corea and China. But were the history of American floods written, occasioned by similar causes; such as rivers rupturing their mountain ba:Jers; the shocks of earthquakes, since the time of Noah's flood ; who could say there would not be as many. We shall have occasion to speak of this subject before we close this volume. It is said that the history of China gives an account of the state of mankind before the flood of Vuti, or Noah, and represents them as having been happy, ruled by benevolent monarchs, who took no- thing and gave much ; the world submitted to their virtues and good laws ; they wore no crowns, but long hair ; never made war, and put no one to death. But this is also contrary to the account of Moses ; who says the earth before the flood was corrupt before God, and was filkd with violence. But they trarry their descrip- tion of the happiness of men so high, as to represent perfect har- mony as having existed between men and animals ; when men liv- ed on roots and the fruits of the earth; that they did not follow hunting ; property was common, and universal concord prevailed. From thiS/high wrought account of the pristine happiness of man, we are at once referred to the original state of Adam in Paradise, and to his patriarchal government after his fall ; and it is likely also A^D DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 1$ io that of his successors, till men had multiplied in the earth \ so as to form conflicting interests, when the rapine and violence coai- naenced, as spoken of by Moses, which it seems, grew worse and worse, till the flood came and took them all away- That the central parts of Asia were not overflown by the deluge, appears of vast importance to some philosophers of the present day to be established. For if so, we see, say they, at once, how both men and animals were preserved from that flood ; and yet this does not, they say, militate against the Mosaic account ; for the very word ARK, is, in the original language, Theba, and signifies, refuge, and is the country of Thibet. So that when Moses talked about an ark, he only meant the central part of Asia, or Thibet, in which men and animals were saved, instead of a vessel. Theba or Thibet, situated in what is called Central Asia, and is in size equal to three-fourths of the area of the United States, is indeed the highest part of that continent, and produces mountains higher than any other part of the earth ; yet Moses says, that the flood prevailed fifteen cubits and upwards above the highest moun- tains. Thibet is situated in latitude 30 deg. north, exactly between farther India, Hindostan and Siberia, where banks of the bones of equatorial animals are found, as we havetioticed ; by which we as- certain that the deluge rolled over this very Theea, the country supposed to have been left dry at the time of Noah's flood. But it will not do ; for the Mosaic account plainly says, that God said to Noah, make thee an ark of gopher wood. Surely Noah did not make the central parts of Asia, called Theba, or Thibet ; neither was he called upon to do so, as it would have taken much gopher wood to have formed the whole or a part of so large a coun- try. But respecting the word, which is translated ark, in the Scriptures, it is said by Adam Clarke, to be in the original Tebath, and not Theba. The word Tebath, he says, signifies vessel, and means no more nor less than a vessel, in its most common acceptation, a hollow place, capable of containing persons, goods, &c. The idea, there- fore, that the word ark, signified the central parts of Asia, called Theba, or Thibet, falls to the ground ; while the history as given by Moses, respecting the flood of Noah, remains unshaken. 14 AMERFCAN ANTIQLTTIF.S The same author has also discovered that a rare of ancient peo- ple, in South America, called the Zapotecas, boast of being ante- dibivian in America, and to have built the city of Coat-Ian, so named, because this city was founded at a place which swarmed with serpents ; therefore named Snake-city, or Coat-Ian, built 327 years before the flood ; and that, at the time of the flood, a remnant of them, together with their king, named Pet-ela, (or dog,) saved them- selves oh a mountain of the same name. Coat-Ian. But we consider this tradition to relate only to the Jirst efforts at house building after the flood of Noah, round about the region of Ararat, and on the plains of Shinar. The very circumstance of this tribe being still designated by that of the Dog tribe, is an evi- dence that they originated not before the flood as a nation, but in Asia, since that era ; for in Asia, as in America, tribes of men have also been thus designated, and called after the various animals of the woods. The Snake Indian.s are well known to the western explorers in America, as also many other tribes, who are named after various wild animals. SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF HUMAN COMPLEXIONS, WITH THE ANCIENT SIGNIFICATION OF THE NAMES OF THE THREE SONS OF NOAH, AND OTHER CURIOUS MATTER. The sons of Noah were three, as stated in the book of Genesis ; between whose descendants the \vhole earth, in process of time, became divided. This division appears to have taken place, in the earliest ages of the first nations after the flood, in such manner as to suit, or correspond with the several constitutions of tho.se na- tions, in a physical sense, as well as with a reference to the various complexions of the descendants of these three heads of the human race. This preparation of the nations, respecting animal constitution and colour, at the fountain head, must have been directed by the hand of the Creator, in an arbitrary manner ; by which not only his Sovereignty, as the Governor of our earth with all its tribes, is mani- fest, but also his Wisdom ; because the same constitution and com- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 15 flexion, which is suited to the temperate and frigid zones of the globe, could not endure the burning climates of the torrid ; so nei- ther are the constitutions of the equatorial nations so tempered as to enjoy the snowy and ice-bound regions in the high latitudes north and south of the equator. The very names, or words Shem, Ham, and Japheth, were in the language of Noah, which was probably the pure Hebrew ; in some sense, significant of their future national character and pros- perity. We proceed to show in what sense their names w^ere de- scriptive, prospectively, of their several destinies in the earth, as well also as that Ham was the very name of his color, or com- plexion. The word Shem, says Dr. Clarke, signifies renown^ in the language of Noah ; which, as that great man, now no more, remarks, has been wonderfully fulfilled, both in a temporal and spiritual sense. In a temporal sense, first, as follows. His posterity spread them- selves over the finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia — Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, and the Indus, Ganges, aad possibly to China, still more eastward. The word Japheth, which was the name of Noah's third son, has also its meaning, and signifies, according to the same author, that, which may be exceedingly enlarged, and capable of spreading to a vast extent. His posterity diverged eastward and westward from Ararat, throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of the Taurus and Ararat mountains, as far as the Eastern Ocean ; whence, as he supposes, they crossed over to America, at the Straits of Bhering, and in the opposite direction from those moun- tains, throughout Europe, to the Mediterranean Sea, south from Ai arat ; and to the Atlantic Ocean west, from the same region ; whence also they might have passed over to America, by the way of Ice- land, Greenland, and so on to the continent, along the coast of La- brador, where traces of early settlements remain, in parts now de- sert. Thus did Japheth enlarge himself, till his posterity literally encompassed the earth, from latitude 35 deg. north and upward, toward the pole. The word Ham, signified that which was burnt, or black. The posterity of this sou of Noah, peopled the hot regions of the earth, on either side the equator. X6 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES ,^ But as it respects the complexions of these heads of the nations of the ear b, we remark as follows : Shem was undoubtedly a red or copper v ulored man, which was the complexion of all the Ante- diluvians. This coi elusion is drawn from the fact, thai the nations inhabit- ing the countries named as being settled or peopled by the descend- ants of Shen, have always been, and now are, of that cast. We deem this lact as conclusive, that such was also their progenitor, Shem, as that the great and distinguishing features and complexion of nations c aange not, so as to disappear. Shem was the Father of the Jewish race, who are of the same hue, varying, it is true, some being of a ('arker, and some of a lighter shade, arising from secret and undefiL ible principles, placed beyond the research of man ; and also, from a lalgamation by marriage with white, and with the dark- er nations, a j the African. But to Corroborate our opinion, that the Antediluvians were of a red, or copper complexion, we bring the well knowi statement of Josephus, that Adabi, the first of men, was a red man, made of red earth, called virgin earth, because of its beauty and pureness. The word Adcfm, he also says, signifies that colour >vhich is red. To this account, the tradition of the Jews 'corresponds, who, as they are the people most roncerned, should be allowed to know most about it. Shem, therefore, must have been a red man, derived from the complexion of the first man, Adam. And his posterity, as above described, are accordingly of the the same complexion ; this is well known of all the Jews, unmixed with those nations that are fairer, as attested by history, and the traveller of every age, in the coun- tries they inhabit. The word Hain, which was the name of the second son of Noah, is the word which was descriptive of the color which is black, or burnt. This we show from the testimony of Dr. Hales, of Eng- land, who was a celebrated natural philosopher and mathematician, of the ITih century, \vho is quoted by Adam Clarke, to show that the word Ham, in the language of Noah, which was that of the Antediluvians, was the term for that which was black. It is not possible, from authority so high and respectable, that doubts can exist respecting the legitimacy of this word, and of its ancient application. Accordingly, as best suited to the complexion AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 17 of the descendants of Ham, the hot regions of the equator were allotted to those nations. To the Cushites, the southern climes of Asia, along the coast of the Persian Gulf, Susiane, or Cushistan, Arabia, Canaan, Pales- tine, Syria, Egypt, and Lybia, in Africa. These countries were settled by the posterity of Ham, who were, and now are, of a glossy black. But the vast variety of shades and hues of the human face, are derived from amalgamations of the three original complexions, red, black, and white. This was the act of God, giving to the three persons, upon whom the earth's population depended, by way of perpetuity, such complexions, and animal constitutions, as should be best suited to the several climates, whi«h he intended, in the progress of his providence, they should inhabit. The people of these countries, inhabited respectively by these heads of nations, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, s/i// retain, in full force, the ancient, pristine red, white, and black complexions, except where each have intruded upon the otlier, and became scattered, and mingled, in some degree, over the earth. Accordingly, among the African nations, in their own proper countries, now and then a colony of whites have fixed their dwellings. Among the red na- tions are found, here and there, as in some of the islands of the Pacific, the pure African ; and both the black and the red are found among the white nations ; but noWj much more than in the earliest ages, a general amalgamation of the three original colors exists. Much has been written to establish the doctrine of the influence of climate and food, in producing the vast extremes between a fair and ruddy white, and a jet black. But this mode of reasoning, to establish the origin of the human complexion, we imagine, very in- conclusive and unsatisfactory ; as it is found that no distance of space, lapse of ages, change of diet, or of countries, can possibly " remove the leopard's spots, or change the Ethiopian's skin." No lapse of ages has been known to change a white man and his posterity to the exact hue or shape of an African, although the hottest rays of the burning clime of Lybia, may have scorched him ages unnumbered, and its soil have fed him with its roots and ber- ries, an equal length of time. It is granted, however, that ;■ white man with his posterity will tan very diik by the heat of the su.i ; but it never can altar, as it never has, materially aitered, the shape 3 18 AMERICAN ANTlQUn/Es' of his face from that which was characteristic of his aatiorj v? people, nor the form of his limbs, nor his curled hair, turning it te* a wool, provided always, the blood be kept pure and unmixed by marriages with the African. Power in the decomposition of food, by the human stomach, does not exist of sufficient force to overturn the deep foundation of causes established in the very germ of being, by the Creator. The cir- cumstance of what a man may eat, or where he may chance to breathe, cannot derange the economy of first principles. Were it so, it were not a hard matter for the poor African, if he did but know this choice trait of philosophy, to take hope and shake off entirely his unfortunate skin, in process of time, and no longer be exposed, solely on tliaf account, to slavery, chains, and wretch- edness. But the inveteracy of complexion against the operation of climate is evinced by the following, as related by Morse. On the eastern coast of Africa, in latitudes deg. north, are found jet, black, tawny, olive, and white inhabitants, all speaking the same language, which is the Arabic. This particular part of Africa is called the Maga- doxo kingdom : the inhabitants are a stout, warlike nation, of the Mahometan religion Here, it appears, is permanent evidence, that climate or food have no effect in materially changing the hues of the complexion, each retaining their own original texture ; even the white is found as stubborn in this torrid sky, as the black in the northern countries- The whites found there, are the descendants of the ancient Ro- mans, Carthagenians, Vandals, and Goths; who were, it is asserted by John Leo, the African, who wrote a description of Africa in Ara- bic, all anciently comprehended under the general name of Mauri or Moors, as well as the black Moors themselves. (Morse's Uni- versal Geo. vol. ii. pp. 754. 781.) Shem, according to the commonly recei\'ed opinion, was the eld- est son of Noah ; and as the complexion of this child did not differ from that of other children bom before the flood, all of whom are supposed to have been red, or of the copper hue, on the ground of Adam's complexion ; Noah did not, therefore, name the child at first sight, from any extraordinary impulse arising from any singu- lar appearance in the complexion, but rather, as it was hh first born son, he called him Shem, that is renown^ which name agrees, in a AND DISCOVERIES IN TKF. WEST 19 Vinrprising manner, \vi(h whal we have hereafter to relate, respect- ing this cliaracter. The impulse in the mind of Noali, which moved him to call this first son of his Sh€m, or rf-noini, may have been similar to that of the patriarch, Jacob, respecting his first born son. He says, Reu- beii, thou art my first born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. The ideas are similar, both leading to the same consequence ; in one case, it is rcnoxcn ; in the other, the excellency of power, which is equivalent to renown ; all which, in both cases, arise from the mere circumstance of those children being the first born. It is not unusual for parents to feel this sensation, on the birth of a first child, especially if it be a son ; however, it is not impossible -but the prophetic spirit moved Noah so to name this son by the ex- traordinary appellation, renown^ or Shem ; and the chief trait of ce- lebrity which was to attach itself to the character of Shem was to arise out of the fact of his being the type of the Messiah ; and the time was to come when this person, after the flood should have passed away, would be the only antediluvian survivor ; on which account, all mankind must, of necessity, by natural and mutual -"onsent, look up to this man with extraordinary veneration. By examining the chronolgical account of the Jewish records, v/e find the man Shem lived five hundred years after the flood, and that he over-lived Abraham about forty years. So that he was not ■only the oldest man on the earth at that time, but also the only sur- viving antediluvian, as well as the great typical progenitor of the adorable Messiah. Here was a foundation for renown, of sutTicient solidity to justify the prophetic spirit in moving Noah to call him Shem, a name full of import, full of meaning, pointing its signification, in a blaze of light, to Him whose birth and works of righteousness were to be of consequences the highest in degree to the whole race of Adam, in the atonement. But at the birth of Ham, it was diflerent. When this child was born, we may suppose the house or tent to have been in an uproar, on the account of his strange complexion ; the news of which, we may suppose, soon reached the ear of the father, who, on beholding it, at once, in the form of exclamation, cried out, Ham ! that is, it is black! and this word became his name. 20 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES It is believed, that in the first ages of the world, thiugs were named from their supposed qualities ; and their supposed qualities arose from fir$t appearances. In this way, it is imagined, Adam named all the animals at first sight ; as the Lord God caused them to pass before him, a sudden impulse arising in his mind, from the appearance of each creature ; so that a suitable name was given. This was natural ; but not more so than it was for Noah to call his second srii Ham, because he was black; being struck by this uncommon,unheaidof, complexion of his own child, which Impelled him at once to name him as he looked. We r appose the same influence gov rned -xX. the birth of J apheth ; and that at the birth of this child, greater surprise still must have pervaded the household of No:>.h, as ichite ^vas a cast of complex- ion still more wonderful than either red or I 2ck, as these two last named complexions bear a stronger- affinity to each other, than to that of white. No sooner, therefore, as we may suppose, was the news of the birth of this third son carried to Noah, than being anxious to em- brace him, saw with amazement, that it was diverse from the other two, and from all mankind ; having not the least affinity of com- plexion with any of the human race ; and being in an ecstacy, at the sight of so fair dnd ruddy an infant, beautifully white and tran- sparent of complexion, cried out, while under the influence of his joy and surprise, J apheth ! which word became his name ; to this, howeve,, he added afterwards, God shall greatly enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Sham and Canaan ; that is. Ham shall be his servant ; so that, in a political sense, he was higher than the other two. But if our opinion on this subject is esteemed not well support- ed, we would add one other circumstance, which would seem to agaount to demonstration, in proving Ham and his posterity to have been black at the outset. The circumstance is as follows : At two particular times, it ap- pears froQ]^ Genesis, that Noah declared, Ham, with his posterity, should serve or become servants to both the posterity of Shem and Japheth. If one were to inquire whether this has been fulfilled or not, what would be the universal answer ? It would be — it has been fulfilled. But in what way .' Who are the people .' The universal answer is. The African race are the people. But how is i AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 21 this proved, unless we allow them to be the descendants of Ham? If, then, they are his descendants, they have been such in every age, from the very beginning ; and the same criterion, which is their color, has distinguished thera. This proves their progenitor, Ham, to have been black ; or otherwise, it had been impossible to distinguish them from the posterity of the other two, Shem and Japheth ; and whether the denunciation of Noah has been fulfilled or not, would be unknown. But as it is known, the subject is clear; the distinguishing trait by which Ham's posterity were known zt first, must of necessity have been, as it is now, black. We have dwelt thus far upon the subject of human complexions, because there are those who imagine the variety now found among men, to have originated purely from climate, food, and manner of living ; while others suppose a plurality of fathers to have been the cause, in contradiction of the account in Genesis, where one man is said to have been the father of all mankind. But on this curious subject, respecting the variety of complexious, see, toward the close of this volume, the remarks of Professor Mitchell, late of New- York. RESPECTING A DIVISION OF THE EARTH, BY NOAH, AMONG HIS SONS. It cannot be denied but the whole earth, at the time the ark rested on mount Ararat, belonged to Noah, he being the prince, patriarch, or head aud ruler of his own family ; consequently, of all the inhabitants of the earth, as there were none but his own house. This is more than can be said of any other man since the world be- gan, except of the man Adam. Accordingly, in the true character of a Patriarchal Prince, as related by Eusebius, au ecclesiastical writer of the fourth century, and by others, that Noah, being com- manded of God, proceeded to mnke his will, dividing the whole earth between his three sons, and their respective heirs or descend- ants. To Shem he gave all the East ; to Ham, all Africa; to Japheth, the continent of Europe, with its Isles, and the northern parts of 52 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIF..S Asia, as before pointed out. And may we not add America, whichj in the course of Divine Providence, is notv in the possession of the posterity of Japheth, and it is not impossible but this quarter of the earth may have been known even to Noah, as we are led to sus- pect from the statement of Eusebius. This idea, or information, is brought forward by Adam Clarke, from whose commentary ou the Scriptures, we have derived it. That a knowledge of not only Africa, Asia, and Europe, was in the possession of Noah, but even the islands of Europe, is probable, or how could he have given them to the posterity of his son Japhethy as written by Eusebius. It may be questioned, possibly, whether these countries, at so early a period, had yet been explored, so as to furnish Noah with any degree of knowledge respecting them. To this it may be re- plied, that he lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and more than a hundred and fifty after the building of the tower of Babel and the dispersion of the first inhabitants, by means oi the confusion of the ancient language. This was a lapse of time quite sufficient to have enabled explor- ers to have traversed them, or even the whole earth, if companies had been sent out in different directions, for that express purpose, and to return again with their accounts to Noah. If the supposition of Adam Clarke, and others, be correct ; which is, that at that time ihe whole land of the globe was so situated that no continent was «5uite separate ftom tlxe others by water, as they are now ; so that men could traverse by land the whole globe at their will : if so, even America may have been known to the first nations, as well as other parts of the earth. This doctrine of the union of continents, is favored, or rather founded on a passage in the Book of Genesis, 10th chap. 20lh ver., where it is stated that one of the sons of Eber was Peleg, so named, because, in his days, the earth was divided ; the word Peleg, prob- ably signifying division, in the Noetic language. The birth of Peleg was about an hundred years after the flood, the very time when Babel was being built. But we do not im- agine this great convulsionary division of the several quarters of the globe took place till perhaps an hundred years after the birth of Peleg, on account of the peculiar latitude of the expression, " in the days of Peleg." Or, it may have been even two hundred ASD UISCOVERIL'S IN THE WEST- 23 years alter the birth of Peleg, as this persou's whole lite was but two hundred and thirty-nine years, so that Noah over-lived him eleven years. " In the days of Peleg," therefore, may as well be argued to mean, near the close of his life, as at any other period ; this would give time for a very considerable knowledge of the earth's coun- tries to have been obtained ; so that Noah could have made a judicious division of it among the posterity of his sons This grand division of the earth, is supposed by some, to have been only a political division ; but by others, a physical or geogra- phical one. This latter opinion is favored by Adam Clarke. See his comment on the 25th verse of the 10th chapter of Genesis, as follows : " A separation of Continents and islands from the main land, the earthy parts having been united in one great continent,^ previous to the days of Peleg." But at this era, when men and animals had found their way to the several quarters of the earth, it seemed good to the Creator to break down those uniting portions of land, by bringing into action the winds, the billows, and subtera- nean fires, which soon, by their repeated and united forces, removed each isthmus, throwing them along the coasts of the several con- tiaents, and forming them into islands ; thus destroying, for v^rise purposes, those primeval highways of the nations. SUPPOSED IDENTITY AND REAL NAME OF MELCHISEDEC, OF THE SCRIPTURES. This is indeed an interesting problem, the solution of which has perplexed its thousands ; most of whom suppose him to have been . the Son of God, some angelic, or mysterious supernatural person- age, rather than a mere man. This general opinion proceeds on the ground of the Scripture account of him, as commonly under- stood, being expressed as follows : " Without father, without mo- Iner, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abidcth a priest continu- ally." Hebrews vii. 3 24 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES But, without further circumlocution, we will at once disclose our opinion, by stating that we believe him to have been Shem, the eldest son of Noah, the immediate progenitor of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Jews, and none other than Shem, " the man of name, or renown." We derive this conclusion from the research and critical com- mentary of the learned and pious Adam Clarke, who gives us this Information from the tradition of the Jewish Rabbins, which, with- out hesitation, gives this honor to Shem. The particular part of that Commentary to which we allude as being the origin of our belief, on this subject, is the preface of that author to the Book of Job, on page 716, as follows : " Shem lived five hundred and two years after the deluge ; being still alive, and in the three hundred and ninety-third year of his life, when Abra- ham was born ; iherefore, the Jewish tradition, that Shem was the Melchisedec, or my righteous king of Salem," which word Mel- chisedec, was " an epithet, or title of honor and respect, no/ a pro- per name, and therefore, as the head and father of his race, Abra- ham paid tithes to him. This seems to be well founded, and the idea is confirmed by these remarkable words, Psalms, 1 10, Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent, or change, at tah cohenleolam al di- barte Malkitsedek. As if he had said. Thou, my only begotten Son, first born of many brethren, not according to the subsHtuted priest- hood of the sons of Levi, who, after the sin of the golden calf, stood up in lieu of all the first born of Israel, invested with their forfeit- ed rights of primogeniture of king and priest : the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, (change.) Thou art a priest for ever, after the (my order of Melchisedec, my own original primitive) order of primogeniture : even as Shem, the man of name, the Shem that stands the first and foremost of the sons of Noah. The righteous Prince^ and Priest of the Most High God meets his descendant, Abraham, after the slaughter of the kings, with refreshments ; and blessed him, as the head and father of his race ; the Jews in particular ; and, as such, he received from Abraham, the tithe of all the spoil. How beautifully does Paul of Tarsus, writing to the Hebrews, point, through Melchisedec, (or Shem, the head and father of their race,) invested in all the original rights of primogeniture. Priest of the most High God, blessing Abraham as such, before Levi had AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 25 existence, and as such, receiving tithes from Abraham, and in hino Jirom Levi, yet in the loins of his forefathers : Moses, on this great and solemn occasion, records simply this : — Melchisedec, king ol Salem, Priest of the Most High God, sine geneahgia ; his pedi- gree not mentioned, but standing, ?isAdam\\\ St. Luke's genealogy, without father, and without mother, Adam of God. Luke iii. 38. How beautifully, I say, doth St. Paul point, through Melchisedec, to Jehoshua, our Great High Priest and King, Jesus Christ, whose eternal generation who shall declare ! Ha Mashlcich, the Lord's Anointed High Priest and King, after the order of Melchis^ec ; only begotten, first bom son." Thus far for the preface on the subject of Melchisedec, showing that he was none other than Shem, the son of Noah. We shall now give tne same author's views of the same supposed mysterious character J Melchisedec, as found in his notes on the 7th of Hebre\vs, commencing at the third verse. Without father, without mother, without descer*, havi^iq; neither beginning of days, nor end of life. " The oDJect of the Apostle, in thus producing the exumple of Melchisedec, was to show — l.st. That Jesus was the person prophesied of in th'^ 110th Psalm ; which psalm the Jews uniforail} understood as predicting the Messiah. 2d. To answer the obje'^tions of the Jews against the legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, arising from the stock from which He proceeded. The oVjectiou is this : if the Messiah is a true Priest, he nnirt come from a legitimate stock, as all the Priests under the law have regularly done ; otherwise we cannot acknowledge him to Lj a Priest. But Jesus of Nazareth has not proceeded from such a stock ; therefore, we cannot aclinow! dge him for a Priest, the Antitype of Aaron. To this objection tie Apostle answers, that it u'as not necessar}- for the Priest to come from a particular stock ; for INIel- chisedec was a Priest of the Most High God, and yet was not of the stock either of Abraham (for Melchisedec was before Abraham,) or Aaron, but was a Canaanite. It is well known that the ancient Jews, or Hebrews, were ex- ceedingly scrupulods in choosing their High Priest ; partly by di- vine command, and partly from the tradition of their ancestors, who always considered this office to be of the highest dignity 1st God had commanded. Lev. xxi. 10, that the High Priest should be 4 S(6 AMEBILAN ANTiqUITiEfc choseB from among their brethren ; that is, from the 'lamriy (/^ Aarou 2. That he should marry a virgin. 3d. He mubl not marry a widow. 4th. Nor a divorced person. 5th. JNor a iiarlot 6th. Nor one of another nation. lie who was found to have acted contrary ta these requisitions, ^vas, jure divino, excluded from the pontificate, or eligibility to hold that office. On the contrary, it was necessary that he who desired this houor^ should be able to prove his descent from the family of Aaron : and if he could not, though even in the i'riesthood, he was cast out ^ as we find from Ezra, ii. 62, and Nehem. vii. 63. To these divine ordinances, the Jews have added, 1st. That no proselyte could be a Priest : 2d. Nor a slave : 3d. Nor a bastard : 4th. Nor the sou of a Nethinnim ; these were a class of men who were servants to the Priests and Levites, (not of their tribe,) to draw water, and to hew wood. 5th. Nor one whose father exercised any bast trade. And that they might be «,<;// assured of all this, they took the utmost care to preserve their genealogies, which were regularly kept in the archives of the temple. When, if any person aspired to the sacerdotal function, his genealogical table was carefully in- spected; and if any of the above blemishes was found in him, he ■was rejected." But here the matter comes to a point, as it respects out inquiry respecting Melchisedec's having uo father or mother. " He who could not support his pretensions by just genealogical evidences, was said to be without father. Thus in Bereshilh Rabbuj Sect, xviii. fol. 18j are these words. For this cause shall a man leave father and mollicr. It is said, if a proselyte to the Jewish religion have married his own sister, whether by the same father, or by the same mother, they cast her out, according to Rabbi Meir. But the wise men say, if she be of the same mother^ they cast her out j but if of the same father, they retain her, shein ab la gaij for a Gentile has no father, that is, his father is 7wt reckoned in the Jew- ish genealogies. In this way, both Christ and Melchisedec were without father, and without mother, had neither beginning of days, descent of line- age, nor end of life, in their books of genealogies, which gave a man a right to the Priesthood, as derived from Aarou ; that is, were not descended from the original Jewish sacerdotal slock. Yet JNIel- chisedec^ who was a Canaanite, was a Priest of the Most Hi^h. AND DIfiCO%'ERIES IN THE WF5T 27 ^aod. Tills sense, Suf DAS* confirms, under tlie word Meleliisedee, where, after statinif thai lie reigned a prinre in Salem, i. o. Jeru- salem, 113 years, he died a righteous man. To this he adds, " He is, tlierefore, said be williont descent or fjeneakuiy, because he was not of the seed of Ahndtain, (for Abraham was his seed,) btit of Canaanitish origin." We think this sufficient to show the reason why he is said to liave had no lather or mother, beginning of days, nor end of life, as stated in Hebrews. But this is not said of him in the Book of Genesis, where we first become acquainted with this truly won- derful character. It should be recollected, that the Jewish genealogies went no far- ther back, for the qualifications of their priestly credentials, or eligibility to the pontifical office, than to the time and family of Aaron ; which was more than four hundred years after that of Abraham and Melchisedec No wonder, then, that Christ's gene- alogy was not found in their records, so as to give him a claim to that office, such as they might approve. But inasmuch as Melchisedec was greater than Abraham, from whom the Jewish race immediately originated, he argues from the authority of the 110th Psalm, where Melchisedec is spoken of, wliich the Jews allowed to be spoken of Christ, or the Messiah who was to come, and was, therefore, a Priest after the order of that extraordinary Prince of Peace, and King of Salem ; because, neither had he such a claim on the Jewish genealogies, as required by the Jews, so as to make him eligible to Oicir priesthood, for they knew, or might have known, that Christ did not come of the Aa- rouic race, but of the line or tribe of Judah. That he was a man, a mere man, born of a woman, and came into the world after the ordinary manner, is attested by St. Paul's own extraordinary expression. See Hebrews, vii. 4 : — " Now con- sider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." However wonderfully elevated among men,andiu the sight of God ; however powerful and rich, wise, holy, and happy ; he was, nevertheless, a mere ?««», or the tenth of the spoils he would not have received. *Suidas, a Greek Schoki i>i tiauic nee, who flounsbed A. D. 975, and ^vas an ecclesiastical \Miter of tliat a^re. 28 AMERICAN ANTQUITIES But the question is, what man was he, and what was his name ? "Now consider how great this man was," are words which may possibly led us to the same conclusion, which we have quoted from the preface of the Book of Job. There are not wanting circumstances to elevate this man, on the supposition that he was Shem, in the scale of society, far above a common level with the rest of the inhabitants of his country, of suf- ficient importance to justify St. Paul in saying, ♦' now consider how great this man was." We shall recount some of the circumstances : and first, at the time he met Abraham, when he wa,s returning from the slaughter of the kings who had carried away Lot, the half brother of Abra- ham, with all his goods, his wife and children, and blessed him ; he was the oldest man then on the earth. This circumstance alone was of no small amount, and higbJy calculated to elevate Shem in the eyes of mankind ; for he was then more than five hundred and fifty years old. Second : He was then the only man on the earth who had lived before the flood ; and had been conversant with the nations, the in- .stitutions, the state of agriculture and the arts, as understood and practised by the antediluvians. Third : He was the only man who could tell them about the lo- f.-ation of the garden of Eden ; a question, no doubt, of great curi- osity and moment to those early nations, so near the flood ; the manner in which the fall of Adam and Eve took place. He could tell them what sort of fruit it was, and how the tree looked on which it grew ; and from Shem, it is more than probable, the Jews received the idea that the forbidden fruit was that of the grape vine., as found in their traditions. Shem could tell them what sort of serpent it was, whether an Our&ng Outang, as believed by some, that the evil spirit made use of to deceive the woman ; he coii'l tel them about the former beauty of the earth, before it had become ruined by the commo- tion of the waters of the flood : the form and situation of countries, and of the extent and amount of human pop dation. He could tell them how the nations who filled the earth vith their violence and rapine, used to go about the si' nation of the h'ppy garden to which no man was allowed to app.oacli nor enter, on account of the dread- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 29 ful Cherubim and the flaming sword ; and how they blasphemed against the judgments of the Most High on that account. Fourth : Shera could inform them about the progress of the ark, where it was built, and what opposition and ridicule his father Noah met with while it was being builded ; he could tell respect- ing the violent manners of the antediluvians, and what their pecu- liar aggravated sins chiefly consisted in — what God meant when he said, that " all flesh had corrupted its way before Him," except the single family of Noah. There are those who imagine, from that peculiar phraseology, " all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth," that the human /cww had become mingled with that of ani- mals. If so, it was high time they were drowned, both man and beast, for reasons too obvious to need illustration here ; it was high time that the soil was purged by water, and torn to fragments and buried beneath the earthy matter thrown up from depths not so polluted. It is not at all improbable but from this strange and most hor- rible practice, the first ideas of the ancient statuaries were derived, of delineating sculpture which represents monsters, half human and half animal. This kind of sculpture, and also paintings, abounded among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, as well as other nations of the early ages. Of these shapes were many of their gods ; being half lion, half eagle, and half fish ; according to the denomination of paganism who adored these images. Fifth : Shem was the only man in the days of Abraham, who could tell them of the promised Messiah, of whom he was the inost glorious and expressive type afforded the men, before his coming, as attested by St. Paul. It is extremely probable, that with this man, Abraham had enjoyed long and close acquaintance, for he was descended of his loins, from whom he learned the knowledge of the true God^ in all probability, in the midst of his Chaldean, idolatrous nation, ibd became a convert to the faith of Melechise- dec. From tlie familiar manner with which Molchisedec,or Shem, who, we are compelled to believe, was indeed Melchisedec, met Abraham, and blessed him, in reference to the great Messiah, we are strongly inclined to believe them old acquaintance. Sixth : It appears that Shem, or Melchisedec, had gotten great possessions and influence among men, as he had become king of Salem, or ancient Jebus, where Jerusalem was afterwards, built, and 30 AAIERtCAN ANTtQUlTlES where mouiit Zion reared lier nlabaster towers, aud was the only temple, in which the true God was understandingly worshipped, then on the earth. It is not impossible but the monntainons region about Mount Horeb, and the mountains round about Jerusalem, were, before the flood, the base or foundation of the country, and exact location of the region of the garden called Eden, the place where Adam was created. But when the waters of the deluge came, they tore away all the earthy matter, and left standing those tremendous pinnacles and overhanging mountains of the region of Jerusalem and Mount Horeb. By examining the map on an artificial globe, it will be seen, the region of country situated between the eastern end of the Mediter- ranean Sea, tlie Black and Caspian Seas, and the Persian Gulf, there are many rivers running into these several waters, all head- ing toward each other ; among which is the Euphrates, one of the rivers mentioned by Moses, as deriving its origin in the garden, or country of Eden. Mountainous countries are the natural sources of rivers. From which we argue that Eden must have been a high region of country, as intimated in Genesis, entirely inaccessible on all sides, but the east ; at which point the sword of the Cherubim was placed to guard the way of the tree of life. Some have ima- gined the Persian Gulf to be the spot where the garden was situated. But this is impossible, as that the river Euphrates runs into that gulf, from toward Jerusalem, or from north of Jerusalem. And as the region of Eden was the source oi four large rivers, running in difierent directions, so also, now the region round about the present head waters of the Euphrates, is the source of many rivers, as said above ; on which account, there can be but little doubt, but here the Paradise of Adam was situated, before the deluge. If the Euphrates is one of the rivers having its source in the garden or country of Eden, as Moses has recorded, it is then proved, to a demonstration, that the region as above described, is the ancient and primeval site of the literal Paradise of Adam. There is a sort of fitness in the ideas we are about to advance, although they are not wholly susceptible of proof, nor of very convincing argument ; yet, there is no impropriety nor incongruity, while there is an imperceptible acquiescence steals over the mind, as we contemplate the subject. We imagine that the very spot where Jesus Christ was crucified AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 31 may have been the place where Adam and Eve were efeated. At whatever place it was, it is certain, that not far from the identi- cal place, he fell, by means of the devil, or rather his oicii sin, as the time from his creation till he fell, was very short. Itis believed that the hill of crucifixion was also the hill called Mount Moriah, to which God sent Abraham to slay his son Isaac, who was also a type of the Messiah. Here it appears Melchisedec had the seat of his kingly and pontifical government. The place appears t the Bible, will aftbrd peculiar plessnrf «nd surprise. 38 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIRS ANTIQUITIES OF THE WEST. There are no parts of the kingdoms or countries of the old uorld, but have celebrated in poetry and sober histoiy, the mighty relics and antiquities of ancient empires, as Rome, Babylon, Greece, Egypt, Hindostan, Tartary, Africa, China, Persia, Europe, Russia, and many of the islands of the sea. It yet remains for America to awake her story from its oblivious sleep, and tell the tale of her Antiquities — the traits of nations, coeval, perhaps, with the eldest works of man this side of the flood. This curious subject, although it is obscured beneath the gloom of past ages, of which but small record remains ; beside that which is written in the dust, in the form of mighty mounds, tumuli, strange skeletons, and aboriginal fortifications ; and, in some few instances, the bodies of preserved persons, as sometimes found in the nitrous caves of Kentucky, and the west ; affording abundant premises to prompt investigation and rational conjecture. The mounds and tumuli of the west, are to be ranked among the most wonderful antiquities of the world, on the account of their number, magnitude, and obscurity of origin. " They generally are found on fertile bottoms and near the rivers. Several hundreds have been discovered along the Valley of the Mississippi ; the largest of which stands not far from Wheeling, on the Ohio. This mound is fifty rods in circumference, and ninety feet in perpendicular height. This is found filled with thousands of human skeletons, and was doubtless a place of general deposite of the dead for ages ; whirli must have been contiguous to some large city, where dead were placed in gradation, one layer above another, till it reached a natu- ral climax, agreeing with the slope commenced at its base or foun- dation. It is not credible, that this mound was made by the ancestors of the modern Indians. Its magnitude, and the vast number of dead deposited there, denote a population too great to have been sup- ported by mere fishing and hunting, as the manner of Indians has always been A population sufficient to raise such a mound as this AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 3d of earth, by the gradual interment of deceased inhabitants, would necessarily be too lar spread, to make it convenient for the living to transport their dead to mie single place of repository. The modem Indians have ever been known, since the acquaintance of white men with them, to live only in small towns ; which refutes the idea of its having been made by any other people than such as differ exceedingly from the improvident and indolent natire ; and must, therefore, have been erected by a people more ancient than what is commonly meant by the Indian aborigines, or wandering tribes. Some of these mounds have been opened, when, not only vast (juantities of human bones have been found, but also instruments of warfare, broken earthen vases, and trinkets. From the trees growing on them, it is supposed, they have already existed at least six hundred years ; and whether these trees were the first, second, or third crop, is unknown ; if the second only, which, from the old and decayed timber, partly buried in the vegetable mould and leaves, seems to favor, then it is all of twelve hundred years since they were abandoned, if not more. Foreign travellers complain, that America presents nothing like ruins within her boundaries ; no ivy mantled towers, nor moss cov- ered turrets, as in the other quarters of the earth. Old Fort War- ren, on the Hudson, rearing its lofty decayed sides high above West-Point ; or the venerable remains of two wars, at Ticonderoga, upon Lake Champlain, they say, afford something of the kind. But what are mouldering castles, falling turrets, or crumbling ab- beys, in comparison with those ancient and artificial aboriginal hills, which have outlived generations, and even all traditions ; the M'ork- manship of altogether unknown hands. Place these monuments and secret repositories of the dead, to- gether with the innumerable mounds and monstrous fortilications, which are scattered over America, in England, and on the conti- nent of Europe, how would their virtuosi examine, and their anti- quarians fill volumes with their probable histories. How would their fame be conveyed from learned bodies, and through literary volumes, incjuiring who were the builders, of what age of the world, whence came they, and their descendants ; if any, what has be- come of them ; these would be the themes of constant speculatiou and inquiry. 40 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES At Marietta, a place not only celebrated as being the first settle- ment on the Ohio, but has also fxquired much celebrity, from the existence of those extensive and supposed fortifications, which are situated near the town. They consist of walls, and mounds of earth, running in straight lines, from six to ten feet high, and nearly forty broad at their base. Tliere is also, at this place, one fort, ol this ancient d^criptlon, which encloses nearly fifty acres of land. There are openings in this fortification, which are supposed to have been, when thronged with its own busy multitude, " used as gateways, with a passage from one of them, formed by two parallel walls of earth, leading towards the river. This contrivance was undoubtedly for a defence against surprise by an enemy, while the inhabitants dwelling within should fetch water from the river, descend thither to wash, as in the Ganges, among the Hindoos. Also the greatness of this fort is evidence, not only of the power of its builders, but also of those they feared. Who can tell but they may have, by int«!stine feuds and wars, ex- terminated themselves .' Such instances are not unfrequent among petty tribes of the earth. Witness the war between Benjamin and his brother tribes, when, but a mere handful of their number re- mained to redeem them from complete annihilation. Many na- tions, an account of whom, as once existing, is found on the page of history, now, have not a trace left behind. More than sixty tribes which once traversed the woods of the west, and who were known to the first settlers of the New-England states, are now extinct. The French of the Mississippi have an account, that an exter- minating battle was fought in the beginning of the 17th century, about one hundred and thirty-two years ago, on the ground where Fort Harrison now stands ; between the Indians living on the Mis- sissippi, and those of the Wabash. The bone of contention was, the lands lying between those rivers, which both parties claimed. There were about 1000 w-arriors on each side. The condition of the fight was, that the victors should possess the lands in despute. The grandeur of the prize was peculiarly calculated to inflame the ardor of savage minds. The contest commenced about sunrise. Both parties fought desperately. The Wabash warriors came oiF conquerors, having senen men left alive at sunset, and their adver- saries, the Mississippians, but five. This battle was fought nearly AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 41 fifty years before their acquaiataace with white men." (Webster's Gazetteer, 1817, page 69.) It is possible, whoever the authors of these great worV^ wer», or however long they may have lived on the continent, that ihey may have^ in the same way, by intestine feuds and wars, weak- ened themselves, so that when the "^jirtars, Scythians, and descend- ants of the ten lost tribes, came across the Straits of Bhering, that they fell an easy prey, to those fierce cd savage northern hordes. It is not Hkely, thr^ the vast warlike preparations which extend over the whole continent, south of ci^rtain places in Canada, were thrown up, all of a sudden, on .. first discovery of & strange enemy ; for it might be inquired how sliould thev know of such a mode of defence, unless they had acquired it lu the course of ages, arising from necessity or caprice but it is probable, they were constructed to defend against the invasioi s of each other ; being of various origin and separate interests, as was much the situation of the an- cient nations in every part of the world- Petty tribes of the same origin, over the whole earth, have been found to wage perpetual war against each other, from motives of avarice, power, or hatred. In the most ancient eras of the history of man, little icalied towns, which were raised for the security of a few families, under a chief, king, or patriarch, are known to have existed ; which is evidence of the disjointed and unharmonious state of human society ; out of which, wars, rapine, and plunder, arose : such may have been the state of man in America, before the Indians found their way here ; the evidence of which is, the innumerable fortifications, found every where in the western re- gions. Within this fort, of which we have been speaking, found at Marietta, are elevated squares, situated at the corners ; some an hundred and eighty feet long, by an hundred and thirty broad, nine feet high, and level on the top. On these squares, erected at the corners of this great enclosure, were, doubtless, placed some modes of annoyance to a beseiging enemy ; such as engines to sling stones with, or to throw the dart and spear, or whatever might have been their modes of defence. Outside of this fort, is a most singular mound, differing in form from their general configuration : its shape is that of a sugar loaf, the base of which is more than an hundred feet in circumference ; 6 42 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES its height thirty, encompassed by a ditch, and defended by a para- pet, or wall beyond the ditch, about breast high, through which is a way toward the main fort. Human bones have been taken from many of these mounds, and charcoal, with fragments of pottery ; and what is more strange than all the rest, in one place, a skeleton of a man, buried east and west after the manner of enhghtened nations was found, as if they understood the cardinal points of the compass. On the breast of this skeleton was found a quantity of isinglass, a substance sometimes used by the ancient Russians, for the purposes that glass is now used. RUINS OF A ROMAN FORT AT MARIETTA. But respecting this fort, we imagine, that even the Romans may have built it, however strange this may appear. The reader will be so kind as to have patience till we have advanced all our reasons for this strange conjecture, before he casts it from him as im- possible. Our reasons for this idea, arise out of the great similarity there is between its form and fortifications, or camps, built by the an- cient Romans. And in order to show the similarity, we have quo- ted the account of the forms of Roman camps from Joseph us's de- scription of their military works. See his works, Book v. chap. 5, page 219, as follows: " Nor can their enemies easily surprise them with the sudden- ness of their incursions, for as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their camp about ; nor is the fence they raise, rashly made, or uneven ^ nor do they all abide in it ; nor do those that are in it, take their place at random : but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is first levelled." " Their camps are also four square by measure ; as for what space is within the camp, it is set apart for tents, but the outward circumference hath the resemblance to a wall ; and is adorned with tovoers at equal distances, where, between the towers stand the en- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 43 pities tor throwing arrows and darts, and for slinging stones, where they lay all other engines that can annoy the enemy, all ready for their several operations. " They also erect four gates, one in the middle of each side of the circumference, or square, and those large enough for the en- trance of beasts, and wide enough for making excursions, if oc- casion should require. Tbey divide the camp within into streets, very conveniently, and place the tents of the commanders in the middle ; in the very midst of all, is the general's own tent, in the nature and form of a temple, insomuch that it appears to be a city, built on the sudden, xvilh its market place, and places for handi- craft trades, and with seats for the officers, superior and inferior, where if any difi'erences arise, their causes are heard and deter- mined. " The camp and all that is iu it, is encompassed with a wall round about, and that sooner than one would imagine, and this by the multitude and skill of the laborers. And if occasion require, a trench is drawn round the whole, whose depth is four cubits, and its breadth equal," which is a trifle more than six feet in depth and width. The similarity between the Roman camps and the one near Ma- rietta, consists as follows : They are both four square ; the one standing near the great fort, and is connected by two parallel walls, as described ; has also a ditch surrounding it, as the Romans some- times encircled theirs ; and doubtless, when first constructed, had a fence of timber (as Josephus says, the Romans had,) all round it, and all other forts of that description ; but time has destroyed them. If the Roman camp had its elevated squares at its comers, for the purposes of overlooking the foe and of shooting stones, darts, and arrows ; so had the fort at Marietta, of more than an hundred feet square, on an average, of their forms, and nine feet high. Its parapets and gateways are similar ; also the probable extent of the Roman encampments agrees well with the one at ^larietta, which embraces near fifty acres within its enclosure ; a space sufficient to have contained a great array ; with streets and elevated squares at its corners, like the Romans. Dr. Morse, the geographer, says, the war camps of the ancient Danes, Belgae, and Saxons, as found in England, were universally of the circular, while those of the 44 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Romans, in the same country, are distingiushed by the square form j is not this, therefore, a trait of the same people's work in America, as in England ? Who can tell but duiing the Jour hxTidred years the Romans had all the west of Europe attached to their empire, but they may have found their way to America, as well as other nations, the Welch, and the Scandinavians, in after ages, as we shall show, before we end the volume. Rome, it must be remembered, was mistress of the known world, as they supposed, and were in the possession of the arts and scien- ces ; with a knowledge of navigation sufficient to traverse the oceans of the globe, even without the compass, by means of the stars by night, and the sun by day. The history of England informs us, that as early as fifty-five years before the Christian era, the Romans invaded the island of Britain, and that their ships were so large and heavy, and drew such a depth of water, that their soldiers were obliged to leap into the sea, and fight their way to the shore, struggling with the waves and the enemy, both at once, because they could not bring their vessels near the shore, on account of tlieir size. America has not yet been peopled from Europe so long, by an hundred years, as the Romans were in possession of the Island of Britain. Now what has not America eftected in enterprise, during this time ; and although her advantages are superior to those of the Romans, when they held England as a province, yet, we are not to suppose they were idle, especially when their character at that time, was a martial and a maralime one. In this character, there- fore, were they not exactly fitted to make discoveries about in the northern and western parts of the Atlantic, and may, therefore, have found America ; made partial settlements in various places; may have coasted along down the shores of this country, till they came to the mouth of the Mississippi, and thence up that stream, making here and there a settlement. This supposition is- as natural, and as possible, for the Romans to have done, as that Hudson should find the mouth of the North River, and explore it as far north as to where the city of Albany is now standing. It was equally in their power to have found this coast by chance, as the Scandinavians in the vear 1000 or thereabouts, who made a kyv DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 48 eettlement at the mouth of the St. Lawrence ; but more of this in due time- To show the Romans did actually go on voyages of discovery, while in possession of Britain, we quote from the history of Eng- land, that when Julius Agricola was governor of South Britain, he sailed quite around it, and ascertained it to be an island. This was about an hundred years after their first subduing the country, or fifty-two years after Christ. But they may have* had a knowledge of the existence of this country, prior to their invasion of Britain. And lest the reader may be alarmed at such a position, we hasten to show in what man- ner they might have attained it, by relating a late discovery of a planter in South America. " In the month of December, 182T, a planter discovered in a field, a short distance from Mont- Video, a sort of tomb stone, upon which strange, and to him, unknown signs, or characters, were en- graved. He. caused this stone, which covered a small excavation formed with masonry, to be raised, when he found two exceeding- ly ancient sicords, a helmet, and shield, which had suffered much from rust; also an earthen vessel of large capacity. The planter caused the swords, the helmet, and earthen amphora, together with the stone slab, which covered the whole, to be re- moved to Mont-Video, where, in spite of the effect of time, Greek words were easily made out ; which, when translated, read as follows: " During the dominion of Alexander the son of Philip, King of Macedon, ia the sixty-third Olympiad, Ptolemais," — it was impossible to decipher the rest, on account of the ravages of time on the engraving of the stone. On the handle of one of the swords, was the portrait of a man, supposed to be Alexander the Great. On the helmet there is sculp- tured work, that must have been executed by the most exquisite skill, representing Achilles dragging tlie corpse of Hector round the walls of Troy ; an account of which is familiar to every classic scholar. , This discovery was similar to the Fabula Hieca, the bass relief stucco, found in the ruins of the Via Appia, at Fratachio, in Spain, belonging to the Princess of Coloua, which represented all the prin- cipal scenes in Iliad and Odyssey. 46 AMERICAIf ANTIQUITIES From this, it is quite clear, says the editor of the Cabinet of In- struction and Literature, from which we have extracted this ac- count, vol. 3, page 99, that the discovery of this monumental altar is proof that a cotemporary of Aristotle, one of the Greek philoso- phers, has dug up the soil of Brazil and La Plata, in South America. It is conjectured that this Ptolemaios, mentioned on the stone, was the commander of Alexander's fleet, which is supposed to have been overtaken by a storm at sea, in the great ocean, (the Atlantic,) as the ancients called it, and were driven on to the coast of Brazil, or the South American coast, where they doubtless erected the above mentioned monument, to preserve the memory of the voyage to so distant a country ;" and that it might not be lost to the world, if any in after ages might chance to find it, as at last it was per- mitted to be in the progress of events. The above conjecture, however, that Ptolemaios, a name found engraved on the stone slab which covered the mason work as be- fore mentioned, was one of Alexander's admirals, is not well found- ed, as there is no mention of such an admiral in the« employ of that emperor, found on the page of the history of those times. But the names of Nearchus and Onesicritus, are mentioned as being admirals of the fleets of Alexander the Great; and the name of Pytheas, who lived at the same time, is mentioned as being a Greek philosopher, geographer, and astronomer, as well as a voy- ager, if not an admiral, as he made several voyages into the great Atlantic ocean ; which are mentioned by Eratosthenes, a Greek philosopher, mathematician and historian, who flourished two hun- dred years before Christ. Strabo, a celebrated geographer and voyager, who lived about the time of the commencement of the Christian era, speaks of the voyages of Pytheas, by way of admission ; and says that his know- ledge of Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain, and all the countries of the north of Europe, was extremely limited. He had indeed voyaged along the coasts of those countries, but had obtained but an indistinct knowledge of their jelative situations. During the adventures of this man at sea, for the very purpose of ascertaining the geography of the earth, by tracing the coasts of countries, there was a great liability of his being driven off in a western direction, not only by the current which sets always to- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 47 wards America, but also by the trade icinds, which blow in the same direction for several months jji the year. Pytheas, therefore, with his fleet, it is most probable, either by design or storms, is the man who was driven on the American coast, and caused this subterranean monument of masonry to be erected. The Ptolemaios, or Ptolemy, mentioned on the stone, may refer to one of the four generals of Alexander, called sometimes Ptolemy Lagus, or Soter. This is the man who had Egypt for hi* share of the conquests of Alexander ; and it is likely the mention: of his name on the stone, in connexion with that of Alexander, was caused either by his presence at the time the stone was prepared, or because he patronised the voyages and geographical researches of the philosopher and navigator Pytheas. Alexander the Great flourished about three hundred years before Christ ; he was a Grecian, the origin of whose nation is said to have been Japetus, a descendant of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, as before shown. Let it be observed, the kingdom of Macedon, of which Alexan- der was the last, as well as the greatest of its kings, commenced eight hundred and fourteen years before Christ, Avhich was sixty- one years earlier than the commencement of the Romans. Well, what is to be learned from all this story about the Greeks, respecting any knowledge in possession of the Romans about a con- tinent west of Europe .' Simply this, which is quite sufficient for our purpose : That an account of this voyage, whether it was an accidental one, or a voyage of discovery, could not but be known to the Romans, as well as to the Greeks, and entered on the records of the nation on their return. But where, then, is the record ? We must go to the flames of the Goths and Vandals, who overran the Roman empire, in which the discoveries, both of counti;ies and the histories of antiquity, were destroyed ; casting over those countries which they subdued, the gloom of barbarous ignorance, con<^enial with the shades of the dreadful forests of the north, from whence they originated. On which account, countries, and the knowledge of many arts, anciently known, were to be discovered over again and among them, it is believed, was America. When Columbus discovered this country, and had returned to Spain, it was soon known to all Europe. The same we may sup- pose of the discovery of the same country by the Greeks, though 48 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES with infinite less publicity ; because the world at the time had not the advantage of printing ; yet, in rome degree, the discovery must have been known, especially among the great men of both Greeks and Romans. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom, after the death of Alex- ander, maintained its existence but a short time, one hundred and forty-four years only ; when the Romans defeated Perseus, which ended the Macedonian kingdom, one hundred and sisty-eight years before Christ. At this time, and thereafter, the Romans held on their course of war and conquest, till four h-undred and ten years after Christ ; — amounting in all, from their beginning till Rome was taken and plundered by Alarie, king of the Visigoths, to one thousand one hundred and sixtj'-three years. Is it to be supposed the Romans, a warlike, enlightened, and enterprising people, who had found their way by sea so far north from Rome as to the island of Britain, and actually sailed all round it, would not explore farther north and west, especially as they had some hundred years opportunity, while in possession of the north of Europe .' JNIorse, the geographer, in his second volume, page 126, says, — Ireland, which is situated west of England, was probably discover- ed by the Phcenicians ; the era of whose voyages and maritime exploits commenced more than fourteen hundred years before Christ, and continued several ages. Their country was situated Ht the east end of the Mediterranean sea ; so that a voyage to the Atlantic, through the ^Strait of Gibralter west, would be a dis- tance of about 2,300 miles, and from Gibralter to Ireland, a voy- age of about 1,400 miles ; which, in the whole amount, is nearly four thousand. Ireland is farther north, by about five degrees, than Newfound- land, and the latter only abowt 1,800 miles southwest from Ireland ; so that while the Phoenicians were coasting and voyaging about in the Atlantic, in so high a northern latitude as Ireland and England, may well be supposed to have discovered Newfoundland, (either by being lost or driven there by storm,) which is very near the coast of America. Phoenician letters are said to be engraven on some rocks on Taunton river, near the sea, in Massachusetts j if so, this is proof of the position. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 49 Some hundreds of years after the first historical notice of the PhcEaician voyages, and two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Greeks, it is said, became acquainted with Ireland, and was known among them by the name of Juverna. Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, who flourished about an hundred years after Christ, has given a map of that island, which is said to be very correct — Morse. Here, we have satisfactory historical evidence, that Ireland, as well, of course, as all the coast of northern Europe, with the very islands adjacent, were known — first to the Phcenicians — second, to the Greeks — third to the Romans — and fourth, to the Egyptians — in those early ages, from which arises a great probability that Amer- ica may have been well known to the ancient nations of the old world. On which account, when the Romans had extended their conquests so far north as nearly to old Norway, in latitude 60 deg. over the greater part of Europe — they were well prepared to ex- plore the North Atlantic, in a western direction, in quest of new countries ; having already sufficient data to believe western coun- tries existed. It is not impossible, the Danes, Norwegians, and Welsh, may have at first obtained some knowledge of western lands, islands and territories, from the discoveries of the Romans, or from their opin- ions, and handed down the story, till the Scandinavians or Norwe- gians discovered Iceland, Greenland, and America, many hundred years before the time of Columbus. But, however this may be, it is certain those nations of the north of Europe, did visit this country, as we have promised to show in its proper place. Would Columbus have made his attempt, if he had not believed, or conjectured, there was a western continent ; or by some means obtained hints respecting it, or the probability of its existence .' It is said, Columbus found, at a certain time, the corpse of two men, of a tawny complexion, floating in the sea, near the coast of Spain, which he knew were not of European ori- gin ; but had been driven by the sea from some unknown western country ; also timber and branches of trees, all of which confirmed him in his opinion of the existence of other countries westward. If the Romans may have found this country, they may also have attempted its colonization, as the immense square forts of the west, would seem to suggest. 60 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES lu 1821, on the bank of the river Desperes, in Missouri, was found, by an Indian, a Roman coin, and presented to Gov. Clarke. — Gazetteer of Missouri, p. 312. This is no more singular than the discovery of a Persian coin near a spring on the Ohio, some feet under ground ; as we have shown in another place of this work ; all of which go to encourage the conjecture respecting the presence of the ancient Romans in America. The remains of former dwellings, found along the Ohio, where the stream has, in many places, washed away its banks, heartlis and fireplaces are brought to light, from two to six feet deep below the surface. Near these remains are found immense quantities of muscle shells and bones of animals. From the depths of many of these rem- nants of chimniesj and from the fact that trees as large as any in the surrounding forest, were found growing on the ground above those fire places, at the time the country was first settled by its present inhabitants, the conclusion is drawn, that a very long period has elapsed since these subterraneous remnants of the dwellings of man were deserted. Hearths and Fire Places : Are not these evidences that build- ings once towered above them ; if not such as now accommodate the millions of America, yet they may have been such as the an- cient Britons used at the time the Romans first invaded their country. These were formed of logs set up endwise, drawn in at the top, 80 that the smoke might pass up at an aperture left open at the summit. They were not square on the ground, as houses are now built, but set in a circle, one log against the other, with the hearth &nd fire place in the centre. At the opening in the top, where the smoke went out, the light came in, as no other window was then used. There are still remaining, in several parts of England, the vestiges of large stone buildings made in this way, i. e. in a circle. ■ — Blair^s Hist, of England, p. 8. At Cincinnati there are two Museums, one of which contains a great variety of western antiquities, many skulls of Indians, and more than an hundred remains of what has been dug out of the aboriginal mounds. The most strange and curious of all, is a cup, made of clay, with three faces on the sides of the cup, each present- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 61 ing regular features of a man, and beautifully delineated. It is the game represented on the plate. See letter E. A great deal has been said, and not a little written, by antiqua- rians about this cup. It was found in one of those mysterious mounds, and is known by the name of the triune cup ; and there are those who think the makers of it had an allusion to the Trinity of the Godhead. Hence its name, '* Triune cup." In this neighborhood, the Yellow Springs, a day's ride below Cincinnati, stands one of those singular mounds. Whenever we view those most singular objects of curiosity and remains of art, a thousand inquiries spring up in the mind. They have excited the wonder of all who have seen or heard of them. Who were those a7icients of the west, and when, and for what purpose, these mounds were constructed, are questions of the most interesting nature, and have engaged the researches of the most inquisitive antiquarians. Abundant evidence, however, can be procured, that they are not of Indian origin. With this sentiment there is a general acquiescence ; however we think it proper, in this place, to quote Dr. Beck's remarks on this point, from his Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri. See page 308. " Ancient works exist on this river, the Arkansas, as elsewhere. The remains of mounds and fortifications are almost every where to be seeu. One of the largest mounds in this coun- try has been thrown up on this stream, (the Wabash,) within the last thirty or forty years, by the Osages, near the great Osage vil- lage, in honor of one of their deceased chiefs. This fact proves conclusively the original object of these mounds, and refutes the theory that they mu,' t necessarily have been erected by a race of men more civilized than the present tribes of Indians. Were it necessary, (says Dr. Beck,) numerous other facts might be adduced to prove that the mounds are no other than the tombs of their great men. That this is one of their uses, there is no doubt, but not their ex- clusive use. The vast height of some of them, which is more than an hundred feet, would seem to point them out as places of look- out, which if the country, in the days when their builders flourish- ed, was cleared and cultivated, would overlook the country to a great distance ; and if it were not, still their towering summits ^ould surmount even the interference of the forests. 62 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES But ultliough the Osage Indians have so recently thrown up aru' such mound, yet it does not prove them to be of American Indiaa origin ; and as this is an isolated case, would rather argue that the Osage tribe have originally descended from their more ancient pro- genitors, the inhabitants of this country, prior to the intrusions of the late Indians from Asia. Before we close this work, we shall attempt to make this appear from their own traditions, which have of late been procured from the most ancient of their tribes, the Wyandots, as handed down for hundreds of years, and from other sources. The very form and characior which Dr. Beck has given the Osage Indians, argues them of a superior stock, or rather a different race of men, as follows : " In person, the Osages are among the largest and best formed Indians, and are said to possess fine mUilarij capacities ; but residing, as they do, jn villages, and having made considerable advances in agricuUure, they seem less addicted to war than their northern neighbors." The whole of this character given of the Osage Indians, their milHary taste, their agricultural genius, their noble and command- ing forms of person, and being less " addicted to war," shows them, it weuld seem, exclusively of other origin than that of the com- mon Indians. It is supposed, tlie inhabitants who found their way first to this country, after its division, in the days of Peleg, and were here long before the modern Indians, came not by the way of Bhering's Strait from Kamskatka, in Asia, but directly from China, across the Pa- cific, to the western coast of America, by means of islands which abounded anciently in that ocean between Chinese Tartary, China, and South* America, even more than at present, which are, how- ever, now very numerous ; and also by the means of boats, of which all mankind have always had a knowledge. In this way, without any difficulty, more than is common, they could have found their way to this, as mankind have" to every part of the eartli. We do not recollect that any of those peculiar monuments of an- tiquity appear north of the United States ; Mackenzie, in his over- land journey to the Pacific, travelling northwest from Montreal in Canada, does not mention a single vestige of the kind, nor does Carver. If, then, there are none of tliese peculiar kinds, such as tnmmds and forts, farther oorth than about the latitude of the Cana- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 53 ^as, it would appear from this, that the first authors of these works, especially of the mounds and tumuli, migrated, not from Asia, by way of Bhering's Strait, but from Europe, east — China, west — and from Africa, south — continents now separated, then touching each other, with islands innumerable between, aflbrding the means. If this supposition, namely, that the continents in the first age^ immediately after the Hood, were united, or closely connected by groups of islands, is not allowed, how then, it might be inquired, came every island, yet discovered, of any size, having the natural means of human subsistence, in either of the seas, to be found in- habited ? In the very way this can be answered, the question relative to the means by which South America was first peopled, can also be answered, namely ; the continents, as intimated on the first pages of this work, as quoted from Dr. Clarke, were, at first, that is, im- mediately after the flood, till the division of the earth, in the days of Peleg, connected together, so that mankind, with all kinds of animals, might pass to every quarter of the globe, suited to their na- tures. If such were not the fact, it might be inquired, how then did the several kinds of animals get to every part of the earth from the ARK ? They could not, as man, make use of the boat, or ves- sel, nor could they swim such distances. From Dr. Clarke's Travel's, it appears, ancient works exist to this day, in some parts of Asia, similar to those of North America. His description of them, reads as though he were contemplating some of these western mounds. The Russians call these sepul- chres logri; and vast numbers of them have been discovered in Si- beria and the deserts bor iond villages of tliis forgot- ten people existed ; and tliat their largest city was situated between the Mis- sissippi and Missouri, not far from the junction of those rivers, near St. Louis. In this region, the mighty watei-s of the Missouri and Illinois, with their un- numbered tributaries, mingle with the " father cf rivers," the Mississippi ; (Mississippi, the word in the Indian language means Father of Rivers ;) a situ- ation formed by nature, calculated to invite multitu .es of men, from tlie good- ness of tlie soil, and the facilities of water communications. The present race, who are now fast peopling thi' unbounded west, are ap- prised of the advantages of this region. Towns and >ities are rising on the %'ery ground where the ancient millions of mankind had t air seats of empire. Ohio now contains more than six hundred thousand inhabitants ; but at that early day, the same extent of country, most probably, was filled with a far greater population than inhabits it at the present tiijie. Many of the mounds are completely occupied ^vith human skeletons, and milhons of them must have been interred in these vast cemeteries, that can be traced from the Rocky Mountains, on the west, to the Alleghenies on the east, and into the province of the Texas and New Mexico on the south : revolutions like those known in the old world may have takjn place here, and armies, equal to those of Cyrus, of Alexander the Great, or of Tamerlene the powerful, might have flourished their trumpets, and marched to battle, over these exten- sive plains, filled with the probable descendants of that same race in Asia, whom these proud conquerors vanquished there. COURSE OF THE TEN LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL. There is a strong resemblance between the northern and inde- pendent Tartar, and the tribes of the North American Indians, but not of the South American. Besides this reason, there are others for believing our aborigines of North America were descended from the ancient Scythians, and came to this country from the eastern part of Asia. 5G AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES This view by no means invalidates the opinion, that many tribes of the Indians of North America, are descended of the IsraelilcSy because the Scythians, under this particular name, existed long be- fore that branch of descendants of the family of Shem, called Is- raelites ; who, after they had been carried away by Salmanasser, the Assyrian king, about 700 years B. C, went northvjard, as stated by Esdras, (see his second book, thirteenth chapter, from verse 40 to verse 45, inclusive,) through a part of Independent Tartary. During this journey, which carried them among the Tartars, now so called, but were anciently the Scythians, and probably became amalgamated with them. This was the more easily effected, on account of the agreement of complexion and common origin. If this may be supposed, we perceive at once, how the North American Indians are in possession of both Scythian and Jewish practices. Their Scythian customs are as follows: "Scalping their prisoners, and torturing them to death. Some of the Indian nations also resemble the Tartars in the construction of their canoes, imple- ments of war, and of the chase, with the well known habit of marching in Indian file, and their treatment of the aged ;" these are Scythian customs. Their Jewish customs are too many to be enumerated in this work ; for a particular account of those customs, see Smith's View of the Hebrews. If, then, our Indians have evidently the manners of *oth the Scythian and the Jew, it proves them to have been, anciently, both Israelites and Scythians ; the latter being the more ancient name of the nations now called Tartars,* with whom the ten tribes may have amalgamated. That the Israelites, called the ten tribes, who were carried away from Judea by Salmanasser, to the land of Assyria, went from that country, in a northerly direction, as quoted from Esdras, above, is evident, from the Map of Asia. Look at Esdras again, 43d verse, chap. 13, and we shall perceive, they " entered into the Euphrates by the narrow passes or heads of that river," which runs from the 7iorth into the Persian Gulf. It is not probable, that the country which Esdras called Arsareth, could possibly be America, as many have supposed, because a vast company, such as the ten tribes were at the time they left Syria^ * The appellation of Tartar was not known till tlic year A. D . laf?, whe were at that time, considered a new race of barbarians. — Morse. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 57 (which was about an hundred years after their having been carried away from Judea, nearly 30U0 years ago,) could travel fast enough to perform the journe} in so short a time as a year and a half. We learn from the map of Asia, that Syria was situated at the southeasterly end of thv Mediterranean Sea, and that in entering into the narrow passes of the Euphrates, as Esdras says, would lead them north of Mount Ararat, and southeasterly of the Black Sea, through Georgia, over the Concassian mountains, and so on to As- tracan, which lies north of the Caspian Sea. We may, with the utmost show of reason, be permitted to argue, that this vast com- pany of men, women, and their little ones, would naturally be com- pelled to shape their course so as to avoid the deep rivers which it cannot well be supposed they had the means of crossing, except when frozen. Their course would then be along the heads of the several rivers running north after they had passed the country of Astracau. From thence over the Ural mountains, or that part of that chain running along Independent Tartary. Then, after having passed over this mountain near the northern boundary of Indepen- dent Tartary, they would find themselves at the foot of the little Altain mountains, which course would lead them, if they still wished to avoid deep and rapid rivers, running from the little Altain moun- tains northward, or north-westerly, into the Northern Ocean, across the immense and frozen regions of Siberia. The names of those rivers beginning on the easterly side of the Ural mountains, are first, the river Obi, with its many heads, or little rivers, forming at length the river Obi, which empties into the Northern Ocean, at the Gulf of Obi, in latitude of about 67 degs. north. The second, is the river Yenisei, with its many heads, havin* their sources in the same chain of mountains, and runs into the same ocean, further north, towards Bhering's Straits, which is the point we are approximating, by pursuing this course. A third river, with its many heads, that rises at the base of anoth- er chain of mountains, called the Yablonoy ; this is the river Lena. There are several other rivers arising out of another chain of mountains, farther on northward towards Bhering's Straits, which have no name on the map of Asia ; this range of mountains is cal- led the St. Anovoya mountains, and comes to a point or end, at the 5Q AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Strait which separates Asia from America, wliich is but a smal? distance across, of about forty miles only, ?.nd several islands be- tween. Allowing the ten tribes, or if they may have become amalgama- ted with the Tartars as they passed on this tremendous journey toward the Northern Ocean, to have pursued this course, the dis- tance will appear from Asyria to the Straits, to be some hundreds over six thousand miles. Six thousand two hundred and fifty-five miles, which is the distance, is more, by nearly one-half, than such a vast body, in moving on together, could possibly perform in a year and a half. Six miles a day would be as great a distance, as such an host could perform, where there is no way but that of forests un traced by man, and obstructed by swamps, mountains, fallen trees, and thousands of nameless hindrances. Food must be had, and the only way of procuring it, must have been by hunting with the bow and arrow, and by fishing. The sick must not be forsaken, the aged and the infant must be cherished ; all these things would delay, so that a rapid progress cannot be admitted. If, then, six miles a day is a reasonable distance to suppose they may have progressed, it follows that nearly three years, instead of a year and a half, would not have been more than sufficient to carry them from Syria to Bhering's Straits, through a region almost of eternal snow. This, therefore, cannot have been the course of the Ten Tribes to the land of Arsareth, wherever it was : and that it was north from Syria, we ascertain by Esdras, who says, they went into the narrow passes of the Euphrates, which means its three heads, or branches, which arise north from Syria. From the head waters of this river, there is no way to pass on, but to go between the Black and Caspian Seas, over the Coucassian mountains, as before stated. From this point they may have gone on to what is now called Asiracan^ as before rehearsed ; but here we suppose they may have taken a west instead of a north direction, which would have been toward that part of Russia" which is now called Russia in Europe, and would have led them on between the rivers Don and Volga; the Don emptying into the Black Sea, and the Volga into the Cas- pian. » This course would have led them exactly to the places where Moscow and Petersburgh now stand, and from thence in a north- AND DtSCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 59 Westerly direction, along the south end of the White Sea, to Lap- iand, Norway, and Sweden, which lie along on the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean. Now, the distance from Stjiia to Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, on the coast of the Atlantic, is scarcely three thousand miles ; a dis- tance which may have easily been travelled in a year and a half, at six miles a day, and the same opportunity have been afforded for their amalgamation with Scythians or Tartars, as in the other course towards Bheriug's Strait. Norway, Sweden, and Lapland, may have been the land of Arsareth. But here arises a question ; how then did they get into America from Lapland and Norway ? The only answer is, America and Europe must have been at that time united by land, or they may have built boats. " The manner by which the original inhabitants and animals reached here, is easily explained, by adopting the supposition, which doubtless is the most correct, that the north-western and western limits of America were, at some former period, united to Asia on the vcesl, and to Europe on 'the east. This was partly the opinion of Buffbn and other great naturalists. That connection has, therefore, been destroyed, among other great changes this earth has evidently experienced since the flood. We have examples of these revolutions before our eyes. Florida has gained leagues of laud from the Gulf of Mexico; and part of Louisiana, in the Mississippi Valley, has been formed by the mud of rivers. Since the Falls of Niagara were first discovered, they have receded very considerably ; and it is conjectured, that this sublimest of nature's curiosities was situated originally where Queenstown now stands. Sicily was united formerly to the continent of Europe, and an- cient authors affirm, chat the Straits of Gibralter, which divide be- tween Europe and Africa, were formed by a violent irruption of the ocean upon the land. Ceylon, where our missionaries have an establishment, has lost forty leagues by the sea, which is an hun- t of the lost Ten Tiibes, is in distance from England, 3,475 miles; a little southeast from the latitude of London ; and from the State of New- York, exactly double that distance, 6,950 miles, on an air line, as measured on an artificial globe, and in nearly the same latitude, due east from this country. It is not impossible, after all our speculation, and the speculations 6B AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES of otlieis, that, instead of America, or of Norway, this same Buchfa ria is, in truth, the ancient country of Arsarclh; although in the country of old Norway, and of America, are abundant evidence of the presence of Jews at some remote period, no doubt derived from this stock, the Ten Tribes. The country of Bucharia is situated due east from Syria, where the Ten Tribes were placed by Salraanasser, as well as farther east on the river Gozen, or Ganges, of Hindostan. The distance is about two thousand five hundred miles, and at that time, was' a vast desert, lying beyond the settlements of men, in all probability ; and in order to go there, they must also pass through the narrow passes of the river Euphrates, or its heads, near the south end of the Cas- pian Sea, and then nearly due east, inclining, however, a little to the north. Two circumstances lead to a supposition that this Bu- charia is the Arsareth mentioned by Esdras. The first is, at this place is found a great population of the Jews : Second ; the word, Arsareth is similar to the names of other regions of that country in Asia ; as Ararat, Astracan, Samarcand, Yarkund, Aracau, Ala Tau, Alatanian, Aral, Altai, Amu, Korassan, Balk, Bactriana, Bucharia, Argun, Narrat, Anderab Katlan : (this word is much like the Mex- ican names of places, as Aztalan, Copallan, and so on ;) Anderab, Aktau, Ailak. Names of countries and rivers might be greatly multiplied, which bear a strong affinity in so. ;id and formation to the word Arsareth, which is probably a Persian word, as well as the rest we have quoted, as from these regions, ancient Bucharia, the foundations of the Persian power was derived. The reader can choose between the three, whether America, Norway, or Bucharia, is the ancient country calK d Arsareth, as one of the three is, beyond a doubt, the place alluded to by Esdras, to which the Ten Tribes went ; and in all three, the traits of Jews are found. In this country, Bucharia, many thousand Jews have been dis- covered, who were not known by the Christian nations to have ex- isted at all till recently. It would appear from this circumstance, that the Te^i Tribes may have divided, a part going east, to the country now called Bucharia ; and a part west, to the country now called Norway ; both of which, at that time, were the region of almost enc'J ess solitudes, and about equal distances from Syria: and from Bucharia to Bhering's Strait is also about the same distance. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 69 In process of time, both from Bucharia in Asia, and Norway in Europe, the desceudaute from these Tea Tribes may have found their way into America. Those from Norway, by the way ot islands, boats or continent, which may then have existed, between America and north of Europe; and those from Bucharia, by the way of Bheriug's Strait, which, at that time, it is likely, was no Strait, but an isthmus, if not a country of great extent, uniting Asia with America. The account of the Buchanan Jews is as follows: " After having seen, some years past, merchants from Tiflis, Per- sia, and Armenia, among the visitors at Leipsic, we have had, for the first time, (1S2G,) tico traders from Bucharia, with shawls, which are there manufactured of the finest icool of the goats of Thibet and Cashmere, by the Jewish families, ti-ho form a third part of the pop- ulation. In Bucharia, (formerly the capitol of Sogdiana,) the Jews have been very numerous ever since the Babylonian captivity, and are there as remakable for their industry and manufactures, as they are in England for their money transactions. It was not till 1S26, that the Russian government succeeded in extending its diplomatic mission far into Bucharia. The above traders exchanged their shawls for coarse and fine woollen cloths, of such colors as are most esteemed in the east." Much interest has been excited by the information which this paragraph conveys, and which is equally novel and important. In none of the geographical works which we have consulted do we find the least hint as to the existence in Bucharia of such a body of Jews as are here mentioned, amounting to one third of the whole population ; but as the fact can no longer be doubted, the next point of inquiry which presents itself is, whence have they proceeded, and how have they come to establish themselves in a region so re- mote from their original country } This question, we think, can only be answered by supposing that these persons are the descend- ants of the long lost Ten Tribes, concerning the facts of which, theologians, historians, and antiquarians, have been alike puzzled : and however wild this hypothesis may at first appear, there are not wanting circumstances to render it far from being improbable. In the 17th chapter of the second book of Kings, it is said, " In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and car- ried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Helah and in Haber by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the 3Iedes :" and 70 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES in the subsequent verses, as well as the writings of the prophets, it is said, that the Lord then " put away Israel out of his sight, and carried them away into the land of Assyria unto this day." In the Apocrypha, 2d Esdras, xiii., it is said, that the Ten Tribes were carried beyond the river, (Euphrates,) and so they were brought into another land, when they took counsel together, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further coun- try, where never mankind dwelt ; that they entered in at the nar- row passages of the river Euphrates, when the springs of the flood were stayed, and " went through the country a great journey, even a year and a half;" and it is added, that " there will they remain, until the latter time, when they will come forth again." The coun- try beyond Bucharia was unknown to the ancients, and it is, we believe, generally admitted, that the river Gozan, mentioned in the book of Kings, is the same as the Ganges, which has its rise in those very countries in which the Jews reside, of which the Liep- sic account speaks. The distance which these two merchants must have travelled, cannot, therefore, be less than three thousand miles ; and there can be but little doubt that the Jews, whom they repre- sent as a third part of the population of the country, are descend- ants of the Ten Tribes of Israel settled by the river Gozan. The great plain of Central Asia, forming four principal sides, viz : Little Bucharia, Thibet, i.TongoIia, and Mantehous, contains a sur- face of 150,000 square miles, and a population of 20,000,000. This vast country is still very little known. The great traits of its gigantic formation compose, for the most part, all that we are certain of. It is an immense plain of an excessive elevation, in- tersected with barren rocks and vast deserts of black and almost moving sand. It is supported on all sides by mountains of granite, v.hose elev-ated summits determine the diilereut climates of the great continent of Asia, and form the division of its waters. From its exterior flow all the great rivers of that part of the world. In the interior are a quantity of rivers, having little declivity, or no is- sue, which are lost in the saads, or perhaps feed stagnant waters. In the southern chains are countries, populous, rich and civilized ; Little Bucharia, Great and Little Thibet. The people of the north are shepherds and wanderers. Their riches consist in their herds. Their habitations are tents, and towns, and camps, which are trans- ported according to the wants of pasturage. The Bucharians en- / jr A.ND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 71 joy the right of trading to all parts of Asia, and the Thibetians cultivate the earth to advantage. The ancients had only a con- fused idea of Central Asia. " The inhabitants of the country," as we learn from a great authority, " are iu a high state of civiliza- tion ; possessing all the useful manufactures, and lofty houses built with stone. The Chinese reckon (but this is evidently an exag- geration) that Thibet alone contains 33,000,000 of persons. The merchants of Cashmere, on their way to Yarkland in Little Bu- charia, pass through Little Thibet. This country is scarcely known to European geographers." The immense plain of Central Asia is hemmed in, and almost inaccessable by mountain ranges of the greatest elevation, which surround it on all sides, except China ; and when the watchful jealousy of the government of the Celestial Empire is considered, it will scarcely be wondered at, that the vast region iu question is so little known. Such is the country which these newly discovered Jews are said to inhabit in such numbers. The following facts may perhaps serve to throw some additional light on this interesting subject. In the year 1822, a Mr. Sargon, who had been appointed one of the agents of the London Society, communicated to England some interesting accounts of a number of persons resident at Bombay, Cinnanoore, and their vicinity, who are evidently the descendants of the Jews, calling themselves Beni Israel, and bearing almost uniformly Jewish names, but with Persian terminations. This gentleman, feeling very desirous of obtaining all possible knowledge of their condition, undertook a mission for this purpose to Cinna- more ; and the result of his inquiries was, a conviction that they were not Jews of the one tribe and a half, being of a different race to the white and black Jews at Cochin, and consequently, that they were a remnant of the long lost Ten Tribes. This gentleman also concluded, from the information he obtained respecting the Beni Israel, or sons of Israel, that they existed in great numbers in the countries between Cochin and Bombay, the north of Persia, among the hordes of Tartary, and in Cashmere ; the very countries in which, according to the paragraph in the German paper, they exist in such numbers. So far, then, these accounts confirm each other, and there is every probability that the Beni Israel, resident on the west of the Indian peninsula, had originally proceeded from Bu- charia. It will, therefore, be interesting to know something of their T2 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES moral and religious character. The following particulars are col- lected from Mr. Sargon's accounts : 1. In dress and manners they resemble the natives so as not to be distinguished from them, ex- cept by attentive observation and inquiry. 2. They have Hebrew names of the same kind, and with the same local termination as the Sepoys in the ninth regiment Bombay native infantry. 3. Some of them read Hebrew, and they have a faint tradition of the caiye of their oiiginal exodus from Egypt. 4. Their common lan- guage is the Hindoo. 5. They keep idols and worship them, and use idolatrous ceremonies intermixed with Hebrew. 6. They cir- cumcise their children. 7. They observe the Kipper, or great ex- piation day of the Hebrews, but not the Sabbath, or any of the feast or fast days. 8. They call themselves Gorah Jehudi, or white Jews; and they term the black Jews Co//a Je^MtiJ. 9. They speak of the Arabian Jews as their brethren, but do not acknowledge the European Jews as such. They use, on all occasions, and under the most trivial circumstances, the usual Jewish prayer — " Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 10. They have no cohen, (priest) levite, or kasi among them, under those terms ; but they have a kasi, (reader,) who performs prayers, and conducts their religious ceremonies : and they appear to have elders and a chief in each community, who determine in their religious concerns. 1 1 . They expect the Messiah, and that they will one day return to Jerusalem. They think that the time of his appearance will soon arrive, at which they much rejoice, believing that at Jerusalem they Avill see their God, worship him only, and be despised no more. These particulars, we should presume, can scarcely fail to prove interesting, both in a moral and religious, as well as in a geograph- ical point of view. The number of the scattered members of the tribes of Judah, and the half tribe of Benjamin, rather exceed than fall short of five millions. Now, if this number be added to the many other millions to be found in the different countries of the east, what an immense power would be brought into action, were the spirit of nationality once roused, or any extraordinary event to occur, which should induce them to unite in claiming possession of that land which was given to them for an heritage forever," and to which, in every other clime of the earth, their fondest hopes and their dearest aspirations never cease to turn." But although the opinion, that the American Indians are the dc- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 73 scendants of the lost Ten Tribes, is now a popiilar one, and gene- rally believed, yet there are some who totally discard this opinion. And among such, as chief, is Professor Rafinesque, whose opinions on the subject of the flood of Noah not being universal, and of the ark, we have introduced on the first pages of this work. This gentleman is decidedly, we may say severely, opposed to this doctrine, and alleges that the Ten Tribes were never lost, but are still in the countries of the east about the region of ancient Sy- ria, in Asia. He ridicules all those authors who have attempted to find in the customs of the Indians, traits of the Jews, and stamps them with being egregiously ignorant of the origin of things per- taining to this subject- This is taking a high stand, indeed, and if he can maintain it, he has a right to the honor thereof. Upon this notion, he says, a new sect of religion has arisen, namely, the Mormanites, who pretend to have discovered a book with golden leaves, in which is the history of the American Jews, and their leader, Morman, who came hither more than 2,000 years ago. This work is ridiculous enough, it is true ; as the whole book of Morman bears the stamp of folly, and is a poor attempt at an imi- tation of the Old Testament Scriptures, and is without connection, object, or aim ; shewing every where language and phrases of too late a construction to accord with the Asiatic manner of composi- tion, which highly characterises the style of the Bible. As reasons, this philosopher advances as follows, against the American nations being descended from the Ten Tribes of ancient Israel : " 1st. The.se Ten Tribes are not lost, as long supposed ; their descendants, more or less mixed with the natives, are yet found in Media, Iran,Taurin, Cabulistan, Hindostan, and China, where late travellers have traced them, calling themselves by various names. 2d. The American nations knew not the Sabbath, nor yet the Sabbattical weeks and years of the Jews. This knowledge could never have been lost by the Hebrews. The only weeks known in America, were of three days, five days, and half lunations, (or half a moon ;) as among the primitive nations, before the week of seven days was used in Asia, which was based upon the seven planets, long before the laws of Moses." Here is another manifest attempt of this philosopher to invali- date the Scriptures, in attempting to fix the origin of the ancient 10 74 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Jewish and present Christian Sabbath, on the observances of the ancient nations, respecting the motions of the seven primar}' planets of the heavens ; when it is emphatically said, in the Hebrew Scriptures, that the week of seven days was based on the seven days' work of the Creator, in the creation of the world. And as the Creation is older than the astronomical observations of the 7nost ancient nations of the earth, it is evident that the Scripture account of the origin of the seven-day week ought to have the precedence over all other opinions since sprung up. 3d. He says, " The Indians hardly knew the use of iron, although common among the Hebrews, and likely never to be lost ; nor did they, the Indians of America, know the use of the plough." " 4th. The same applies to the use of writing ; such an art is never lost when once known." " 5th. Circumcision was unknown, and even abhorred by the Americans, except two nations, who used it — the Mayans, of Yu- catan, in South America, who worshipped an hundred idols, and the Calchaquis, of Chaco, of the same country, who worshipped the sun and stars, believing that departed sou's became stars. These beliefs are quite different from Judaism ; and besides this, the rite of circumcision was comraon to Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, and Chalchis." But to this we reply, supposing circumcision was practised by all those nations, and even more, this does not disprove the rite to be of pure Hebrew or Jewish origin, as we have an account of it in the Scriptures written by Moses, as being in use quite two thou- sand years before Christ ; long enough before Abraham or his pos- terity knew any thing of the Egyptians; it was therefore, most un- doubtedly introduced among the Egyptians by the Jews themselves, or their ancestors, and from them the custom has gone out into many nations of the earth. Again, Mr. Rafinesque says, one tribe there W8:s, namely, the Calchaquis, who worshipped the sun and the stars, supposing them to be the souls of the departed. This notion is not very far removed from, or at least may have had its origin with the Jews ; for Daniel, one of their prophets, who lived about 500 years before Christ, expressly says, respecting the souls of the departed righteous : " They that be wise shall shine as the BRIGHTNESS of the firmament, and they that turn many to AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 75 righteousness, as the stars, for ever and ever." A sentiment of such transcendant beauty and consequence is not easily lost. This tribe, therefore, as above named, may they not have been of Jew- ish origin ? " 6. None of the American tribes have the striking, sharp, Jew- ish features, and physical confirmation." [But other authors, of equal celebrity, have a contrary opinion.] " 7. The American Indians eat hogs, hares, fish, and all the for- bidden animals of Moses, but each tribe abstain from their tutelar animals," (which, as they imagine, presides over their destinies,) " or badges of families ef some peculiar sort." But to this we reply, mo.st certainly the Jews did use fish ; as in all their history, even in the Bible, frequent reference is had to their use of fishes, and to their fish markets, where they were sold and bought. " S. The American customs of scalping, torturing prisoners, can- nibalism, painting their bodies, and going naked, even in very cold climates, are totally unlike the Hebrew customs." Scalping, with several other customs of the sort, we have elsewhere in this work shown to be of Scythian origin ; but does not, on that account, prove, nor in any way invalidate the other opinion, that some of the tribes are indeed of J^iwish origin. " 9. A multitude of languages exists in America, which may perhaps be reduced to twenty-five radical languages, and two thou- sand dialects. But they are often unlike the Hebresv, in roots, words, and grammar; they have, by far, says this author, more an- alogies with the iS'an^crjV," (the ancient Chinese,) Celtic, Bask, Pclasgian, Berber," (in Europe ;) " Lybian, Egyptian," (in Afii- ca ;) " Persian, Turan, &c.," (also in Europe;) " or in fact, all the primitive languages of mankind." This we believe. " 10. The Americans cannot have sprung from a single nation, because, independently of the languages, their features and com- plexions are as various as in Africa and Asia." " We find in America, white, tawny, brown, yellow, olive, cop- per, and even black nations, as in Africa. Also, dwarfs and giants, handsome and ugly features, flat and aquiline noses, thick and thin lips," &c. [Among the Jews is also as great a variety.] The Rev. Mr. Smith, of Pulteney, Vt., a few years since, pub- lished a work, entitled " A view of the Hebrews," in which he 76 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES labors to establish that the American Indians worshipped but one God ; the great Yohewah, or Jehovah of the Scriptures. This is vehemently opposed by Philosopher Rafiuesque, as follows, in te- ply to liim. " You say, all the Americans had the same God Vohewa ; this is utterly false. This was the god of the Chactas and Florida In- dians only ; many other tribes had tripple gods, or trimurtis, as in Hindostan, having names nearly Sanscrit." [But neither does this disprove that some of these tribes are of Jewish origin.] " Polytheism," (a plurality of wives,) " idolatry, and a complex mythology, prevailed among all the most civilized nations" of this country. " All the ancient relujions \vtre found in America," which have prevailed in the old world, in the earliest ages, as " Theism, Sa- baism, Magism Hindooism, Shamanism, Fetichism, &c., but no Judaism." He says, the few examples of the affinity between the Indian languages and the Hebrew, given by Mr. Smith, in his work, be- long only to the FloriJan and Caribbean languages. Mr. Rafin- csque says, he could show ten times as many in the Aruac, Gua- riaii," (languages of South America,) " but what is that compared with the 100,000 affinities with the primitive languages." " All the cimlized Americans had a priesthood, or priestly caste^ and so had the Hindoos, Egyptians, Persians, Celts, and Ethiopians. Were they all Jews ? " 4. Tribes are found among all the ancient nations, Arabs, Ber- bers, Celts, Negroes, &c., who are not Jews. The most civilized nations had castes, instead of tribes, in America as well as Egypt and India ; the Mexicans, the Mayans, Muhizcas, the Peruvians, &c., had no tribes. The animal badges of tribes, are found among Negroes and Tartars, as well as our Indians." " 5. Arks of covenant and cities of refuge are not peculiar to the Jews ; many Asiatic nations had them, also the Egyptians, and nine-tenths of our Indian tribes have none at all, or have only holy bags," (for an ark) somewhat like a talisman, a charm, or as the " Fetiches, of the Africans." But we reply, there is no evidence that other nations than the Jews had cities of refuge and imitations of the ark of the cov- enant, prior to the time of Moses, which was full sixteen hundred A5D DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 77 years before Christ, and from whom it is altogether probable, that all the nations among whom such traits are found, derived them at first from the laws of that Hebrew Legislator. Those nations, therefore, among whom, at this distance of time, those traits are found most resembling the Jews, may be said, with some degree of propriety, to be their descendants ; and among 7nany tribes of the western Indians, these traits are found, if we may believe the most credible witnesses. " 6. The religious cry of aleluya, is not Jewish, says this au- thor, but primilivey and found among the Hiiidoos, Arabs, Greeks, Saxons, Celts, Lybians, &c., under the modification oihuliU, yululUj tulujah, S^c. Other Americans call it ululaez gualuluy uluyahy (Sj-c" All this being true, which we are willing to allow, does not dis- prove, but that these forms of speech, which are directed in praise and adoration of a Supreme or Superior Being of some nature, no mat- ter what, may all have originated from the Hebrew Jews, as this name of God, namely, Jehovah^ was known among that nation, be- fore the existence as nations., by those names, of either the Hindoos, Arabs, Greeks, Saxons, Celts, or Lybians ; for it was known in the family of Noah, and to all the patriarchs before the flood. The original word, translated God, was Jehova. and also Elohim, which are generally translated Lord and God. In the 2d chapter of Genesis, at the 4th verse, the word Jehovah first occurs, says Dr. Clarke, in the original as written by Moses; but was in use long before the days of Abraham, among the ances- tors of that patriarch. From this word, Jehovah, and Elohim, the words alleluia, &c., as above, it is admitted on all hands, were at first derived ; and are in all nations, where known and used, di- rected to the praise and adoration of the Almighty, or other objects of adoration. This most exalted form of praise, it appears, was known to John the Revelator, for he says in chapter 19, "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, alleluia ; and again, they said, Alleluia.'''' This form of praise, says Dr. Clarke, the heathen bor- rowed from the Jews, as is evident from their Paiavs, or hymns, sung in honor of .4po//o, which began and ended with elekuie^a mere composition of the Hebrew words alleluia and hallelujh. It is even found among the North American Indians, and adapted by them to the ssme purpose, viz., the worship of God or the Great Spirit 78 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES From what we have been able to show on this subject, as above, we cannot subscribe to the opinion that those words are not of He- brew and Jewish origins; consequently being of Hebrew origin, it must follow, that where they are^ found in the most pure and unadulterated use, th ii the people so usiug them are most likely to be of Jewish descent ; and this is found among the American In- dians. Among some of tl: iir tribes they have a place denominated the beloved square. Heie they sometimes dance a whole night ; but al- ways in a bowing or voishiping posture, singing continually, hal- lelujah Ye-ho-wah, Ya-ho-vah ; which last word, says Clarke, is probably the true proiijnciation of the ancient Hebrew word Jehovah. It is no marvel, th^n, that these Jewish customs are found " a- mong nearly all the .ncient nations of Asia, Africa, Europe and Polynesia, nay, even among the 'wild Negroes to this day," since they were in use at (he very outset of the spread of the nations from Ararat, and are, therefore, of Hebrew primitive origin, but not heathen primitive origin, as asserted by Rafinesque. We are not tenacious, however, whether the Ten Tribes were lost or not, nor do we disagree to the opinion, that they are found in almost all parts of the old world, having mingled with the various nations of Asia ; but if so, we enquire, why may they not, therefore, be found in America ? could they not as easily have found their way hither, as the other nations of the east ? Most assuredly. It is not the object of this volume, to contend on this point ; but when we fiud attempts to overturn the Scriptures, and, if possible, to make it appear, if not by so many words, yet in the manner we understand this writer's remarks, that the Bible itself is no- thing else than a collection of heathenism placed under the plausible idea of primitive words, primiti'ffe usages and primitive religion ; we think this is placing the {currus bovevi Irahit) cart before the horse, and should not be allowed to pass without reproof. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 79 A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE CONVULSIONS OF THE GLOBE, WITH THE REMOVAL OF ISLANDS. If the supposition of naturalists may obtain belief, It follows, that there may have been a whole continent, reaching from the north of Europe to Bhering's Strait; uniting, not only Europe with America, on the east, but also Asia, on the north, and may have continued on south from Bhering's Strait, some way down the Pa- cific, as Buflbn partly believed, uniting America and China on the west. It was contended by Clavigero, that the equatorial parts of Afri- ca and America were once united. By which means, before the connexion was torn away by the irruption of the sea on both sides, the inhabitants from the African continent came, in the earliest ages, to South America. Whether this be true or not, the two countries approach each other, in a remarkable manner, along the coast of Guinea, on the side of Africa, and the coast of Pernam- buco, on the side of South America. These are the places which, in reality, seem to stretch towards each other, as if they had been once united. The innumerable islands scattered all over the Pacific ocean, populous with men, more than intimates a period, even since the flood, when all the different continents of the globe were united to- gether, and the sea so disposed of, that they did not break this har- mony so wfill calculated to facilitate the migrations of men and an- imals. Several tribes of the present Southern Indians, as they now are called, have traditions, that they came from the mst^ or through the Atlantic ocean. Rafiaesque says, it is important to distinguish the American nations of eastern origin from those of northern, who, he says, were invaders from Tartary, and were as different in their manners as were the Romans and Vandals. The southern nations, among whom this tradition is found, are the Natchez, Apalachians, Talascas, Mayans, Myhizcas, and Hay- tians. But those of the Algonquin stock, point to a northwest ori- gin, which is the way from the northern ret ions of Asia. so AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES It is not likely, that immediately after the era of the deluge, there was as much ocean which appeared above ground as at the present time; but instead of this, lakes were more numerous. Conse- quently, on the surface of the globe there was much more land than at the present time. But from various convulsions, more than we have spoken of, whose history is now lost, in past ages, many parts, nay, nearly all the earthy surface is sunken to the depths below, while the waters have risen above ; nearly three-fourths of the globe's surface is known to be water. How appalling is this reflection ! The currents of sea running through the bowels of the earth, by the disposition of its Creator, to promote motion in the waters, as motion is essential to all animal life, have, doubtless, by subterra- nean attrition affected the foundations of whole islands, which have sunk beneath the waters at difiergnt periods. To such convulsions as these, it would seem. Job has alluded in his ninth chapter, at the 5th verse, as follows : " Which removeth the mountains, and they know not ; which overturneth them in his anger." Adam Clarke's comment on this verse is as follows : "This seems to refer to earthquakes. By these strong convulsions, mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an instant: and to this latter circumstance the words, " they know not,^'' most probably refer. The work is done in the twinkling of an e^-e ; no warning is given ; the mountain that seemed to be as firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both visible and invisible ; .so sud- denly was it swallowed up." It can scarcely be supposed, but that Job was either personally, or by information, acquainted with occurrences of the kind, in order to justify the thing as being done by God in his anger. It is not impossible but the fact upon which the following story is founded may have been known to Job, who was a man suppos- ed in possession of every species of information calculated to inter- est the nobler faculties of the human mind, if we may judge from the book bearing his own name. The story is an account of a cer- tain island, called by the ancients Atalantis ; and for ought that can be urged against it having existed, we are inclined to believe it did, as that all learning, uninspired, and general information, was anciently in possession of heathen philosophers and priests, to whom it was the custom even for princes to resort to, and learn of, be« AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 81 fore they were considered qualified to sit ou the thrones of their fathers- Such were the Egyptian priests to the Egyptians, and the Druids to the Celtic nations ; the Brahmins to the Hindoos ; the Magi to the Persians ; the Philosophers to the Greeks and Romans ; and the Prophets of the Indians, to the western Tribes. " This island is mentioned by Plato, in his dialogue of Timaeus. Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, is supposed to have travelled into Egypt," about six hundred years before Christ. Plato's time was three hundred years nearer the time of Christ, who has mentioned the travels of Solon into Egypt- " He arrives at an ancient tem- ple on the Delta, a fertile island formed by the Nile, where he held a conversation with certain learned priests, on the antiquities of re- mote ages. When one of them gave Solon a description of the island Atalantis, and also of its destruction. This island, said the Egj-ptian priest, was situated in the Western Ocean, opposite the Straits of Gibralter ;" which would place it exactly between a part of Europe, its southern end, and the northern part of Africa and the continent of America. " There was, said the priest, an easy passage from this to other islands, which lay adjacent to a. large continent, exceeding in size all Europe and Asia." Neptune settled in this island, from whose son Atlas, its' name was derived, and divided it between his ten sons, who reigned there in regular succession for many ages." Fronj the time of Solon's travels in Egypt, which was six hun- dred years before Christ, we find more than seventeen hundred years up to the flood ; so that time enough had elapsed since the flood to justify the fact of the island having existed, and also of having been inhabited and destroyed even six hundred years be- fore the time of Solon ; which would make the time of its destruc- tion twelve hundred years before Christ ; and would still leave more than five hundred years from that period back to the flood. So that if King Neptune had not made his settlement on the island Atalantis till two hundred years after the flood, there would have been time for the successive reigns of each of the regal lines of his sons, amounting to three hundred years, before the time of its en- velopement in the sea ; so that the priest was justified in using the term autiqnities, when he referred to that catastrophe. " They made, i. e. the Atalantians, irruptions into Europe and Africa ; subduing all Lybia, as far as Egypt, Europe, and A&ia 11 82 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Minor. They were resisted, however, by the Athenians, and driven back to their Atlantic territories." If they were resisted and diiven back by the Athenians, tlm era of the existence of this island is easily ascertained ; because the Athenians settled at Athens, in Greece, fifteen hundred and fifty-six years before Christ, b»:ing a colony from Egypt, under their conductor Cecrops. One hundred years after their establishment at Athens, they had be- come powerful, so as to be able to take a political stand among the nations of that region, and to defend their country against invasions. Accordingly, at the time the Atalantians were repulsed and com- pelled to return from whence they came, was in the year fourteen hundred and forty-three, before Christ. " Shortly after this," says Plato, " there was a tremendous earth- qunke and an overflowing of the sea, which continued for a day and a night ; in the course of which the vast island of Atalantis, and all its splendid cities and warlike nations, were swallowed up, and sunk to the bottom of the sea, which, spreading its waters over the chasm, added a vast region to the Atlantic Ocean. For a long time, however, the sea was not navigable, on account of rocks and shoals of mud and slime, and of the ruins of that drowned coun- try." This occurrence, if the tradition be true, happened about twelve hundred years before Christ, three hundred years befoje the time of Job, and seven hundred and fifty years after the flood. At the period, therefore, of the existence of this island, a land passage to America, from Europe and Africa, was practicable ; also by other iblands, some ot which are still situated in the same direc- tion — the Azores, Madeiras, and Teneriflfe islands, about twenty in number. For this story of the island of Atalafitis, we are indebted to Ir- ving's Columbus, a popular work, of recent date ; which cannot be denied but is exceedingly curious, and not without some foundation of probability. Was not this island the bridge, so called, reaching from America to Europe, as conjectured by Dr. Robertson, the his- torian, but was destroyed by the ocean, as he supposes, very far back in the ages of antiquity. An allusion to this same island, Atalantis, is made by Euclid, who flourished about three hundred years before Christ, in a con- versation which he had with Anacharsis, a Scythian philosopher of the same age ; who had, in search of knowledge, travelled from AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 83 (he wilds of his own northern regions, to Athens, where he became acquainted with Euclid. Their subject was the convulsions of the globe. The sea, ac- cording to every appearance, said Euclid, has separated Sicily from Italy, Eubaea from Baotia, and a number of other islands from the coiJtiiieut of Europe. We are informed, continued the philoso- pher, that the waters of Pontus Euxinus, (or the Black Sea,) having been long enclosed in a basin, (or lake,) shut in on all sides, anrt continually increasing by the rivers of Europe and Asia, rose at length above the high lands which surrounded it, forced open the passage of the Bosphorus and Hellespont, and impetuously rushing into the iEgean or Mediterranean Sea, extended its limits to the surrounding shores. If we consult, he says, mythology, we are told that Hercules^ whose labors have been confounded with those of nature, separated Europe from Africa ; by which is meant, no doubt, that the Atlan- tic Ocean destroyed the isthmus., which once united those two pcits of the earth, and opened to itself a cbmraunicatiou with the Medi- terranean Sea. Beyond the isthmus, of which I have just spoken, said Euclid, existed, according to ancient traditions, &n island as large as Africa, which, %vith all its wretched inhabitants, was swallowed up by an earthquake. Here, (hen, is another witness, besides Solon, who lived 300 years before the time of Euclid, who testifies to the past existence of the island Atalantis. EVIDENCES OF A\ AXCIEXT POPULATION IN AMERICA, DIF FERENT FROM THAT OF THE INDIANS. We shall now attend more particularly to the evidences of an ancient population in this country, anterior tn that of the present race of Indians, afforded in the discovery of forts, mounds, tumuli, and their contents, as related by western travellers, and the re- searches of the Antiquarain Society, at Cincinnati. But before we proceed to an account of the traits of this kind of population, more 84 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES than already given, we will remark, that wherever plats of ground, struck out into circles, squares and ovals, are found, we are at once referred to an era when a people and nations existed in this coun- try, more civilized, refined, and given to architectural and agricul- tural pursuits, than the Indians. It is well known, the present tribes do not take the trouble of materially altering the face of the ground to accommodate the erec- tion of their places of dwelling ; always selecting that which is al- ready fashioned by nature lo suit their -views ; using the earth, where they build their towns, as they find it. In a deep and almost hidden valley among the mountains of the Alleghany, on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, is one of those solitar,- memorials of an exterminated race. It is hid amidst the profoundest gloom of the woods ; and is found to consist of a regular circle, au hundred paces in diameter. This is equal to six rods and four paces; and twenty -two rods in circumference. The whole plat is raised above the common level of the earth around, about four feet high ; which may have been done to carry off the water, when the snows melted, or when violent rains would otherwise have inundated their dwellings from the surrounding hills. The neighborhood of Brownville, or Redstone, in Pennsylvania, abounds with monuments of antiquity. A fortified camp, of a very complete and curious kind, on the ramparts of which is timber of five feet in diameter, stands near the town of Brownville. This camp contains about thirteeen acres, enclosed in a circle, the ele- vation of which is se\en feet above the adjoining ground ; this was an herculean work. Within the circle a pentagon is accurately described ; having its sides four feet high, and its angles uniformly three feet from the outside of the circle, thus leaving an unbroken communication all around. A pentagon is a figure, having five angles or sides. Each side of the pentagon has a postern, or small gateway, opening into the passage between it and the circle ; but the circle itself has only one grand gateway outward. Exactly in the centre stands a mound about thirty feet high, supposed to have been a place of lookout. At a small distance from this place, was found a stone, eight feet by five, on which was accurately engraved a representation of the whole work, with the mound in the cen- tre ; whereon was the likness of a human head, which signified AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 86 that the chief who presided there, lay buried beneath it. The en- graving on this stone, is evidence of the knowledge of stone cut- ting as it was executed with a considerable degree of accuracy. On comparing the description of this circular monument with a description of works of a similar character, found in Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland, the conclusion is drawn, that at some era of time the authors of this kind of monumental works, in either of those countries, have been the same. " They are called Domh-nngr, by the Danes ; that is, literally, Doom Ring, or Circle OF Judgment; being the solemn place where courts were held." The celebrated stonehenge in England, is built after the same fashion, that is, in a circle, and is of Belgic origin ; the second class of English antiquities, the era of which precedes that of the Romans iu England ; which would throw the time of their first erection back to a period of some hundred years before Christ. " Stonehenge : This noble and curious monument of early times, appears to have been formed by three principal circles of stone, the outer connected together by an uniform pavement, as it were, at the top, to which the chiefs might ascend and speak to the surrounding crowd. A second circle consists of detached upright stones, about five fleet in height, while the highest are eighteen. Within this is a grand oval, consisting of five huge stones, crossed by another at the top, ^-.nd enclosing smaller stones, which seem to have been seats, and a large flat stone, commonly called the al- tar, but which seems to have been the throne or seat of judgment The whole of the above described monument, with all its appara- tus, " seems to be enclosed in the midst of a very extensive circle, or embankment of earth, sufficiently large to hold an immense num- ber; a whole tribe or nation." — Morse. After the introduction of Christianity into the west of Europe, which was sixty years after Christ, these circles of judgment, which had been polluted with human sacrifices and other pagan rites, were abandoned, and other customs, with other places of re- sort, were instituted. This sort of antiquities, says Morse, the geo- grapher, which are found all over Europe, are of this character, that is, of the tumular kind, such as are found in the west of our country ; belong entirely to the first era of the settlements of Eu- rope. W AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES The Druidic temples in Europe were numerous, and some of them immense, especially one in the Isle of Lewis; in these the gods Odin, Thor, Freyga, and other Gothic Deities, were adored ; all such structures were enclosed in circles, some greater and some less, according to their importance, or the numbers of those who supported them. These are of the first order of Antiquities found in Europe ; or, in other words, the eldest, and go back very far to- ward the flood, for their commencement. The same kind of antiquities are found in Ireland, and' are allow- ed to be of Druidic origin, always enclosed in circles, whether a simple stone, or a more spacious temple, be the place where they •worshipped. The Scandinavians, who preceded the Norwegians some hundred years, enclosed their rude chapels with circular in- trenchments, and were called the Dane's Raths^oz circular intrench- ments. " In the first ages of the world, the worship of God was exceed- ingly simple ; there were no temples nor covered edifices of any kind. An altar, sometimes a single stone ; sometimes it consisted of several ; and at other times merely of turf, was all that was ne- cessary ; on this the fire was lighted, and the sacrifice offered." — Adam Clarke. Such were the Druids of Europe, whose name is derived from the kind of forest in which they preferred to worship; this was the oak, which, in the Greek, is expressed by the word Druid, whose worship and principles extend even to Italy, among the Celtic na- tions, and is celebrated by Virgil, in the sixth book of the iEneas, where he speaks of the Misletoe, and calls it the golden 6ranc/i, with- out which, no one could return from the infernal regions. The Misletoe; — a description of which may please the reader, as given by Pliny, who flourished about A. D. 23, and was a cele- brated writer of natural history, and most learned of the ancient Romans. " The Druids hold nothing more sacred than the Misle- toe, and the tree on which it grows, provided it be the oak They make choice of groves of oak, on this account ; nor do they per- form any of their sacred rites, without the leave? of those trees. And whenever they find it on the oak, they think it is sent from Heaven, and is a sign that God himself has chosen that tree ; and whenever found, is treated with great ceremony. " They call it by a name, which, in their language, signifies the AN'D DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 87 airer of ills ; and having duly prepared their feasts and sacrifices under the tree, they bring to it two ichiie bulls; the priest dressed iu a white robe, ascends the tree, and with a golden pruuning hook, cuts oft' the Misletoe, which is received in a Sagum or white sheet. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that God would bless his own gift to those on whom he has bestowed it." — Clarke. DISCOVERIES ON THE MUSKINGUM. In the neighborhood of Fort Harmer, on the Muskingum, op- posite Marietta, on the Ohio, were discovered, by Mr. Ash, an En- glish traveller, 1826, several monuments of the ancient nation. " Having made, (says this traveller,) arrangements for an ab- sence of a few days, I provided myself with an excellent tinder box, some biscuit and salt, and arming ray Indian travelling com- panion with a good axe and rifle, taking myself a fowling piece, often tried, and my faithful dog, I crossed the ferry of the Musk- ingum, having learned that the left hand side of that river was most accessible and the most abundant in curiosities and other objects of my research. [In another part of this work we shall describe works of a similar sort, on the opposite side of the Muskingum, as given by the Antiquarian Society of Ohio.] " On traversing the valley between Fort Harmer and the moun- tains, I determined to take the high grounds, and after some diffi- culty, ascended an eminence which coinmauded a view of the town of Marietta and of the river up and down, displaying to a great distance, along the narrow valley of the Ohio, cultivated plains, the gardens, and popular walks of that beautiful town. " After a very short inspection and cursory examination, it was evident, that the very spot, or eminence on which I stood, had been occupied by the Indians, either as a place of observation, or a strong bold. The exact summit of the hill I found to be artificial ; it ex- pressed an oval, forty-five feet by twenty-three, and was compose! apparently of earth and stone, though oo stone of a siuila; chci- acter appeared ia that place- 88 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES " The base of the whole was girded round about, by a wall of earth in a state of loo great decay to justify any calculation, and the whole was so covered with heavy timber, that I despaired of gaining any further knowledge, and would have left the place, had I not been detained by my Indian companion, whom I saw occu- pied in endeavoring to introduce a pole into a small opening be- tween two flat stones, near the root of a tree, which grew on the very summit of this eminence. " The stones we found were too heavy to be removed by the mere power of hands. Two good oak poles were cut, in lieu of levers and crows. Clapping these into the orifice first discovered, we weighed a large flag stone, tilting it over, when we each as- sumed a guarded position, in silent expectation of hearing the his- sing of serpents, or the rustling of the ground hog's litter ; where, the Indian had supposed, was a den of one sort or the other. " All was silent. We resumed our laborj casting out a number of stones, leaves, and earth, soon clearing a surface of seven feet by five, which had been covered, upwards of fifteen inches deep, with flat stones, principally lying against each other, with their edges to the horizon. " On the surface we had cleared, appeared another difiiculty, which was a plain superfices, composed of but three flat stones of such apparent magnitude that the Indian began to think that we should find under them neither snake nor pig, but having once be- gun, I was not to be diverted from my task. " Stimulated by obstructions, and animated with other views than those of my companion, I had made a couple of hickory sho-' vels with the axe, and setting to work, soon undermined the surface, and slid the stones oft' on one side, and laid the space open to view. " I expected to find a cavern : my imagination was warmed by a certain design, I thought I discovered, from the very beginning; the manner the stones were placed led me to conceive the existence of a vault filled with the riches of antiquity, and crowded with the treasures of the most ancient world. " A bed of sand was all that appeared under these flat stones, which I cast off", and as I knew there was no sand nearer than the bed of the Muskingum, a design was therefore the more manifest, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 89 Tvhich encouraged ray proceeding; the sand was about a foot deep, which I soon removed " The design and labor of man was now unequivocal. The space out of which these materials were taken, left a hollow in an oblong square, lined with stones on the end and sides, and also, paved on what appeared to be the bottom, with square stones, of about nine inclies diameter. " I picked these up with the nicest care, and sgain came to a bed of sand, which, when removed, made the vault about three feet deep, presenting another bottom or surface, composed of small square cut stones, fitted with such art, that I had much difficulfy in discovering many of the places where they met. These dis- placed, I came to a substance, which, on the most critical examin- ation, I judged to bs a mat, or mats, in a state of entire decomposi- tion and decay. My reverence and care increased with the progress already made ; I took up this impalpable powder with my hands, and fanned off the remaining dust with my hat, when there ap- peared a beautiful tesselated pavement of small, colored stones ; the colors and stones arranged in such a manner as to express har- mony and shades, and portraying, at full length, the figure of a war- rior under whose feet a snake was exhibited in ample folds. " The body of the figures was composed of dyed woods, bones, and a variety of small bits of terrous and testaceous substances, most of which crumbled into dust on being removed and exposed to the open air. " My regret and disappointment were very great, as I had flat* tered myself that the whole was stone, and capable of being taken up and preserved. Little more, however, than the actual pave- ment could be preserved, which was composed of flat stones, one inch deep, and two inches square. The prevailing colors were white, green, dark blue, and pale spotted red ; all of which are pe- culiar to the lakes, and not to be had nearer than about three hun- dred miles- " The whole was affixed in a thin layer of sand, fitted together with great precision, and covered a piece of bark in great decay, whose removal exposed what I was fully prepared to discover, from all previous indications, the remains of a human skeleton, which was of an uncommon magnitude, being seven feet in length. With \2 90 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the skeleton was found, first, an earthen vessel, or urn, in which were several bones, and some white sediment. " The urn appeared to be made of sand and flint vitrified, and rung, when struck, like glass, and held about two gallons, had a top or cover of the same material, and resisted fire as completely as iron or brass. Second ; a stone axe, with a groove round the pole, by which it had been fastened with a withe to the handle. Third ; twenty-four arrow points, made of flint and bone, and lying in a position which showed they had belonged to a quiver. Fourth ; a quantity of beads, but not of glass, round, oval, and square ; color- ed green, black, white, blue and yellow. Fifth ; a very large conch shell, decomposed into a substance like chalk ; this shell was fourteen inches long, and twenty-three in circumference. The Hindoo priests, at the present time, use this shell as sacred. It is blown to announce the celebration of religious festivals. Sixth ; under a heap of dust and tenuous shreds of feathered cloth and hair, a parcel of brass rings, cut out of a solid piece of metal, and in such a manner, that the rings were suspended from each other, without the aid of solder or any other visible agency whatever. Each ring Avas three inches in diameter,-and the bar of the rings an ha|f inch thick, and were square ; a variety of characters were deeply engraved on the sides of the rings, resembling the Chinese characters." Ward's History of the Hindoos, page 41 and 56, informs us, that the god Vishnoo, is represented holding a sea shell in his hand, called the " sacred shell ;" and, second, he states, that " the uten- sils employed in the ceremonies of the temple, are several dishes to hold the offerings, a hand bell, a lamp, jugs for holding water, an incense dish, a copper cup, a seat of Kooshu grass for the priests, a lar^e metal plate, used as a bell. Several of the articles found buried in this manner, resemble these utensils of the Brahmin priests, while some are exactly Hke them. The mat of Kooshu frrass resembles the mat of hair and feathers; the earthen dish, the conch shell, are the very same in kind ; the brass chain might an- swer instead of a bell, or iron plate to strike against, which would produce a gingling sound. A quantity of round, oval, and square beads, colored variously, were found ; although Mr. Ward does not say, that beads were a part of the utensils of the Hindoo priests, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 91 yet we find them on the necks and arms of both their gods and their mendicants. Pottery of the same kind found in those ancient works, have al- so the quality of enduring the fire. The art of making vessels of clay, is very ancient ; we find it spoken of by Jeremiah the pro- phet, nearly three thousand years ago. The art of coloring wood, stones, and shells, with a variety of beautiful tints, was also known, as appears from the pavement above described, and the colored beads. In many parts of the west, paints of various colors have been found hidden in the earth. On the Chenango river, in the state of New- York, has recently been found, on opening of one of those ancient mounds, though of but small dimensions ; three kinds of paint, black, red, and yellow, which are now in the possession of a Doctor Willard, at the village of Greene, in the county of Che- nango. The Indians of both China and America, have, from time imme- morial, used paints to adorn themselves and their gods. But the brass rings and tes?elated pavement are altogether the most to be wondered at. A knowledge of the method of manufac- turing brass was known to the Antediluvians. This we learn from Genesis iv. 22. Tubal Cain was an artificer in brass and iron about eleven hundred years before the flood. But how this article, the brass chain, of such curious construc- tion, came in the possession of the chief, interred on the summit of the mountain, is a question to be answered, it would seem, in but two ways. They either had a knowledge of the art of making brass, or the article was an item of that king's peculiar treasure, and had been derived either from his ancestors from the earlie.st ages, or from South America, as an article of trade, a gift from some fellow king, or a trophy of some victorious battle over some southern nation ; for, according to Humboldt, brass was found a- mong the native Mexicans, in great abundance. But how the Mexicans came by this art in mineralogy, is equally a question. Gold, silver, copper, &c., are the natural product of their respective ores ; and accident may have made them acquaint- ed with these ; as iron was discovered among the Greeks, by fire in the woods having melted the ore. But brass is farther removed 92 AMERTCAN ANTIQUITIES from the knowledge of man, being a composition of copper and the calamine stone, or ore of zinc. However, it is said by Morse, that in Chili, in the hills of Huilquilemu, are found mines of native brass, of a fine yellow color, and equally maleable with the best srtificial brass ; yet this is no common product of mineralogy, and would seem to be an exception, or rather a product extraordinary ; 5r.d, in a measure, induces a belief, that it is not proper brass, but a metal similar only in complexion, while perhaps its chemical pro- prieties are entirely different, or it may have been produced by the fosion of copper and the ore of zinc, by the fire of some volcand. Brass was the metal out of which the andent nations made all their instruments of war, and defensive armor. The reason of this preference abo^e copper and iron, even by the Greeks and Romans, was probably on account of the excessive bright polish it was capable of receiving ; for the -Greeks and Romans used it long after their knowledge of iron. Iron was discovered by the Greeks 1406 years before Christ. The ancient Americans must have de- rived a knowledge of brass from their early acquaintance with na- tions immediately succeeding the flood, who had it from the Antedi- luvians, by way of Noah-f'and having found their way to this con- tinent, before it became so isolated as it is at the present time, surrounded on all sides by oceans, made use of the same metal here. But the tesselated or spotted pavement is equally curious with the brass chain, on account of its resemblance to the Mosaic pave- ments of the Romans; being small pieces of marble, of various colors, with wh ich they ornamented the fronts of their tents in time of war, bu t were taken up again whenever they removed. This sort of pavei naent is often dug up in England, and is of Roman origin. We find the hisV ^ryof the ancient Britons, mentions the currency of iron rings, as moa^ ^Xi which was in use among them, before the invasion of Julius Ca. '^'■* ^^ *^ ^^^ possible, that the brass chain, or an assemblage of tba ^^ ""g^» ^^ ^^und in this mound, may have been held among those ai 'cientsof x\merica in the same estimation ? The chain, in their mode o* reckoning, being perhaps of an immense amounj ; its being found dep. ''^''*^^ "'^^ ''^ owner, who was a chief or king, is the evidence of its !"^culiar value, whether it had been used as an article in trade or Ju '^ * ^^^^^^ implement AyX) DISCOTERIEI IN THE WEIT. 99 This maculated pavement, arranged in such a manner as to re- present in full size, the chief, king, or monarch, v^o was interred beneath it, shows the knowledge, that people had of painting, sculp- ture, and descriptive delineation : but most of ail, the serpent which lay coiled at his feet is surprising, because we suppose this transaction could not have happened from mere caprice, or the sport of imagination. It must have been a trait of their theology, and, possibly, an allu- sion to the serpent, by whose instrumentality Satan deceived the first woman, the mother of us all : and its being beneath his feet, may also have alluded to the promised seed, who was to bruise the Serpenth head ; all of which may easily have been derived from the family of Noah, and carried along with the millions of mankind, as they diverged asunder from Mount Ararat, around the wide earth. The Mexicans are found to have a clear notion of this thing, and of many other traits of the early history of man, as re- lated in the Hebrew records and the Scriptures, preserved in their traditions and paintings, as we shall show iu another place. The etching on the square sides of those rings of brass, in char- acters resembling Chinese, shows the manufacturer, and the nation of which he was a member, to have had a knowledge of engrav- ing, even on the metals, equal with artists at the present time, of which the common Indian of the west k'jows nothing. The stone hatchet, flint, and bone arrow points, found in this tomb, are no exclusive evidence that this was all done by the mod- ern Indians: becanso the same are found in vast profusion in all parts of the old world, particularly in tiie island of England ; and have been in use from remotest antiquity. We arc very far from believing the Indians of the present time to be the aborigines of America ; but quite contrary, are usurpers; have, by force of bloody warfare, txt(^rminattd the original inhabi- tants, taking possession of their country, property, and in some few instances, retaining arts learned of those very nations. The immense sea shell, wliioh was fourteen inches long, and twenty-three inches in circumf'^rence, found in this tomb, is evi- dence of this people's having an acquaintance with other parts of the world than merely their c\ '» dwellings, because the shell is a marine production, and the nearest place ^Yhere this eltment is 94 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES found from the Muskingum, is nearly a thousand miles in a strait line east to the Atlantic. If the engraving on this chain be, in fact, Chinese, or if they bear a strong and significant analogy to them, it justifies the opinion that a communication between America and Asia, by means of land on the west, once existed, but has been destroyed by some convul- sion in nature. And also the characters on those rings show the ancient Americans to have had a knowledge of letters. A knowl- edge of letters, hieroglyphics, pictures of ideas, and of facts, was known among men, 200 years before the time of Moses, or 1822 years before the Christian era, among the Egyptians. Nations of men, therefore, having, at an early period, found their way to this continent, if indeed it was then a separate continent ; consequently, to find the remains of such an art, scattered here and there in the dust and ashes of the nations of America, passed away, is not surpris- ing. The mound which we have described, was apprehended by Mr. Ash, to be only an advanced guard post, or a place of lookout, in the direction of the Muskingum and the valley of the Ohio ; accordingly, he wandered farther into the woods, in a northwesterly direction, leaving on his right the Muskingum, whose course was northeast by southwest. His reseaicli in that direction had not long been continued, be- fore he discovered strong indications of his conjecture. He had come to a small valley between two mountains, through which a small creek meandered its way to the Muskingum. On either side of the stream were evident traits of a very large settlement of antiquity. They consisted, first, of a wall oi ram- part of earth, of almost nine feet perpendicular elevation, and thirty feet .across the base. The rampart was of a semicircular form, its entire circuit being three hundred paces, or something over eigh- teen rods, bounded by the creek. On the opposite side of the stream was another rampart of the same description, evidently an- swering to the first; these, viewed together, made one grand circle, of more than forty rods circumference, with the creek runing be- tween. After a minute examination, he perceived very visibly the re- mains of elevated stone abutments, wliich being exactly opposite each other, suggested the belief, that these bridges once connected AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 95 the two semicircles ; one in the centre, and one on either side, at the extreme edges of the ring. Tbe timber growing on the ram- part and within the circle, was principally red oak, of great age and magnitude, some of the trots, being in a state of decay, were not less than seven feet in diameter," and twenty-one in circum- ference. Some considerable farther up the brook, at the spot where the beautiful vale commences, where the mouniain rises abruptly and discharges from its cleft bosora the delightful creek, are a great number of mounds of earth, standing nt equal distances from each other, forming three grand circles, one beyond the other, cut in two by the creek, as the one described before, with streets situated be- tween, forming, as do the mounds, complete circles. Here, as at the other, the two half circles were united, as would appear, by two bridges, the abutments of which are distinct, so perfect are their remains. At a considerable distance, on the sides of the mountain, are two mounds or barrows, which are nearly thirty feet long, twelve high, and seventeen wide at the base. These barrows are com- posed principally of stone taken out of the creek, on which are growing also very heavy timber. Here were deposited the dfead, who had been the inhabitants of the town in the vale. From which it appears that the mounds forming those circles, which were sixty in number, are not tumuli, or the places where chiefs and dis- tinguished warriors were entombed, but were the houses, the actu- al dwellings of the people who built them. However, the distin- guished dead were interred in tumuli of the same form frequently, but much more magnificent and lofty, and are fewer in number, situated on t|ie highest grounds adjacent to their towns. But it may be enquired, bow could those mounds of earth have ever been the dwellings of families? There is but one way to ex- plain it. They may have, at the time of their construction, re- ceived their />ec«/?ar form, which is a conical or sugar loaf form, by the erection of long poles or logs, set up in a circle at the bottom, and brought together at the top, with an opening, so that the smoke might pass out- Against this the earth, (being brought from a dis- tance, so as not to disturb the even surface of the spot chosen to build on,) was thrown, till the top and sides were entirely enveloped. 96 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES This operation would naturally cause the bottom, or base, to be of great thickness, caused by the natural tliding down of the earth, as it was thiown on or against the timbers; and this thick- ness would be in exact proportion with the height of the poles, at the ratio of an angle of forty- five degrees. In this way, a du( lling of the most secure description would be the result ; such as could not be easily broken through, nor set on fire ; and in winter would be warm, and in summer cool. It is true, such rooms would be rather gloomy, compared wi'li the mag- nificent and well lighted houses of the present tiroes, yet ac- corded well vvith the usages of antiquity, when mankind lived in clans and tribes, but few in number, compared with the present populousness of the earth, and siood iu fear of luvasion from their neighbors. Such houses as these, built in circles of wood at first, and lastly^ of stone, as the knowledge of arciiiti cture came on, were used by the ancient inhabitants of Britain, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and on the continent, as in Norway. T^o mode of L-iiilding which can be conceived of, would more effectually shutout the wind. "Houses of this form, made with upright st0i;cs, are even now common over all the Danish dominions." See Morse's Geography y vol. \,p. 158. In the communication of Mr. Moses Fiske, of Hiliham, Tennes- see, to the American Antiquarian Society, 1815, respecting the re- mains and discoveries made relative to antiquities in the west, but especially in Tennessee, says, that the description of mounds, whe- ther round, square or oblong in their shapes, which have flat tops, were the most magnificent sort, and seem contrived for the purpose of building temples and ca*tles on their summits ; which being thus elevated, were very imposing, and might be seen at a great distance. " Nor must we," he continues, " mistake the ramparts or fortifica- tions, for farming inclosure^ ; what people, savage or civilized, ever fenced their grounds so preposterously ; bearing no proportion in quantity necessary for tillage ;" from which the support of a whole country was expected; and further, there were many neighborhoods which had no such accomiTioir.'.ions. He has als8 .discovered, that within the areas encompassed by tbese ramparts, ar» whole ranges of foundations, on vrbioh dto^lling AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 97 houses once stood, with streets running between, besides mounds and other works. " The houses generally stood in rows, nearly contiguous to each other," as in all compact towns and cities, though sometimes they stood in an irregular and scattered manner. These foundations " are indicated by rings of the earth, from three t^ five fathoms in diameter," which is equal to eighteen and thirty feet ; the remains of these rings or foundations are from ten to twenty inches high, an4 a yard or more broad. But they were not always circular ; some of which he had noticed^ were square, and others al- so, of the oblong form, as houses are now built by civilzed nations. " Thtj flooring of some is elevated above the common level, or surface ; that of others is depressed. These tokens are indubita- ble, and overspread the country ; some Srcattered »nd solit«ry, but oftener in groups, like villages, with and without being walled in." From which it is clear, that whoever they were, the pursuits of agriculture were indispensable, and were therefore in use with those nations. From the forms of the foundations of dwellings discovered and described by Mr. Fiske, we conclude, they were the efforts of man at a very early period. We are directed to this conclusion by the writings of Vetruvius, who lived in the time of Julius Cajsar, and is the most ancient writer on the subject of architecture that anti- quity can boast of. His account is as follows : " At first, for the walls, men erected forked stakes, and disposing twigs between them, covered them with loam ; others pulled up clods of clay, binding them with wood, and to avoid rain and heat, they made a covering with reeds and boughs: but finding lhat this roof could not resist the winter rains, they made it sloping, pointed at the top, plastering it over with clay, and by that means discliarg- ing the rain water. To this day, says Vetruvius, some foreign na- tions construct their dwellings of the 'same kind of materials, as in Gaul, Spain, Lusitania, and Aquitain. The Colchins, in the king- dom of Portugal, where they abound in forests, fix trees in the earth, close together in ranks, to the right and left, leaving ns much space between them, from corner to corner, as the length of the trees will permit ; upon the ends of these, at the corners, others are laid transversely, which circuraclude the place of habitation in the middle ; then at the top, the four angles are braced together with alternate beams. The crevices, which are large, on account of the 13 98 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES coarseness of the materials, are stopped with chips and loam. The roof is also raised by beams laid across from the extreme angles, or corners, gradually rising from the four sides to the middle point at the top, (exactly like a German barrack;) and then covered with boughs and earth. In this manner the barbarians, says this author, made their roofs to their towers." By the barbarians, he means the inhabitants of Etirope, at the time when he wrote these re- marks, which was in the reign of Julius Caesar, a short time before Christ. The Phrygians, who inhabit a champaign country, being destitute of timber, select natural hills, excavate them, dig an en- trance, and widen the space within as much as the nature of the place will permit; above, they fix stakes in a pyramidal form, bind them together, and cover them with reeds or straw, heaping there- on great piles of earth. This kind of covering renders them very warm in winter and cool in summer. Some also cover the roofs of their huts with weeds of lakes ; and thus, in all countries and nations, primeval dwellings are formed upon similar principles." — Blake's Atlas, p. 145. The circular, square, and oblong form of foundations, found in the west, would seem to argue, the houses built thereon to be made in the same way this author has described the mode of building in his time among the barbarous nations ; and also furnishes reason to believe them to have been made here in America, much in the same ages of the world. Having this knowledge of the mode of ancient building, we are led to the conclusion, that the town which we have just given an account of, was a clan of some of the ancient Celtic nations, who, by some means, had found their way to this part of the earth, and had fixed their abode in this secluded valley. Celtic or Irish, as Mr. Morse says, who were derived from Gaul, or Galatia, which is now France, who descended from Gomer, one of the sons of Ja- pheth, a son of Noah ; to whose descendants Europe, with its isles, was given. And whether the people who built this town were of Chinese or of Celtic origin, it is much the same ; because if we go far enough back in ages of past time, we shall find they were of the same origin, and had equal opportunities to perpetuate a remembrance of the arts, as known among men immediately after the flood, and might therefore resemble each other in their works. Here we may suppose the gods Odin, Thor, and Friga, were AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 99^ adored under the oaks composing American forests, as taught by the Druids ; here their victims, the deer and buffalo, sent up to the skies their smoking odour, while the priests of the forests invoked the blessing of the beneficent Being upon the votaries of the mys- tic Misleto. Here were the means of mutual defence and safety discussed ; the sighs of the lover breathed on the winds ; parents and children looked with kindness on each other ; soothed and bound the wounds of such as returned from the uncertain fate of clanular battles ; but have been swept with the besom of extermi- nation from this vale, while no tongue remains to tell the story of their sufferings. At the distance of about three miles higher up, and not^far from the Muskingum, says Mr. Ash, he perceived an eminence very similar to the one just described, in which the brass chain was found, to which he hastened, and immediately perceived their like- ness in form. iPa a comparison of the two, there could be but one opinion, namely, that both were places of lookout for the express protection of the settlement in the valley. He says he took the pains of clear- ing the top of the eminence, but could not discover any stone or mark which might lead to a supposition of its being a place of inter- ment. The country above was hilly, yet not so high as to intercept the view for a presumed distance of twenty miles. On these emineaces the " beacon fires " of the clan, who resided in the valley, may have been kindled at the hour of midnight, to show those who watched the portentous flame, the advance or de- struction of an enemy. Such fires, on the heights of Scotland, were wont to be kindled in the days of Bruce and Wallace, and ages before their time, originated from the Persians, possibly, who wor- shipped in this way the great Oramaze, as the god who made all things. The idea of a Creator, was borrowed from Noah, who re- ceived the account of the creation from Seth, who had it from Adam ; and Adam from the Almighty himself. From this excursion our traveller, after having returned to Mari- etta, pursued his way to Zanesville, on the Muskingum river where, learning from the inhabitants that the neighborhood was surrounded with the remains of antiquity, he proceeded to the ex- amination of them, having obtained a number of persons to accom- pany him with the proper implements of excavation. They pene- 100 AMERlCAIf ANTiqUtTXES trated the woods in a westerly direction, to a place known to those who accoropauied him, about five miles distance, where the ruins of ancient times were numerous and magnificent in the highest degree ; consisting of mounds, barrows and ramparts, but of such variety and form, and covering so immense a track of ground, that it would have taken at least ten days to have surveyed them minutely. These immense works of the ancients, it appears, were, in this placey encompassed by outlines of an entirely different shape from any other described, being of the triangular form, and occupying the whole plain, situated as the one before described, in a place nearly surrounded by mountains. But we pass over many incidents of this traveller, and come im- mediately to the object of his research, which was to open such of those mounds as might attract his attention. His first operation was to penetrate the interior of a large barrow, situated at one ex- tremity of the vale, which was its southern. Three feet below the sOrface was fine mould, underneath which were small flat stones, lying in regular strata or gravel, brought from the mountain in the vicinity. This last covered the remains of a human frame, which fell into impalpable powder when touched and exposed to air. Toward the base of the barrow, he came to ihree tier of sub- stances, placed regularly in rotation. And as these formed two rows four deep, separated by little more than a flag stone between the feet of one and the head of another, it was supposed the barrow contained about two thousand skeletons, in a very great state of de- cay, which shows their extreme antiquity. In this search was found a well carved stone pipe, expressing a bear's head, together with some fragments of pottery of fine tex- ture. Near the centre of the whole works, another opening wa* affected, in a rise of ground, scarcely higher than a natural undu- lation, coraraoa to the general surface of the earth, even on ground esteemed to be level. But there was one singularity accompany- ing the spot, which attracted the attention of the company, and this was, there was neither shrub nor tree on the spot, although more than ninety feet in circumference, but was adorned with a multi- tude of pink and purple flowers. They came to an opinion that the rise of ground was artificial, 4tnd as it diflfered in form and character from the common mounds , ASH ©IICOTERIEt IN THE WEST. 101 they resolved to lay it open, which was soon done, to a level with the plain, but without the discovery of any thing whatever. But as Ash had become vexed, having found nothing to answer his ex- pectations in other openings on the spot, he jumped from the hank, in order to take a spade and encourage the men to dig somewhat deeper. At this instant the ground gave way, and involved the whole company in earlh and ruin, as was supposed, for the moment ; but was soon followed by much mirth and laughter, as no person was hurt by the fall, which was but about three feet. Ash had great difficulty to prevail on any person to resume the labor, and had to explore the place himself, and sound it with a pole, before any man would venture to aid him further, on account of their fright. But they soon resumed their courage, and on examination found , that a parcel of timbers had given way, which covered the orifice of a square hole seven feet by four, and four feet deep. That it was a sepulchre, was unanimously agreed, till they found it in vain to look for bones, or any substances similar to them, in a state of decomposition. They soon, however, struck an object which would neither yield to the spade, nor emit any sound ; but persevering still further, they found the obstruction, which was uniform through the pit, to proceed from rows of large spherical bodies, at first taken to be stones. Several of them were cast up to the surface ; they were exactly alike, perfectly round, nine inches in diameter, and of about twenty pounds weight. The superfices of one, when cleaned and scraped with knives, appeared like a ball of base metal, so strongly im- pregnated with the dust of gold, that the baseness of the metal it- self was nearly altogether obscured. On this discovery, the cla- mour was so great, and joy so exuberant, that no opinion but one was admitted, and no voice could be heard, while the cry of " 'tis gold ! 'tis gold !" resounded through the groves. Having to a man determined on this important point, they formed a council respecting the distribution of the treasure, and each indi- vidual, in the joy of his lieart, declared publicly the use he intend- ed to make of the part alloted to his share. The Englishman concluded that he would return to England, be- ing sure, from experience, that there was no country like it. A German of the party said, he would never have quitted the Rhine, 103 AMIRICAN ANTIQUITIES had he had money enough to rebuild his bam^ which was blown down by a high %vind ; but that he would return to the very spot from whence he came, and prove to his neighbors that he loved his country as well as any man, when he had the means of doing well. An Irishman swore a great oath, the day longer he'd stay in America ; and the Indian who accompanied Ash, appeared to think, that were he to purchase some beads, rum and blankets, and return to his own nation, he might become Sachem, and keep the finest squaws to be found. Even Ash himself saw in the treasure the sure and ample means of coatinuing bis travels in such parts of the earth as he had not yet visited. The company returned to Zanesville with but one ball of their riches, while they carefully hid the residue, till they should subject it to the ordeal of fire. They soon procured a private room, where, while it was receiv- ing the trial of fire, they stood around in silence almost dreading to breathe. The dreadful element, which was to confirm or con- sume their hopes, soon began to exercise its various powers. In a few moments the ball turned black, filled the room with sulphurous smoke, emitted sparks and intermitted flames, and burst into ten thousand pieces ; so great was the terror and suffocation, that all rushed into the street, and gazed on each other, with a mixed ex- pression of doubt and astonishment. The smoke subsided, when they were able to discover the ele- menls of the supposed gold, which .consisted of some very fine ashes, and a great quantity of cinders, exceedingly porous ; the balls were nothing but a sort of metal called spririte or pyrites, and abounds in the mountains of that region. The triangular form of this enclosure, being different from the general form of those ancient works, is perhaps worthy of notice, merely on the account of its form ; and might be supposed to be of Chinese origin, as it is well known that the triangular shape is a favorite one of the nations of Hindostan; it is even in the Hindoo theology, significant of the Trinity, of their great Brahmah, or god ; and on this account, might even characterise the form of national works such as we have just described, under the notion, that the divine protection would the more readily be secured. " One of the missionaries at Pekin," says Adam Clarke, " takes it for granted, that the mystery of the Trinity was known among the ancient Chi- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 103 nese, as that this A character was its symbol. It is remarkable that Moses and the prophets, the ancient Chaldee Targumists, the au- thors of the Zend Acesta, a Chinese book, Plato, a celebrated phi- losopher of antiquity, who died at Athens, 348, B. C, and also the first philosopher of Greece, and Philo the Jew, should all coincide so perfectly in their ideas of a Trinity in the Godhead. This could not be the effect of accident. Moses and the prophets received this from God himself; and all others have borrowed from this first origin." For what use the balls of which we have given an account were designed, is impossible to conjecture, whether to be thrown by means of engines, as practised by the Romans, as an instrument of warfare, or a sort of medium in trade, or were used as instruments, in athletic games, either to roll or heave, who can tell ? But one thing respecting them is not uncertain, they must have been of great value, or so much labor and care would not have been expended to secure them. Colonel Ludlow, of Cincinnati, a man, it is said, who was well versed in the history of his country, though now deceased, was indefatigable in his researches after the antiquities of America, discovered several hundreds of those balls of pyrites, weighing generally about twenty pounds each, near an old Indian settlement, on the banks of the Little Miami, of the Ohio, and also another heap in an artificial cave, on the banks of the Sciota, consisting of copper pyrites, or quartz. In that division of South America, called Patagonia, which ex- tends nearly to the extreme southern point of that country, is found a people, denominated Patagonians, who are of a monstrous size and height, measuring from six to seven feet, many of them ap- proaching to eight. Among this people is found an instrument of war, made of heavy stones, wore round by friction ; so that in ap- pearance, they are like a cannon ball. These they contrive to fasten in a sling, from which they throw them with great dexterity and force. — Morsels Geo. This kind of ball was used, though of a smaller size, to capture and kill animals with. The manner of using them is as follows : They take three of those balls, two of them three inches, and one of them two inches in diameter. The hunter takes the small ball in his right hand, and swings the other two, (which are connected by a thong of a proper length, fastening also to the one in his hand) 104 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES round his head, till a sufficient velocity is acquired, at the same time taking aim, when it is thrown at the legs of the animal he is pursuing, in such a manner as to entangle its feet by the rotary mo- tion of the balls ; so that its capture is easy. Conjecture might go on to establish it as a fact, that these balls of pyrites, found in many parts of the west, were indeed a war- like instrument, thrown by a sling, out of which, a force almost equivalent to that of powder, might be acquired ; and from the top of mounds, or from the sides of their elevated forts, such a mode of defence would be very terrible. This mode of lighting was known to the Hebrews. David slew Goliath with a stone from a sling. Seven hundred chosen men out of Gibea, could sling a stone at an hair's breadth. Job speaks of this manner of annoying wild beasts, where he is recounting the strength of Leviaihan : " Slinged stones are turned with him into stubble." Dr. Adam Clarke's observations on the use and force of the sling, are very interesting, and pertinent to the subject. They are found in his Commentary, 1st. Samuel, chap. xvii. verse 40, " The sling, both among the Greeks and Hebrews, has been a most powerful, ofiensive weapon. It is composed of two strings and a leather" strap ;" (or as among the Patagonians, of raw-hide,) " the strap is in the middle, and is the place where the stone or bullet lies. The string on the right end of the strap is firmly fastened to the hand ; that on the left, is held between the tlvumb and middle joint of the fore finger. It is then whirled two or three times round the head j and when discharged, the finger and thumb let go their hold of the string. The velocity and force of th.e sling is in proportion to the distance of the strap to where the bullet lies, from the shoulder joint. Hence, the ancient Balleares, or inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, islands in the Mediterranean Sea, near the coast of Spain, are said to have had three slings of different lengths ; the longest they used when the enemy was at the greatest distance ; the mid- dle one on their nearer approach, and the shortest, when they came into the ordinary fighting distance in the field. The shortest is the most certain, though not the most powerful. " The Balleareans are said to have one of their slings constantly bound about their head ; to have used the second as a girdle ; and to have carried the third always in their hand. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 105 ■*^In the use of the sliog, it requires much practice to hit the ■mark ; but when once this dexterity is acquired, the sling is nearly as fatal as the ball thrown by the explosion of powder. " David was evidently an expert marksman ; and his sling gave him greatly the advantage over Goliah ; an advantage of which the giant does not seem to have been aware. He could hit him within any speaking distance ; if he missed once, he had as many - chances as he had stones ; and after all, being unincumbered with armor, young and athletic, he could have saved his life by flight. But David saved himself the trouble of running away, or the giant from throwing his spear or javelin at him, by giving him the first blow. " Goliah was terribly armed, having a spear, a shield, and a sword; besides, he was every where invulnerable, on account of his hel-» met of brass, his coat of mail, which was made also of brass, in little pieces, perhaps about the size of a half dollar, and lapped over each other, like the scales of fishes, so that no sword, spear, nor ar- row could hurt him." This coat of mail, when polished and bright, must have been very glorious to look upon, especially when the sun, in his bright- ness, bent his beams to aid the giant warrior's fulgent habiliments to illumine the field of battle, as the weaYer strode, here and there, among the trophies of death. The only spot left, where he could be hit to advantage, was his troad giant forehead, into which the stone of David sunk, from its dreadful impetus i received from the simple sling. To some, this has appeared perfectly improbable ; but we are assured by ancient writers, that scarcely any thing could resist the force of the sling. Diodorus Siculus, an historian who flourished in the time of Julius Caesar, a short time before Christ, and was born in the island of Sicily, in the Mediterranean, says, " the people of the islands of Minorca and Majorca, in tinie of war, could sling greater stones than any other people, and with such force, that they seemed as if projected from a capull,^^ an engine used by the ancients for this purpose. Therefore, in assaults made on fortified towns, they grieviously wound the besieged, and in battle, they break in pieces the shields, helmets, and every species of armor, by which the body is de- fended. It would seem, from the expertness of the Patagonians, 14 106 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES evinced in the use of the sHng, that they may have been derived from the ancient inhabitants of those islands, who could as easily have found their way out of the Mediterranean by the Strait of Gibralter into the Atlantic Ocean, and be driven across to South America, by the winds from the east, or by the current of the sea, as the Egyptians, as we have before shown. The sling was a very ancient warlike instrument ; and in the hands of those who were skilled in the use of it, it produced as- tonishing effects. The people of the above named islands were the most celebrated slingers of antiquity. They did not permit their children to eat till they had struck down their food from the top of a pole, or some distant eminence. Concerning the velocity of the leaden ball thrown out of the sling, it is said by the ancients, to have melted in its course. Ovid, the Roman poet, has celebrated its- speed, in the following beauti- ful verse : " Hermes was fired, as in the clouds he hung ; So the cold bullet that with fury slung From Balearic engines, mounts on high, Glows in the whirl, and burns along the sky." This is no poetic fiction. Seneca, the stoic philosopher of Rome, born A. D. 12, says the same thing ; " the ball projected from the sling, melts, and is liquified by the friction of the air, as if it were exposed to the action of fire." Vegetius, who lived in the 14th century, and was also a Roman, tells us, that " slingers could, in general, hit the mark at six hun- dred feet distance," which is more than thirty rods. From this view we see what havoc the western nations, using the sling or engine, to throw stones from their vast forts and mounds with, must have made, when engaged in defensive or offensive war. DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS OF ANCIENT POTTERY. On the subject of pottery we remark, that the remains of this art are generally found, especially of any extent, in the nighbor- hood of salt springs. It is true, that specimens of earthen ware AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 107 are frequently taken out of the ancient barrows of the dead, and also are frequently brought to sight on the shores of rivers, where the earth has been suddenly removed by inundations. A few years since, an instance of this sort occurred at Tawanda, in Pennsylvania. The Susquehannah had risen very high, at the time we are speaking of, and had undermined the bank on the Tawanda shore, to a considerable extent, at the high water mark. On the receding of the waters, the bank was found to be carried away for the distance of about six rods, when there appeared sev- eral fire places, made of the stones of the river, with vessels of earthen, of a capacity about equal with a common water pail, in a very good state of preservation. Between those fire places, which were six in number, were found the skeletons of several human beings, lying in an undis- turbed position, as if they, when living, had fallen asleep, and ne- ver waked ; two of these, in particular, attracted attention, and excited not a little surprise ; they were lying side by side, with the arm of one of them under the neck of the other, and the feet were mingled in such a manner as to induce the belief that when death came npon them, they were asleep in each other's embraces. But in what manner they came to their death, so that they appear- ed not to have moved, from the fatal moment till the bank of Ta- wanda was carried away, which had covered them for ages, is strange indeed. It cannot be supposed they died all at once, of some sickness, or that an enemy surprised them while sleeping, and, silently pass- ing from couch to couch, inflicted the deadly blow; because, in any of these ways, their bones, in the convulsions of dissolution, must have been deranged, so that the image and peaceful posture of sleepers could not have characterised their positions, as they were found to have. It was conjectured, at the time of their discov- ery, that the period of their death had been at the season of the year when that river breaks up its ice ; in March or April, the riv- er they supposed, may have been dammed up below them, where, it is true, the stream narrows on the account of the approach of the mountains. Here the ice having jammed in between, caused a sudden rise of the river, and setting back, overflowed them. But this cannot be possible, as the noise, of the breaking ice would never allow them to sleep ; this operation of nature is accompanied 108 AMERICAN ANTIQDITIES with a tremendous uproar and grandeur, tearing and rending tLe shores and forests that grow on them, multiplying crash on crash, with the noise of thunder. Neither can it be well supposed, the waters came over them in the way suggebted, even if they had slept during the scene we have just described, because ou the first touch of the waters to their bodies, they would naturally spring from their sleep in surprise. Something must h^ive happened that deprived them of life and motion in an instant of time. This is not impossible, because at Herculaueum and Pompeii, are found, where, in digging, they have penetrated through the lava down to those ancient cities, laying bare streets, houses and temples, with their contents, such as have survived the heat whicli ruined those cities — skeletons, holding between their fingers something they had in their hands at the moment of their death, so that they do not appear even to have struggled. Something of the same nature, as it respects suddenness, must have overtaken these sleepers ; so that their natural positions were not disturbed. If the place of their dwellings had been skirted by a steep bank or hill, it might then have been supposed that a land slip or mine spring, had buried them alive, but this is not the case. They were about four feet under ground, the soil which covered them was the same alluvial with the rest of the flat ; it is a myste- ry, and cannot be solved, unless we suppose an explosion of earth, occasioned by an accumulation of galvanic principles, which, burst- ing the earth near them, suddenly buried them alive. Dr. Beck, the author of the Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri, suggests the cause of the earthquakes in the valley of the Missis- sippi, in 1811 and 1812, which, in many places, threw up in an instant vast heaps of earth, to have been the principle of galvan- ism bursting from the depths beneath, in a perpendicular direction, overwhelming, in a moment of time, whatever might be asleep or awake, wherever it fell. Further down the Susquehannah, some thirty or forty miles be- low Tawanda, at a place called the Black-walnut Bottom, on the farm of a Mr. Kinney, was discovered a most extraordinary speci- men of pottery. Respecting this discovery, the owner of the farm relates, as we are informed by a ckrg^-msn, who examined the article on the AND DISCOTERIES IN VUK WfiST. 109. spot, though in a broken state, that soon after the first settlement» on that river, and especially on that farm, a great freshet took place which tore a channel in a certain direction across the Hat, when the vessel which we are about to describe, was brought to light. It was twelve feet across the top, and of consequence, thirdj-six feet in circumference, and otherwise of proportionable depth and form. Its thickness was three inches, and appeared to be made of some coarse substance, probably mere clay, such as might be found on the spot, as it was not glazed. Whoever its makers were, they must have manufactured it on the spot where it was found, as it must have been impossible to move so huge a vessel. They may have easily effected its construction, by building it up by degrees, with layers put on in succession, till high enough to suit the enor- mous fancy of its projectors, and then by piling wood around, it might have been burnt so as to be fit for use, and then propped up by stones, to keep it from falling apart. But who can ttU for what use this vast vessel was intended ? Conjecture here is lost, no ray of light dawns upon this strange rem- nant of antiquity. One might be led to suppose, it was made in imitation of the great Laver in the court of Solomon's Temple, which was seventeen feet two inches in diameter, and fifty two feet six inches in circumference, and eight feet nine inches deep. — 2 Chron. iv. 2. The discovery of this vast specimen of earthen ware, is, at any rate, a singularity, and refers to some age of the world when the in- habitants used very large implements of husbandry. If there had been in its neighborhood a salt spring, as there are often found farther west, we should not be at a loss to know for what purpose it was constructed. Remarkable specimens of pottery are often brought np from very great depths at the salt works in Illinois. Entire pots of a very large capacity, holding from eight to ten gallons, have been disin- terred at the amazing depth of eighty feet ; otixers have been found at even greater depths, and of greater dimensions. — Schoolcraft. Upon this subject, this author makes the following remarks: " If these antique vessels are supposed now to lie in those depths where they were anciently employed, the surface of the Ohio, and con- sequently of the Mississippi, must have been sixty or eighty feet low^r than they are at present, to enable the saline water to 110 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIER drain oflF; and the ocean itself must have stood at a lower level, or extended in an elongated gulf np the present valley of the Mis- sissippi." Many are of the opinJon, that much of this region of country once lay beneath large lakes of water, and that the barriers between them and the ocean, by some means, are broken down, when a rush of water swept the whole country, in its course to the sea, burying all the ancient nations, with their works, at those depths beneath the surface, as low as where those fragments of earthen ware are found. The bottom of those lakes is also supposed to be the true origin of the immense prairies of the west ; and the rea- son why they are not, long since, grown over with forest trees, is supposed to be because, from the rich and mucky soil found at the bottom of those lakes, a grass of immense length, (ten and four- teen feet high,) peculiar to the prairies, immediately sprung up before trees could take root, and therefore hindred this effort of nature. And as a reason why forest trees have not been able to gain upon the prairies, it is alledged, the Indians burn annually these boundless meadows, which ministers to their perpetuity. Some of those praries are hundreds of miles in length and breadth, and in burning over, present, in the night, a spectacle too grand, sublime and beautiful for adequate description ; belting the horizon with a rim of fire, the farthest ends of which seem dipped in the immeas- urable distance, so that even contemplation, in its boldest efforts, is swallowed up and rendered powerless. A CATACOMB OF MUMMIES FOUND IN KENTUCKY. Lexington, in Kentucky, stands nearly on the site of an ancient town, which was of great extent and magnificence, as is amply evinced by the wide range of its circuvivallatory works, and the quantity of ground it once occupied. There is connected with the antiquities of this place, a catacomb, formed in the bowels of the limestone rock, about fifteen feet be- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. Ill low the surface of the earth, adjacent to the town of Lexington. This grand object, so novel and extraordinary in this country, was discovered in seventeen hundred and seventy-five, by some of the first settlers, whose curiosity was excited by something remarkable in the character of the stones which covered the entrance to the cavern within. They removed these stones, and came to others of singular appearance for stones in a natural state ; the removal of which laid open the mouth of a cave, deep, gloomy, and terrific, as they supposed. With augmented numbers, and provided with light, they de- scended, and entered, without obstruction, a spacious apartment ; the sides and extreme ends were formed into nitches and compart- ments, and occupied by figures representing men. When alarm subsided, and the sentiment of dismay and surprise permitted fur- ther research and enquiry, the figures were found to be Mummies., preserved by the art of embalming, to as great a state of perfec- tion, as was known among the ancient Egyptians, eighteen hundred years before the Christian era ; which was about the time the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, when this art was in its highest state of perfection. Unfortunately for antiquity, science, and every thing else held sacred by the illumined anH learned, this inestimable discovery was made at a period when a bloody and inveterate war was carried on between the Indians and the whites ; and the power of the natives was displayed in so savage a manner, that the whites were filled with revenge. Animated by this vindictive spirit, the discoverers of the catacomb, delighted to wreak their vengeance even on the mummies, supposing them to be of the same Indian race with whom they were at war. They dragged them out to the open air, tore the bandages open, kicked the bodies into dust, and made a general bonfire of the most ancient remains antiquity could boast. The descent to this cavern is gradual, the width four feet, the height seven only, and the whole length of the catacomb was found to be eighteen rods and a half, by six and a half; and calculating from the nitches and shelv- ings on the sides, it was sufficiently capacious to have contained at least two thousand subjects. I could never, says Mr. Ash, from whose travels we have taken this account, learn the exact quantity it contained ; the answers to 112 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the inquiries which he made respecting it were, " ! they burnt up and destroyed hundreds !" Nor could he arrive at any knowl- edge of the fashion, manner, and apparel of the mummies, or re- ceive any other information than that they "ujcre well lapped upy'* appeared sound, and consumed in the fire with a rapid flame. But not being contented with the uncertain information of pejsons, who, it seems, had no adequate knowledge of the value of this dis- covery, he caused the cavern to be gleaned for such fragments as yet remained in the nitches, on its shelving sides, and fiom the floor. The quantity of remains thus gathered up, amounted to for- ty or fifty baskets, the dust of which was so light and pungent as to aflect the eyes even to tears, and the nose to sneezing, to a troub- lesome degree. He then proceeded on a minute investigation, and separated from the general mass, several pieces of human limbs, fragments of bodies, solid, sound, and apparently capable of eternal duration. In a cold state they had no smell whatever, but when submitted to the action of fire, gave out an agreeable efl3uvia, but was like noth- ing in its fragrance to which he could compare it. On this subject, JNIr. Ash has the following reflections : " How these bodies were embalmed, how long preserved, by what nations, and from what people descended, no opinion can be formed, nor any calculation made, but what must result from speculative fancy and wild conjectare. For my part, I am lost in the deepest igno- rance. My reading affords me no knowledge : my travels no light. I have neither read nor known of any of the North American In- dians who formed catacombs for their dead, or who were acquaint- ed with the art of preservation by embalming. The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, who flourished 450 years before Christ, had three methods of embalming ; but Diodo- rus, who lived before Christ, in the time of Julius Caesar, observes, that the ancient Egyptians had a fourth method of far greater supe- riority. That method is not described by Diodorus ; it had become extinct in his time ; and yet I cannot think it presumptuous to con- ceive that the American mummies were preserved after that very manner, or at least with a mode of equal virtue and effect." The Kentuckians asserted, that the features of the face and the form of the whole body were so well preserved, that they must have been the exact representations of the once living subjects. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 113 This cavern indeed is similar to those found in Egypt, where the once polished and powerful inhabitants bestowed their dead, wrapped up in the linens, spices and aromatics of the east. It is probable the cave where these were found was partly natural and partly artificial ; having fbund it suitable to their purpose, they had opened a convenient descent, cleared out the stones and rocks, and fitted it with nitches for the reception of those they had embalmed. This custom, it would seem, is purely Egyptian, and was prac- tised in the earliest age of their national existence, which w-as about two thousand years before Christ. Catacombs are numerous all over Egypt, vast excavations under ground, wi^h nitches in their sides for their embalmed dead, exactly such as the one we have described. Shall we be esteemed presumptuous, if we hazard the opinion that the people who made this cavern and filled it with the thou- sands of their embalmed dead were, indeed, from Egypt .-' Il the}- were not, whither shall we turn for a solution of this mystery ? To what country shall we travel r where are the archieves of past agea. that shall shed its light here .' If the Egyptians were indeed, reckoned as the firsl of nations , for so are they spoken of, even in the Scriptures : if from them was derived the art of navigation, the knowledge of astronomy, in a great degree, also the unparalleled invention of letters, (from wbora it is even probable the Fhcenecians derived the use of letters,) with many other arts, of use to human society ; such as architecture, agriculture, with the science of governmeni, &c.; why not allow the authors of the antiquated works about Lexington, together v,'ith the immense catacomb, to have been, indeed, an Egyptian Colony; seeing the art of embalming, which is peculiarly characteristic of that people, was found th?re in a state of perfection not exceeded by the mother country itself A trait of national practices .so strong and palpable, i»s is this pe- culiar art, should lead the micd, without hesitation, to a belief, that wherever the thing is practised, we have found in its authors either a colony direct from Egypt, or the descendants of some nation of the countries of Africa acquainted with the art. But if this be so, the question here arises, how came they in America, seeing the nearest point of even South America approach- es no nearer to the nearest point of Africa, than about seventeen 15 114 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES hundred miles ? Those points are, first, on the American side, Cepr St. Roque ; and, second, on the African side, Cape de Verd. But such is the mechanism of the globe, and the operation of the ■waters, that from the west coast of Africa there is a constant cur- rent of the sea setting toward South America ; so that if a vessel were lost, or if an eastern storm had driven it far into the ocean, or South Atlantic; it would naturally arrive at last on the American coast. This is supposed to have been the predicament of the fleet of Alexander the Great, some hundred years before the Christian era, as we have before related. The next inquiry to be pursued, is, whether the Egyptians were ever a maritime people, or rather, anciently so, sufficient for our pur- pose ? By consulting ancient history, we find it mentioned that the Egyptians, as early as fourteen hundred and eighty-five years be- fore Christ, had shipping, and that one Danus, with his fifty daugh- ters, sailed into Greece, and anchored at Rhodes ; which is three thousand, three hundred and eighteen years back from the present year, 1833. Eight hundred and eighty-one years after the landing of this vessel at Rhodes, we find the Egyptians, under the direc- tion of Necho, their king, fitting out some Phoenicians with a ves- sel, or fleet, with orders to sail from the Red Sea, quite around the continent of Africa, and to return by the Mediterranean, which they effected. It is easy to pursue the very tract they sailed, in order to circum- .navigate Africa; sailing from some port on the Red Sea, they pass down to the Strait of Babelmandel, into the Indian Ocean ; thence south, around the Cape of Good Hope, into the South Atlantic ; — thence north along the African coast on the west side, which would carry them along opposite, or east of South America. Pursuing this course, they would pass into the Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar, and so on to Egypt, mooring at Alexandria, on the south end of the Mediterranean ; a voyage of more than six- teen thousand miles ; two thirds of the distance round the earth. Many ages after their first settlement in Egypt, they were the lead- ing nation in maritime skill and other arts. It is true, that a knowledge of the compass and magnet, as aids to navigation, in Africa or Europe, was unknown in those early ftges ; but to counterbalance this defect, they were, from necessity, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 118 tiMdi more skilful in a knowledge of the heavenly bodies, as guide* to their courses, than men aie at the present day. But in China, it is now believed, that a knowledge of the magnet, and its applica- tion to the. great purposes of navigation, was understood before the time of Abraham, more than two thousand years before Christ, of which we shall give -a more particular account in another place of this work. But if we cannot allow the Egyptians to have visited South America, and all the islands between, on voyages of discovery, which by no means can be supposed chimerical, we are ready to admit they may have been driven there by an eastern storm ; and as favoring such a circumstance, the current which sets from the African coast toward South America, should not be forgotten. If it be allowed that this mode of reasoning is at all conclusive, the same will apply in favor of their having first hit on the coast of the West Indies, as this group of islands, as they now exist, is much more favorable to a visit from that particular part of Africa, called Egypt, than is South America. Egypt and the West Indies are exactly in the same latitude, that is, the northern parts of those islands, both being between twenty and thirty degrees north. Sailing from Egypt, out of the Mediterranean, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar would throw a vessel, in case of an eastern storm, aided by the current, as high north as opposite the Bahama islands. A blow of but a few days in that direction, would be quite sufficient to have driven an Egyptian vessel, or boat, or whatever they may have sailed in, entirely on to the coast of the West Indies. The trade winds sweep westward across the Atlantic, through a space of 50 or 60 degrees of longitude, carrying every thing with in their current directly to the American coast. If such may have been the case, they were, indeed, in a manner, on the very continent itself, especially, if the opinion of President Jefferson and others be allowed, that the Gulf of Mexico, which is situated exactly behind those islands, west, has been scooped out by the current which makes from the equator toward the north. Kentucky itself, where, we think, we have found the remains of an Egyptian colony, or nation, as in the case of the works and catacomb at Lexington, is in latitude but five degrees north of Egypt. So that whether they may have nsited America on a voy- 116 iLMEKIOAN AI7TIQUITIES age of exploration, or have been driven on the coast against their will ; in either case, it would be perfectly natural that they should have established themselves in that region. Traits of Egyptian manners were found a'nong many of the na- tions of South America, mingled .vith those ^ho appeared to be of other origin ; of vvhich we shall speak again in the course of this work. But at Lexington the traits are too notorious to allow them to be f':ter than pure Egyptian, in full possession of the strongest com- plexion of their natfoua' character, that of embalm ihg, which was connected with 'heir religion. The Mississippi, which disembogues itself into the Mexican Gulf, is in the same north latitude with Egypt, and may have, by its likeness to the Egyptian Nile, invited those adventurers to pur- sue its course, till a place suited to their views or necessities may have presented. The ancient Punic, Phoenician, or Cartbagenian language, is all the same ; the characters called Punic, or Phcenician, therefore, are also the same. A fac simile of those characters, as copied by Dr. Adam Clarke, are herewith presented. See No. 4. No. 4. They were discovered in the island of Malta, in the Mediterra- nean, which was anciently inhabited by the Phoenicians, long be- fore the Romans existed as a nation. These characters were found engraved on a stone, in a cave of that island, in the year 1761, which was a sepulchral cave, so used by the earliest inhabitants. These characters, being found in this ancient repository of the dead, it is believed, marks the place of the burial of that famous Cartha- g.-inian general, HAyrBAL, as they explicitly allude to that char- acter. The reading ir the original is as follows : AND DISCOVERTES IN THE WEST- lit " Chadar Peth olam kabar Chanibaal Nakeh becaleth haveh, rachm daeh Am beshuth Cbanilaal ben Bar melee" Which, beiug interpreted, is: ^' The inner chamber of the sanc- tuary of the sepulchre of Hannibal, illustrious in the consummation of calamity. He was beloved. The people lament, wheu array- ed in order of battle, Hannibal the son of Bar-Melee" This is one of the largest remains of the Punic or Phoenician language now in existence. Characters of this description are also found OD the rocks in Dighton, Massachusetts, near the sea. In a chain of mountains between the rivers Oronoco and Ama- zon, South America, are found engraved in a cavern, on a block of granite, characters supposed also to be Punic letters. A far. simile of which is presented at No. 5. These were fur- nished by Baron Humboldt, in his volume of Researches in South Americe ; between which and those given us above, by Dr. Clarke, it is easy to perceive, a small degree of similarity. But if the Phoenician letters, shown at Nos. 4 and 5, are highly interesting, those which follow, at Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are equally so. These are presented to the p'lblic by Professor Rafinesque, in his Atlantic Journal, for 1832, with their meaning. Under figures 1 and 2, are the African or Lybian characters, the primitive letters of the most ancient nations of Africa. Under figure 3, are the American letters, or letters of OtqluMj an ancient city, the ruins of which are found in South America, being so far, as vet explored, of an extent embracing a circumference of twenty- four miles, of which we shall again speak in due time. The similarity, which appears between the African letters and the letters of America, as in use perhaps two thousand years before Christ, is almost, if not exact, showing, beyond a doubt, that the same nations, the same languages, and the same arts, which were known in ancient Lybia or Africa, were also known in America ; as well also as nations from old China, who came to the western coast in huge vessels, as we shall show in this worL. We here subjoin an account of those characters, numbered 1, 2, 3, by the author. Prof. Rafinesque ; and also of the American Glyphs, which, however, are not presented here ; they are, it appears, formed by a combination of the letters numbered 1, 2, 3, and re- sembling very much, in our opinon, the Chinese characters, when 118 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES grouped, Or combined, with a view to express a senteuce or a para- graph, in their language. The account is as follows : LYBIAN. AMERICAN. No. 1. 2. 3. Ear Eye. Nose. AIPS. ESH. IFR. Tongue. OMBR Hand. VULD. Earth. LAMED Sea. MAH. Air. NISP. Fire RASH. Sun. BAP Moon. CEK. Mars. DOR Mer'y GOREG Venus. UAF. Saturn. SIASH.lS. sh Jup'r THEUE Thz. mimQ©<^ -vi. Wii^ .^i /K- // k-MmiE^: :>*t^: A. EI. IZ. OW, UW. IL. R^m -Sm-^' ^M7 # UJ S lU ES. ISH. uz. Letter to Mr. Champollion, on the Graphic Si/stems of America^ and the Glyphs of Otolum of Palenque, in Central America. — Elements of the Glyphs. I have the pleasure to present you here, a tabular and compara- tive view of the Atlantic alphabets of ihe two Continents, with a specimen of the Groups of Letters or Glyphs of the monuments of Otolum or Palenque : which belong to my seventh series of graphic signs, and are in fact words formed by grouped letters or flements as in Chinese characters, or somewhat hke the cyphers AND DISCOVBRIES IN THE WEST. llf now yet in \lse among us, formed by acrostical anagrams or combi- nations of the first letters of words or names. When I began my investigation of these American Glyphs, and became convinced that they must have been groups of letters, I sought for the Elementary Letters in all the ancient kiiown alpha- bets, the Chinese Sanscrit and Egyptian above all ; but in vain. The Chinese characters bflered but few similarities with these glyphs, and not having a literal but syllabic alphabet, could not promise the needful clue. The Sanscrit alphabet and all its de- rived branches, including even the Hebrew, Phoenician, Pelagic, Celtic and Cantabrian alphabets were totally unlike in forms and combinations of grouping. But in the great variety of Egyptian form of the same letters, I thought that I could trace some resem- blance with our American glyphs. In fact, I could see in them the Egyptian cross, snake, circle, delta, square, trident, eye, feather, fiish, hand, &c., but sought in vain for the birds, lions, sphynx, beetle, and 100 other nameless signs of Egypt. However, this first examination and approximation of analogy in Egypt and Africa was a great preliminary step in the enquiry. I had always believed that the Atlantes of Africa have partly colo- nized America, as so many ancient writers have affirmed ; this be- lief led me to search for any preserved fragments of the alphabets of Western Africa, and Lybia, the land of the African Atlantes yet existing under the names of Berbers, Tuarics, Shelluhs, &c. This was no easy task. The Atlantic antiquities are still more obscure than the Egyptian. No CharapoUion had raised their veil ; the city of Farawan, the Thebes of the Atlantes, whose splendid ruins exist as yet in the Mountains of Atlas, has not even been described properly as yet, nor its. inscriptions delineated. However, I found at last in Gramay (Africa Illustrata) an old Lybian alphabet, which has been copied by Purchas, in his collec- tion of old alphabets. I was delighted to find it so explicit, so well connected with the Egyptian, being also an acrostic alphabet, and above all, to find that all its signs were to be seen in the Glyphs of Otolum. Soon after, appeared in a supplement to Claperton and Denham's travels in Africa, another old and obsolete Lybian alpha- bet, not acrostical, found by Denham in old inscriptions among the Tuarics of Targih and Ghraat, west of Fezan : which, although un- 120 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES like the first, had many analogies, and also with the American glyphs. Thinking, then, that I had found the primitive elements of these glyphs, I hastened to communicate this important fact to Mr. Du- ponceau (in a printed letter directed to him in 1828) who was struck with the analogy, and was ready to confess that the glyphs of Palenque', might be alphabetical words ; although he did not believe before that any American alphabets were extant. But he could not pursue my connection of ideas, analogies of signs, lan- guages and traditions, to the extent which I desired and now am able to prove. To render my conclusions perspicuous, I must divide the subject into several parts : directing my enquiries, 1st. on the old Lybian alphabet. 2dly. On the Tuaric alphabet. 3dly. On their ele- ments in the American glyphs, ^thly. On the possibility to read them. While the examination of their language, in connection with the other Atlantic languages, will be the theme of my third letter. I. The old Lybian delineated in the Table No. 1, has all the ap- pearance of a very ancient alphabet, based upon tbe acrostical plan of Egypt ; but in a very different language, of which we have 16 words preserved. This language may have been that of a branch of Atlantes, }.'^rhaps the Getulians (GE-TULA, or Tulas of the plains) or of the Ammonians, Old Lybians, and also Atlantes. Out of these 16 words, only 5 have a slight affinity with the Egyptian, they are — Nose Ifr. L. Nif. E. Sea Mah Mauh. Saturn Siash Sev. Venus Uaf Ath. Ear Aips Ap. While this Lybian has a greater analogy with the Pelagic dia- lects, as many as 12 out of 16 being consimilar. Eye Esh L. Eshas P. Nose Ifr Rinif. Hand Vuld Hul, Chil Earth Lambd Landa, Sea Mah Marah, Fire Rash Purah, Moon Cek Mars Dor Mercury Goreg Venus Uaf Saturn Slash Jupiter Theue AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 121 Selka, Kres, Hares, Thor. Merger, Uenas, Satur, Shiva. Theos. Therefore, the numerical analogy is only 32 per cent, with the Egyptian, while it is 75 per cent, with the Pelagic. Another proof, among many, that the ancient Atlantes were intimately con- nected with the Pelagian nations of Greece, Italy, and Spain ; but much less so with the Egyptians, from whom they however bor- rowed perhaps their graphic system. This system is very remarkable. 1. By its acrostic form. 2. By having only 16 letters like most of the primitive alphabets, but unlike the Egyptian and Sanscrit. 3. By being susceptible of 23 sounds by moditication of 6 of the letters, as usual among the Pelagian and Etruscan. 6. Above all, by being based upon the acrostics of 3 important series of physical objects, the 6 senses re- presented by their agents in man, the 4 elements of nature and the 7 planets: which are very philosophical ideas, and must have origi- nated in a civilized uat'on and learned priesthood. 5. By the graphic signs being also rude delineations of these physical objects or their emblems. The ear, eye, nose, tongue and baud, for the 5 senses. The triangle for the earth, fish for the sea or water, snake for the air, flame for fire. A circle for the sun, crescent for the moon, a sword for Mars, a purse for Mercury, the V for Venus, double ring for Saturn, and trident for Jupiter. Venus being the 6th planet, has nearly the same sign as U, the 5th letter. These physical emblems are so natural and obvious, that they are sometimes found among many of the ancient alphabets ; the sun and moon even among the Chinese. But in the Egyptian alphabets, the emblems apply very often to different letters, owing to the difference of language and acrostic feature. Thus the hand applies to D in Egyptian instead of U, the eye to R, the circle to O, the snake to L, &c. II. The second Lybian alphabet No. 2, in the tables, was the ancient alphabet of Tuarics, a modern branch of the Atlantes, until superseded by the Arabic. Denham found, with some difficulty, its import, and names of letters which are not acrostic but literal, and 16 122 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 18 in number. It is doubtful whether these names were well ap- plied in all instances, as the explainer was ignorant, and Denham not aware of the importance of this alphabet. Some appear not well named, and U with V have tlie same sign W ; but these are always interchangeable in old language, and in alphabet No. 1, V is called UAF instead of VAF, and U is VULD instead of UULD ! As we have it, this alphabet is sufficiently and obviously derived from the first, 11 out of the 16 letters being similar or nearly so, while only 5 are different, E, M, R, G and Z. This last appears the substitute of TH, of No. 1, and GH represents G. Yet they are by far more alike than the Demotic is from the Hieratic Egyp- tian, and I therefore deem this No. 2 a Demotic form of the ancient Lybian or Atlantic. I might have given and compared several other Lybian alphabets found in inscriptions ; but as they have been delineated without a key or names, it is at present very difficult to decypher them. I however, recommend them to the attention of the learned, and a- mong others, point out the Lybian inscription of Apollonia, the har- bor of Cyrene, given by Lacella, in his travels in the Cyrenaica. The letters of this inscription appear more numerous than 16 or even 22, and although they have some analogies with the 2 Lybian alphabets, yet approximate still more to the Demotic of Egypt and the Phoenician. But the inscriptions in Mount Atlas and at Fara- wan, when collected and decyphered, will be found of much great- er historical importance. III. Meantime in the column No. 3 of the tabular view, are giv- en 46 Elements of the Glyphs of Otolum (see page 307, where there is a fac simile of these glyphs) or Palenque, a few of these glyphs being given also in column No. 4. These 46 elements are altogether similar or derived from the Lybian prototypes of No. 1 and 2. In some cases they are absolutely identic, and the conviction of their common origin is almost complete, particularly when taken in connection with the collateral proofs of traditions and languages. These elements are somewhat involved in the grouping, yet they may easily be perceived and separated. Some- times they are ornamented by double lines or otherwise, as monu- mental letters often are. Sometimes united to outside numbers represented by long ellipses meaning 10, and round dots meaning unitieB, which approximates to the Mexican system of graphic bu- A.ND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 133 meration. Besides these 46 elements, some others may be seen in the glyphs, which I left off, because too intricate ; although they appear reducible, if a larger table could have been given. There is hardly a single one that may not be traced to these forms, or that baffles the actual theory. Therefore, the conclusion must occur, that such astonishing coincidence cannot be casual, but it is the re- sult of original derivation. The following remarks are of some importance ; 1. The glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom, IKce the Chinese, or from side to side, indifferently, like the Egyptian and the Demotic Lybian of No. 2. We are not told how No. 1 was \vritten, but probably in the same way. Several signs were used for the same letter as in Egypt. 2. Although the most common way of writing the groups is in rows, and each group separated, yet we find some framed, as it were, in oblong squares or tablets like those of Egypt- See plate 12, of the work on Palenque by Delrio and Caberera. In that l£th plate there are also some singular groups resembling our musical notes. Could they be emblems of songs or hymns ? 3. The letter represented by a head occurs frequently ; but it is remarkable that the features are very different from those of the re- markable race of men or heroes delineated in the sculptures. 4. In reducing these elements to the alphabetical form, I have been guided by the more plausible theory envolved by similar forms. We have not here the more certain demonstration of Bil- ingual inscriptions ; but if the languages should uphold this the- ory, they certainly will be increased of the Atlantic origins of Otolum. IV. But shall we be able to read these glyphs and inscriptions, without positively knowing in what language they were written ? The attempt will be arduous, but it is not impossible. In Egypt, the Coptic has been found such a close dialect of the Egyptian, that it has enabled you to read the oldest hieroglyphs. We find among the ancient dialects of Chiapa Yucatan andGuatimala,the branches of the ancient speech of Otolum. Nay, Otolum was perhaps the ancient TOL or TOLA, seat of the Toltecas, (people of Tol,) and their empire ; but this subject will belong to my third letter. I will now merely give a few attempts to read some of the groups. For instance : 124 ilMERICAN ANTI^UITI£t 1. The group or word on the seat of the sitting man of plate 4 of monuments of Palanque, I read UOBAC, being formed by a hand, a tongue, a circle, an ear, and a crescent. It is perhaps his name. And and underneath the seat is an eye with a small circle inside, meaning EB. 2. In plate 5, is an eye with two annexed rings, meaning proba- bly BAB, and perhaps the Sun, which is BAP in the Ljbian alphabet. 3. In plate 7, the glyph of the corner with a head, a fish, and a crescent, means probably KIM. 4. The first glyph of page 15, is probably BLAKE. 5. lean make out many others reading ICBE, BOCOGO, POPO, EPL, PKE, &c. If these words and others (although some may be names) can be found in African languages, or in those of Central America, we shall obtain perhaps the key of the whole language of Old Otolura. And next reach, step by siep, to the desirable knowledge of reading those glyphs, which may cover much historical knowledge of high import. Meantime 1 have opened the path, if my theory and con- jectures are correct, as I have strong reasons to believe. Besides this monumental alphabet, the same nation that built Otolum had a Demotic alphabet belonging to ray 8th series; which which was found in Guatimala and Yucatan, at the Spanish con- quest. A specimen of it has been given by Humboldt in his Amer- ican Researches, plate 45, from the Dresden Library, and has been ascertained to be Guntimalan instead of JNIexican, being totally un- like the Mexican pictorial manuscripts. This page of Demotic has letters and numbers, these represented by strokes meaning 5, and dots meaning unities, as the dots never exceed 4. This is nearly similar to the monumental numbers. These words are much less handsome than the monumental glyphs ; they are also uncouth glyphs in rows formed by irregular or flexuous heavy strokes, inclosing within small strokes^ nearly the same letters as in the monuments. It might not be impossible to decypher some of these manuscripts written on metl paper : since they are written in languages yet spoken, and the writing was un- derstood in Central America, as late as 200 years ago. If this is done, it will be the best clue to the monumental inscriptions. C. S. RAFINESQUE. i^hilade^hia, Febuary, 1882. AND DICCOTEItlES IN THE VTEST. 195 This letter as above, strongly corroborates our supposition, that the authors of the embalmed mummies found in the cave of Lex- ington, were of Egyptian origin. See Morse's Geography, p. 500, and the Western Gazeteer, p. 103, states that several hundred mummies were discovered near Lexington, in a cave, but were wholly destroyed by the first settlers. A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF WESTERN ANTIQUITIES, WITH ANTEDILUVIAN TRAITS. Cincinnati is situated on one of those examples of antiquity, of great extent. They are found on the upper level of that town, but none on the lower one. They are so conspicuous as to catch the first range of the eye. There is every reason to suppose, that, at the remote period of the building of these antiquities, the lowest level formed part of the bed of the Ohio. A gentleman who was living near the town of Cincinnati, in 1S26, on the upper level, had occasion to sink a well for his accommodation, who presevered in digging to the depth of 80 feet without finding water, but still persisting in the attempt, his workmen found themselves obstructed by a substance, which resisted their labor, though evidently not stone. They cleared the surface and sides from the earth bedded around it, when there ap- peared the slump of a tree, three feet in diameter, and two feet high, which had been cut down with an axe. The blows of the axe were yet visible. It was nearly of the color ajid apparent character of coal, but had not the friable and fusible quality of that mineral; ten feet be- low, the water sprang up, and the well is now in constant supply and high repute. Reflections on this discovery are these, first ; that the tree was undoubtedly antediluvian. Second ; that the river now called the Ohio, did not exist anterior to the deluge, inasmuch as the re- mains of the tree were found firmly rooted, in its original positioB, •evcral feel beloic the bed of that river Third ; that America wm 126 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES peopled before the flood, as appears from the action of the axe, in cuttiag down the tree. Fourth ; that the antediluvian Americans were acquainted with the use and proprieties of iron, as the rust of the axe was on the top of the stump when discovered. And why should they not be acquainted with both its properties and utility, seeing it was an antediluvian discovery. Tubal Cain, one of the sons of Cain, the son of Adam, we find, according to Genesis iv. chap. 22d verse, was a blacksmith, and worked in iron and brass, more than a thousand years before the flood. It was about five hundred years from the creation, when Tubal Cain is noticed in the sacred history, to have been a worker in brass and iron ; but, says Dr. Clarke, the commentator, " although this is the first smith on record, who taught how to make warlike instru- ments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron, yet a knowl- edge of metal must have existed long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, and so was Adam, which they could not have been, without spades, hooks, &c." The Roman plough was formed of wood, being in shape, like the anchor to a vessel ; the ploughman held to one fluke, so as to guide it, while the other entered the ground pointed with iron, and as it was drawn along by the stem, it tore the earth in a streak, mellowing it for the seed. Such, it is likely, was the form of the primitive plough, from which, in the progress of ages, improvements have been made, till the present one, as now formed, and is the glory of the well tilled field. According to this opinion, it would appear, that in thevery first period of time, men were acquainted with the metals, and as they diverged from the common centre, which was near the garden of Eden, they carried with them a knowledge of this all-important discovery. If the stump is indeed antediluvian, we learn one important fact, and this is it ; America, by whatever name it was called before the deluge, was then a body of earth above the waters ; and also, was connected with Asia ; where, it is allowed on all hands, man was originated. If it were not connected with Asia, it might be inquired, how then came men in America, before the flood, the traits of whose in- dustry, and agricultural pursuits, are discovered in the felling of AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 127 this tree, as well as a great number of other instances, of which we shall speak by and by ? It is not probable, that before the flood, there was so small a quantity of dry land on the earth as at the present time ; the wa- ters of the globe being generally hid beneath the incumbent soil, so that an easy communication of all countries with each other ex- isted ; which must have greatly facilitated the progress of man in "peopling and subduing it." We know very well, it is said, ," the gathering together of the waters, called He seas ;" but it does not follow, that they were net subterranean ; and it is more than intimated, that such was the fact, when it is said, " all the fountains of the great deep were broken Tip," on the day the flood commenced. But by what means were they broken up, this is left to conjec- ture, as the Scriptures are higher in their aim, than the mere grati- fication of curious questions of this sort ; but in sonae way this was done. The very terms, "broken up," signify the exertion of power and violence^ of sufficient force to burst at once, whole con- tinents from the face of the deep, and also, to throw out, at one wide rush, the central waters of the globe. But can we conceive of any means made use of to effect this, other than the direct pressure of God's power, sinking the earth to the depths beneath, so that the water might rise above, taking the place of the land ? VVe imagine we can. It is well known, the velocity of the earth, in its onward motion, round the sun, is about twenty miles a second, nearly the speed of lightning. Let Him, therefore, who at first imposed this incon- ceivable velocity, stop the earth in this motion, suddenly ; what would the effect be ? All the fluids, that is, the waters, whether above ground or underneath it, would rush forward, with a power equal to their weight, which would be sufficient to burst away mountains, or any impediment whatever ; and rushing round the globe, from the extreme western point, rolling one half of the mighty flood over this side of it, and the other half over the anti- pode on the other side, which is relatively beneath us, till the two half worlds of water should meet at the extreme east, where heap- ing up, by their force, above a common level, would, gradually roll back to their original places, as the earth should again go for- JlMEKICAN ANTIQUITIES 128 tvard ; this is our opinion of the way bow " all the fountains of the great deep were broken up." If the earth were to be arrested in its course «o;o, the effect would be the same. Suppose we illustrate the position, for a mo- ment. Place a vessel of water on a plank, for instance, open on the top, like a common bowl, fastened to the plank, so tliatit should not be liable to overcast. Cause this plank to move, at first slowly, but increase its steady, onward velocity, as much as the fluid will bear, without causing a re-aclton ; when, therefore, its utmost speed is obtained, stop it suddenly; the effect would be, the water in the vessel would instantly' fly over, leaving the bowl behind. Such, therefore, we imagine would be the effect, if the earth were now caused to stand suddenly still, in its orbit; except this differ- ence, the law of gravitation woulJ prevent the waters of the earth from leaving the surface, but would cause a rapid current in the direction the earth is pursuing. That the waters of the deluge came from the west, is evident from the maimer in which the various strata of the earth are situat- ed, over the whole of our country ; and that its motion x^as very violent, is also evident from the appearance of native or primitive rock, being found on the top of that which is of secondary forma- tion, and of gravel and sand in hills and smaller eminences, l)ing on beds of <-lay and soils of various kinds below it. The effects of the deluge can be traced in all the earth in this way, and particularly about Albany, Saratoga, and about the lakes, and to the east, showing the waters flowed in that direction. Fur a beautiful and able description of this subject, see Thomas' Travels, published at Auburn, under the head, " The Deluge." At the same time, the waters above the firmament, in the clouds, were permitted to burst downward, which, in its fall, subdivided into drops, as is natural ; so that one vast perpetual storm, for forty days and forty nights rushed with all the violence of a tornado, up- on the globe, quite around it, by vvhich, in so short a time, the highest hills were buried fifteen cubits deep, and upward ; this is what we suppose is meant by the words " and the windows of heaven were opened." But it may be inquired, from whence did the lands receive wa- ter to furnish them with, so long a rain as a storm of forty days and AND DISCOVERIES tti THE WEST. I2t eights ; and from whence originated vapor enough to becloud the whole circumambient atmosphere of the earth at once. Surely, some cause more tlian existed before the flood, or since, must have transpired at that time, to have produced this great accumulation of clouds and rain. The answer is, we apprehend — that the central waters bursting suddenly from the great deep, involving the whole globe, presented a greater surface of that fluid to the rays of the sun, so that by its operation on the face of the waters, a dense mist or vapor was at once produced quite round the earth, which, in its ascent, carried up incessantly that quantity of water which furnished the atmos- phere for so long and so dreadful a storm, and justify the expression, " and the windows of heaven were opened." In this way the surface of the earth was ruined ; a disproportion- ate quantity of water, caused to appear on the surface, while in the same ratio the land is sunk to the depths below. Sixteen hundred years and rising, was the space of time allowed from the creation till the flood ; a time quite sufl^cient to people the whole earth, even if it were then enjoying a surface of dry land, twice as much as it does at the present time, being but about one-fourth ; and America, as appears from this one monument, the itump of Cincinnati, was a part of the earth which was peopled by the Antediluvians. The celebrated antiquarian, Samuel L. Mitchell, late of New- York, with other gentlemen, eminent for their knowledge of natu- ral history, are even of the opinion, that America was the country where Adam was created. In a letter to Governor De Witt Clin- ton, in which this philosopher argued the common origin of the people of America, and those of Asia, he says : " I avoid the op- portunity which this grand conclusion aflbrds me, of stating, that America was the cradel of the human race ; of tracing its colonies westward over the Pacific Ocean, and beyond the sea of Kamschat- ka, to new settlements ; of following the emigrants by land and wa- ter, until they reached Europe aud Africa. I had no inclination to oppose the current opinions relative to the place of man's creation and dispersion. I thought it was scarcely worth the while to in- form an European, that in coming to America, he had left the new world behind him, for the purpose of visiting the old." — American Aatq. Society, p. 331. 17 130 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES But this opiuion cannot obtain, if we place the least reliance on the statement of Moses, in the Book of Genesis ; who gives a cir- cumstantial account of the place of man's creation, by stating the names of the very rivers, arising out of the regions of country cal- led Paradise ; such as Pison, Havilah, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Eu- phrates ; or as they now are called, Phasis, Araxes, Tigris, and Eu- phrates ; this last retains its original name. No such rivers are known in America, nor the countries through which they flow. Here are data to argue from, but the position, or rather the suggestion of Professor Mitchell, has absolutely no data whatever. If but a tradition, favoring thatopinioii, were found even among the Indians, it would afford some foundation ; but as their tradition universally alludes to some part of the earth, far away, from whence they came, it would seem exceedingly extra- vagant to argue a contrary belief. ' This one stump of Cincinnati, we consider surpasses in conse- cjuence, the magnificence of all the temples of antiquity, whose forsaken turrets, dilapidated walls, tottering and fallen pillars, which speak in language loud and mournful, the story of their ruin ; be- cause it is a remnant of matter ^ iu form and fashion, such as it was^ before the earth " perished by water," bearing on its top the in- dubitable marks of the exertion of man, of so remote a time. It is not impossible but America may have been the country where Noah built his ark, as directed by the Most High. We know very well, when the mind refers to the subject of Noah's Ark, our thoughts are immediately associated with Mount Ararat, because it rested there, on the subsiding of the flood. But this circumstance precludes a possibility of its having been built there, if we allow the waters of the deluge to have had any cur- rent at all. It is said in Genesis, that the Ark floated, or was borne upon the waters above the earth, and also, that the ark "ujeni uprni the face of the waters.''^ From which fact we imagine there must have been a current, or it could not have went upon the waters. Consequently, it went from the place where it was built, being obedient to the current of the waters. Now, if it had been built any where in the country called Arme- nia, where the mountain Ararat is situated ; and as it is found the waters had a general eastern direction, the Ark in going on the face of the waters, would have, during the time the waters of the de- AND DISCOVEHIES IN THE WES 1 . 131 luge prevailed, which was an hlindred and fifty days, or five months, (that is, prevailed after the commencement of the deluge, till its greatest depth was effected ;) gone in an eastern direction as far perhaps as the region of the islands of Japan, beyond China, east, a distance of about six thousand miles from Ararat, which would be at the rate of about forty miles a day, or if it had floated faster, would have carried it into the Pacific Ocean. But if we may imagine it was erected in North America, or some where in the latitude of the State of New-York, or even farther west, the current of the deluge would have borne it easterly. And suppose it may have been curried at the rate of forty or fifty miles a day, would, during the time the waters prevailed, in which time, we may suppose, a current existed, have progressed as far as to Ararat ; a distance of nearly six thousand miles from America, where it did actually rest- More than sixteen hundred years had elapsed, when the ark was finished, and it may fairly be inferred, that as Noah was born about one thousand years after the creation of the world, that mankind had from necessity, arising from the pressure of population, gone very far away from the regions round about Eden ; and the coun- try where Noah was bom may as well be supposed to have been America, as any other part of the earth ; seeing there are indubita- ble signs of antediluvian population in many parts of it. Unite this circumstance with that of the ascertained current of the deluge from America, and with the fact of the ark's having rested in an easterly direction from this country, we come to a conclusion, that here, perhaps in the very State of New- York, the miraculous ves- sel was erected, and bore away, treasured in its enormous capacity, the progenitors of the human race renewed. So that if America have not the honor of being the country where Adam was created, as is believed by some, it has nevertheless the honor, as we sup- pose, of being the country where the ark was erected. In Morse's Universal Geography, first volume, page 142, the dis- covery of this stump is corroborated : " In digging a well in Cin- cinnati, the stump of a tree was found in a sound state, ninety feet below the surface ;" and in digging another well, at the same place, another stump was found, at ninety-four feet below the surface which had evident marks of the axe ; and on its top there appeared as if some iron tool had been consumed by rust." IM JIUERICAN aNTIQUITIE* The axe had, uo doubt, been struck into the top of the stamp., when the horrors of the deluge first appeared, in the bursting forth of the waters from above, that is from the windows of heaven ; — ■when sounds terrific, from the breaking forth of the waters of the great deep, and fiom the shock all sensitive beings must have felt when the earth was caused to stand still in its onward course round the sun, for the space perhaps of a day. Remember Joshua, at whose command and prayer, God stopped the earth for the space of a whole day, but not in its onward course around the sun, but its diurnal motion only, which could not have any effect on the fluids of the earth, as the sudden interruption of the other motion would have had. Who would not flee, when phenomena so terrible, without presage or warning, were changing the face of things, and the feelings of the atmosphere ; the earth quivering like an aspen leaf; forests leaning to the east, and snapping asunder in one awful crash over all the wide wilderness :, rocks with mountains tumbling from their summits; the stoutest heart would quail at such an hour as this ; an axe, with all things else, would be left by the owners, and a general flight, if they could stand at all on their feet, would take place, they knew not whither, for safety. In one of the communications of the admired Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, Professor of Natural History, to the American Antiqua- rian Society, he mentions a certain class of antiquties as distin- guished entirely from those which are found in and about the mounds of the west, as follows : In the section of country about Fredonia, on the south side of Lake Erie, are discovered objects deservedly worthy of particular and inquisitive research- This kind of antiquities, present themselves on digging from thirty to fifty feet below the present surface of the ground. " They occur in the form of fire brands, split wood, ashes, coals, and occasionally tools and utensils, buried to those depths." This, it will be per- ceived, is much below the bed of Lake Erie, of consequence must have been antediluvian, and agrees with the discovery of the stumps at Cincinnati. " We are informed, that in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, and in Ohio, such discoveries have been made." He says, " I wish the members of the society would exert themselves with all possible diligence to ascertain and collerf the facts «f this descriph>n They will he exceedingly en- AN> DISCOTEllISS IN THE ffKST. IM rious, both for the geologist and historian. After such facts shall have been collected and methodised, we may perhaps draw some satisfactory conclusions ; light may possibly be shed upon the re- mote Pelasgians, and upon the traditionary Allardidies,''^ the in- habitants of the Island, we have befere spoken of, Atalantes. Dut we cannot allow the discoveries made at this vast depth, to' belong to any age, or to any of the works of man this side the de- luge, as that time enough has not elapsed since that catastrophe, to allow the decomposition of vegetables, nor of convulsions, to have buried these articles so deep beneath the surface extending over so great a tract of country. The draining of lakes, however sudden, could never have had so wide and universal an effect. It would seem, therefore, that we are compelled to refer them to the works of man beyond the flood, which, by the overflowing of the waters, and the consequent ruin of the original surface, these works, with their makers, have been thus buried in a tomb more dreadful to the imagination than the ordinary recepticles of the dead. In evidence, that the ocean, at some period in ages past, over- whelmed the American continent, we notice, from the " British Spy," page 112, an account of the discovery of the skeleton of a whale, in Virginia : " Near VVilliamsburgh has recently been discovered, by a farm- er, while digging a ditch through a plat of ground, about five feet below the surface, a considerable portion of the skeleton of a whale. Several fragments of the ribs, and other parts, were found, with the whole of the vertebrae, or backbone, regularly arranged, and rery little impaired as to figure. The spot where it was found is about two miles from James river, and about sixty from the sea. In the same region, at depths of from sixty to ninety and an hun- dred feet, have been found the teeth of sharks." In every region of the earth, as well as America, and on the highest mountains, are found the bones and shells of the ancient inhabitants of the sea. From the universality of those appearances, we conclude they were deposited and cast thither by the billows of the deluge. From the discoveries of articles of the utensil character, the bones of whales, the teeth of sharks, and the stumps of Cincinnati, at various depths, as stated above ; we are led to the conclusion, that the original surface, of what is now called Americfl, was perhsps 134 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES not much disturbed ; but was rather suddenly overwhelmed from the Avest, by the bursting forth of the subterranean Pacific, which, till then, had been covered with land, mountains and vales, thickly peopled. The vast depths of strata of loam, sand, clay, gravel, and stone, which lie over each other, evincing, from the unnatural manner of their positions, that they were thrown furiously, by the agent, wa- ter, over the whole continest, furnished from the countries of the west. If such may have been the fact, how dreary, sublime, and hor- rible, when we reflect upon the immensity of the antediluvian population, west of America, at once thrown, with all their works, their wealth, and power, rapidly along the dreadful current, run- ning east, broad as half the cafth, crushed and mingled with the ruined world of their own country. Here it may be supposed at different depths, their broken bodies are buried, together with the antediluvians of America ; while above them, the towns, cities, and living world of the present times, are in full career. As we pass along, over the surface of the earth, whether for re-creation and to breathe the evening or the morning air ; enjoying the pleasant promenade, or roll onward in the furious chariot ; to re- flect that this soil is the same once forming a part of the vast cover- ing of the Western Ocean ; and that far beneath us, the bodies of our elder brethern are sleeping, is sad and mournful. That such may indeed, have been the fact, is favored from the discovery of the whale's skeleton, found on James River, which could never have been deposited there by other means than the flood ; forced onward, till killed by the violence and agitation of the wood, stone, and earth encumbered waters, and sunk finally down, where it was recently discovered. The pottery of the ancient nations, mentioned by Schoolcraft, found at the vast depth of eighty feet, and even at greater depths, at the great Saline in Illinois, is evidence of an antediluvian popu- lation in America. At Cincinnati there is a barrow or mound of human bones, situ- ated exactly on the edge of the bank, that overlooks the lower town, the principal street leading from the water is cut through it, and exposes its strata and remains to every person passing by. Seven tiers of skeletons lay plainly in sight, where the barrow had caved AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 135 away, from its beiug undermined. Among the earth thus fallen down, were found several stone hatchets, pieces of pottery, and flute J made of the great bone of the human leg. This is a very curious instrument, with beautifully carved figures, representing birds, squirrels, and small animals, with perforated holes, in the old German manner, which, when breathed into, emitted tones of great melody. Among the modem Indians, no such instrument has ever been found. At the time when the street was opened through this bar- row of the dead, a great variety of interesting and valuable relics were brought to light ; among which were human double teethj which, on a moderate calculation, bespoke men as large again as the present race. Also some brass rings, which were considered exceedingly curious ; an instance of which is similar to the one before mentioned in this work. Iron rings, as we have before mentioned, were anciently used among the Britons before the Chris- tian era, as money ; and possibly in this case, the brass rings found in this barrow, may be a specimen of the ancient money of America. DISCOVERY OF AN IVORY IMAGE IN A BONE MOUND AT CINCINNATI. In the same barrow of which I have been speaking, was disco- vered an ivory image, which we consider more interesting, and surpasses any discovery yet mentioned. It is said to be now in the cabinet of rare collections, once in the possession of the illustrious Jefferson. The account of the image is as follows: It is seven inches high ; the figure full length ; the costume, a robe, in numberless folds, well expressed, and the hair displayed in many ringlets; the child naked, near the left breast, and the mother's eye bent on it with a strong expression of affection and endearment. There are those who think it a representation of the mother of our Lord's humanity, with the child Jesus, in her arms. The Ro- 136 A.MERICAN ANTIQUITIES man Catholics Lave availed themselves of this image, and made 14 a testimony of the antiquity of their religion, and of the extensive range of their worship, by attempting to prove thereby, that the idol was nothing less than a Madona and Child — the Virgin Mary, and the child Jesus; and that the Roman Catholic religion was the first which arose in the earliest Christian age in the east, and the last which set in the west,, where it became extinct, by means of a second deluge. The idea, however, of a second deluge, is inadmissible, as it would have destroyed every vestige of the mounds, pyramids, tu- muli, and fortifications, of which this work treats ; many of which are supposed older than the Christian era ; and the mound in which the image itself was discovered would also have been destroyed. There is, however, another opinion, which is not impossible may have furnished the imagination with materials for the origin of such a representation. The image may be of Greek origin, and taken from Isaiah the Prophet, 7th chap. 14th verse, where it is said, — " Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son." This prophecy of Isaiah was known to the Greeks, for the Old Testament was translated into their language in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, nearly three hundred years before the Christian era. See Adam Clarke's General Preface to the Old Testament, page 27, and is known as the Septuagint version. The Greek statuaries may, in this way, have easily found the beautiful and captivating idea of a virgin mother, by reading Isaiah in the Greek ; a work fraught with all the grandeur of images in- spired by God himself, and could not fail to challenge the reading of every learned man of the empire, and such were the statuaries, among the Greeks, the fame of whose exquisite skill iu this respect, will go down on the historic page to latest time. From the Greeks such an image, celebrating the idea of a vir- gin mother and her child, may have easily come into the possession of the Romans, as the Greeks were, soon after the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek, subdued by the Romans ; who, in their conquests, here and there, over the earth, including Europe, Eugland, Scotland, and the northern islands, carrying that kind of image with them as a god, or talisman, and from thence to America. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 137 It is, however, not impossible, but it may be indeed of true Ro- man Catholic origin ; as at the time the Romans evacuated Europe, with its isles, Ireland, England, &c., about the year 450, this church had risen to great importance in the Roman empire, which aided her to establish her altars in every country they had conquered. Consequentlv, long before the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador, on the American continent, the Christian religion was planted in the north of Europe ; tirst in France, in the vear 496, and then soon after in England ; and so on farther north among the ancient Scandinavians, Norwegians, &c., and by these to Iceland and Greenland ; who may have also brought this trait of that church to America. The fort at Cincinnati is a circle, embracing about three acres, with a wall seven feet high, and twenty feet broad. At the back part of the upper level, at a distance from the circular fort, are two mounds of about twenty feet high. One of these, by cutting a trench from east to west, four feet wide, and at the depth of ten feet, came to some heavy stones, under which was a body of com- position resembling plaster of Paris. This broke with great diffi- culty, when there were exposed a few fragments of an adult human skeleton, placed on a bed of a similar nature with the covering. It was determined to ascertain whether the monument was erected in memory of one person or more, the lower bed of hard substance was also broken through, and underneath a stratum of stones, gravel and earth, found the fragments of another skeleton, consisting of one tibia, or piece of the shin, two pieces of the thigh bone, and the right upper, with the left under jaw. This was the skeleton of a child, from which was derived the important fact, that this mound was not erected for one individual only, but also for the infant chief or king ; and that the nation who erected this mound, in which the child was buried, was governed by a line of hereditary chiefs or kings, as is evident from the nature and distinction of the interment of an infant ; who certainly could not have been an elected chief; the suffrages of a nation could ne- ver be supposed to elevate an infant as its king ; but if it succeed- ed by right of lineal descent, it might have been their king. The next relic of antiquity, discovered at Cincinnati, is a sphe- rical stone, found on the fall of a large portion of the bank of the river. It is a green stone, twelve inches in diameter, divided into 18 138 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES twelve sides, and each side into twelve equal parts, and each part distinguished by hieroglyphical engravings. This beautiful stone, it is said, is lodged in the cabinet of arts at Philadelphia. It is supposed the stone was formed for astronomi- cal calculations, conveying a knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies. Farther on in this work, is an account of a still more wonderful stone, covered with the engravings of the ancient nations, where a Jac simile of the stone is preserved. A CAVERN OF THE WEST, IN WHICH ARE FOUND MANY INTERESTING HIEROGLYPHICS, 'SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS. On the Ohio, twenty miles below the mouth of the Wabash, is a cavern, in which are found many hieroglyphics, and representa- tions of such delineations as would induce the belief, that their au- thors were, indeed, comparatively refined and civilzed. It is a cave in a rock, or ledge of the mountain, which presents itself to view, a little above the water of the river when in ilood, and is situated close to the bank. In the early settlement of Ohio, this cave became possessed by a party of Kentuckians, called " Wil- son's Gang." Wilson, in the first place, brought his family to this cave, and fitted it up, as a spacious dwelling, erected a sign-post on the water side, on which were these words, " Wilson's Liquor Vault, and House of Entertainment." The novelty of such a tavern, induced almost all the boats de- scending the river to call for refreshments and amusement. At- tracted by these circumstances, several idle characters took up their abode at the cave, after which it continually resounded with the shouts of the licentious, the clamor of the riotous, and the blas- phemy of gamblers. Out of such customers, Wilson found no difficulty in forming a band of robbers, with whom he formed the plan of murdering the crews of every boat that stopped at his tavern, and of sending the boats manned by some of his party, to New-Orleans, and there sell their loading for cash, which was to be conveyed to the cave AND DISCOVERIES IN THfi WEST. 139 by land, through the states of Tennessee and Kentucky ; the party returning with it being instructed to murder and rob, on all good occasions, on the road. After a lapse of time, the merchants of the upper country began to be alarmed, on finding their property make no returns, and their people never coming back. Several families and respectable men, who had gone down the river were never heard of; and the losses became so frequent, that it raised, at length, a cry of individual distress and general dismay. This naturally led to inquiry, and large rewards were offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of such unparalelled crimes. It soon came out, that Wilson, with an organized party of forty- five men, was the cause of such waste of blood and treasure ; that he had a station at Hurricane Island, to arrest every boat that pass- ed by the mouth of the cavern, and that he had agents at Natchez and New-Orleans, of presumed respectability, who converted his assignments into cash, though they knew the goods to be stolen, or obtained by the commission of murder. The publicity of Wilson's transactions soon broke up his party ; some disp..rsed, others were taken prisoners, and he himself was killed by one of his associates, w!io was tempted by the reward oflered for the head of the captain of the gang. This cavern measures about twelve rods in length, and five in width ; its entrance presents a width of 80 feet at its base, and 25 feet high. The interior walls are smooth rock. The floor is very remarkable, being level through the whole length of its centre, the sides rising in stony grades, in the manner of seats in the pit of a theatre. On a diligent scrutiny of the walls, it is plainly discerned, that the ancient inhabitants at a very remote period, had made use of the cave as a house of deliberation and council. The walls bear many hieroglyphics, well executed ; and some of them represent animals, which have no resemblance to any now known to natural history. This cavern is a great natural curiosity, as it is connected with another still more gloomy, which is situated exactly above, united by an aperture of about fourteen feet ; which, to ascend, is like pass- ing up a chimney, while the mountain is yet far above. Not long after the dispersion and arrest of the robbers, who had infested it, 140 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES iathe upper vault weie found, the skeletons of about sixty persons, who had been murdered by the gang of Wilson, as was supposed. But the tokens of antiquity are still more curious and important, than a description of the mere cave, which are found engraved on its sides, within, an account of which we proceed to give. 1st. The sun in different stages of rise and declension ; the moon under various phases ; a snake, biting its tail, and represents an orb, or circle ; a viper; a vulture ; buzzards tearing out the heart of a prostrate man ; a panther, held by the ears, by a child ; a crocodile ; several trees and shrubs ; a fox ; a curious kind of hydra serpent; two doves; several bears; two scorpions; an eagle; an owl ; some quails ; eight representations of animals which are now unknown. Three out of the eight are like the elephant in all re- spects, except the tusk and the tail. Two more resemble the tiger, one a wild boar, another a sloth ; and the last appears a creature of fancy, being a quadrumane, instead of a quadruped, the claws being alike before and behind, and in the act of conveying some- thing to the mouth, which lay in the centre of the monster. Be- sides these were several fine representations of men and women, not naked, but clothed, not as the Indians, but ranch in the co.stume of Greece and Rome. We must at once perceive, that the^e objects, with an excep- tion or two, were empolyed by the ancient Greeks, to display the nature of the world, the omnipotence of God, the attributes of man, and the utility of rendering his knowledge systematic and immortal. All human sciences flourished among the Egyptians long before they were common to any other people ; the Grecians in the days of Solon, about six hundred jears before Christ ; Pythagoras, about the same time ; Herodotus, between four and five hundred years before Christ, and Plato, a little later ; acquired in Egypt, all that knowledge of nature, which rendered them so eminent and remark- able. But the Egyptian priests did not divulge their doctrines, but by the aid of signs, and figurative emblems. Their manner was to discover to their auditors, the mysteries of God and nature, in hieroglyphics ; which were certain visible shapes and forms of creatures, whose inclinations and dispositions led to the knowledge of the truths intended for instruction. All their divinity, philoso- phy, and their greatest secrets, were comprehended in these in- AND DISCOVERIES m THE W£«T- 141 genious characters, for fear they should be profaned by a familiar acquaintauce with the commonalty- It requires but a rapid and cursory view of the hieroglyphics above enumerated, to convince us of design ; and also that the cav- ern wherein they are found engraved, was originally a place of worship, or of council. The sun, the most glorious of all visible beings, represented their chief god, and received their adoration, for causing all the vegeta- tion of the earth to bring forth its increase. 2d. The moon denoted the next most beautiful object in the cre- ation, and was worshipped for her own peculiar usefulness ; and more particularly, for supplying the place of the departed sun. 3d.. The snake, in the form of an orb, or circle, biting its tail, pointed out the continuul mutation of creatures, and the change of matter, or the perpetual motion of the world itself. If so, this con- struction of that hieroglyphic, the snake, agrees with the Greek figure, of the same kind ; which implies that the world feeds upon itself, and receives from itself in return, a continual supply for renovation and nourishment ; the same symbol designated the year which revolves round, and ends where it first began, like the ser- pent with its tail in its mouth ; it is believed the ancient Greeks gave it this meaning. 4th. The viper, the most venomous of all creatures, was the em- blem of the devil, or v.icked angel ; for, as its poison is quick and powerful, so is the destroying spirit, in bringing on mankind evils, which can only be opposed by the grace and power of God. 5th. The vulture, tearing out the bowels of a prostrate man, seems a moral intending to reprove fierceness and cruelly. Dr. Rush says, this hieroglyphic represents intemperance^ and by them was so understood. 6th. The panther, held by the ears by a child, was meant to im- press a sense of the dominion of innocence and virtue over oppres- sion and vice ; or perhaps it bore the Greek meaning, of a wretch encompassed with difFiculties, which he vainly attempts to avoid. 7th. The crocodile, from its power and might, was another sym- bol of the Great Spirit ; or its being the only creature without a tongue, might have given it a title to the same honor, all heathen nations concur in representing their gods, beholding and doing all things, in heaven and earth, in profound silence. 142 AMERICAN ANTlQUltlES 8th. The several trees and shrubs were undoubtedly emblemat- ical of particular virtues, as represented in this temple, the cave, from a veneration for their aromatic and healing properties. Among the ancients, we know, that the palm tree and the laurel were em- blems of victory and deserved honor ; the myrtle, of pleasure ; the cedar, of eternity; the oak, of strength ; the olive tree, of fruitfulness ; the vine, of delight and joy; and the lily, of beauty. But what those in the cave imply, it is not possible to determine, as nothing of their character can be deduced from the manner they were sketched on the surface of a rough wall, where the design is obscured by smoke, or nearly obliterated from the eti'ect of damp, and the gradual decay of time. 9th. The fox, from every authority, was put to denote subtlety and craftiness. 10th. Tiie hydra serpent probably singnified malice and envy, passions which the hieroglyphic taught mankind to avoid. 11th. The two doves were hieroglypTiics of constancy in love ; all nations agree in this, in admiring the attachment of doves. 12th. The bears, it is apprehended, signify industry, labor and patience ; for the Indians believe the cubs of the bear come into the world with misshapen parts, and that their eyes, ears and other members are licked into form by the mother, who passes days in that anxious and unceasing employ. 13th. The scorpions were calculated to inspire a detestation for malignity and vice ; even the present race of Indians hold these animals in great disgust, healing wounds indicted by them with a preparation of their own blood. Hth. The eagle represents, and is held to this day, as the em- blem of a great, noble, and liberal mind ; fierce in war, conquering the enemy, and protecting his friends ; he among the Indians, who can do this, is compared with the eagle. 15th. The owl must have been set up to deter men from deceit and hypocrisy. He cannot endure the ligh.t of the sun, nor can hypocrisy bear that of truth and sincerity. He may have been the emblem of death and wretchedness, as among the Egyptians ; or of victory and prosperity, when in a flying attitude, as among the Gf'^Tcs. 16th. The quails afford no clue to their hireoglyphic, unless they signify the corn season, and point out the time for the usage of some AND DISCOVERIES IN THE TTEST. M3 particular rites and ceremonies of a religious nature. With the Greeks, they were emblematical of impiety, from a belief that they enrage and torment themselves when the crescent of the new moou appears. 17th. The representations of the larger animals, were doubtless, indicative of the power and attributes of the Great Spirit : The mammoth showing his greatness ; the tiger, his strength ; the boar, his wrath ; the sloth, his patience ; and the nondescript, his hidden virtues, which are past finding out. 18th. The human figures are more definite, and afford inferences more certain, on account of the dress they are represented in ; which resembles the Roman ; the figures would be taken for Eu- ropean antiquities, were it not for the character and manner of the heads. The dress of these figures, consisting of, 1st. A carbasus, or rich cloak ; 2d. a sabucala, or waistcoat or shirt ; 3d, a supparum, or breeches open at the knees ; 4th, solea, or sandals, tied across the toes and heels ; 5th, the head embraced by a bandean crowned with feathers. 19th. The dress of the females, carved in this cave, have a Gre- cian cast, the hair encircled by the crown, and was confined by a bodkin ; the remaining part of this costume was Roman. 1st : The garments called stolla, or perhaps the toga pura, flounced from the shoulders to the ground : 2d, an indusium appeared underneath : 3d, the indusium was confined under the breast, by a zone or ces- tus : and, 4th, sandals, in the manner of those of the men. Could all this have been produced by the mere caprice of abori- ginal artizans — we think not ; they have, in this instance, either recorded their own manners, in the one particular of costume, or they have represented that of others, who had come among them as strangers, and wonderfully induces the belief, that such were Greeks, Romans, or some nation of the earth, whose mode of dress was similar. Viewed in the most critical manner, this instance of American antiquity cannot fail to excite in the mind surprise, when we con- trast this with the commonly received opinion, that Columbus was the first discoverer of this country. The hieroglyphic carved in this cave, which represents a child holding or leading a panther, brings forcibly to the mind a similar 144 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES • idea in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, 6th verse, where it is said, the wolf, the leopard and the young lion shall be led by a child ; and relates to the period when both natu- ral and moral evil shall have no existence in the earth, as is be- lieved by some. In this cave, it appears, there are sketched on the rock the figures of several animals, now extinct ; among which are three, much resembling the elephant, the tail and tusks excepted. It would be passing the bounds of credulity to suppose the artists who delineat- ed those figures, would represent no less than eight animals, differ- ing in their configuration, one from the other, which had in reality no being, and such as these had never been seen. We suppose the animals resembling the elephant, to have been the mammoth, and that those ancients were well acquainted with the creature, or they could never have engraved it on the rock. Job, of the Scriptures, who was a native of the land of Uz, in Idu- mea, which is situated southwest of the lake Asphaltidese, or sea of Sodom, was also well acquainted with this animal. See Job, chapter 40 : " Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee ; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo, now his strength is in his loins ; and his force in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar ; the sinews of his loins are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass ; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God." Whoever has examined the skeleton of one of those animals, BOW in the Philadelphia museum, will acknowledge the bones are equal to bars of brass or iron. Its height over the shoulders, is eleven feet ; from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, following the exterior or curve, is twenty-one feet ; a single tooth weighs four pounds ten ounces. The rib bones are six inches in width, and in thickness three ; the whole skeleton as it is, with the exception of a few bones, weighs one thousand pounds. But how tremendous must that animal have been, to W'hich the tooth weighing twenty-five pounds, found in the earth at Cincin- nati belonged, more than five times the dimensions of the one de- scribed above ; arguing, from proportion, that is, if a tooth belong- ed to a skeleton weighing one thousand pounds, was found to be four pounds ten ounces; a tooth weighing twenty-five pounds AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 145 vro\ild gire a skeleton of more than five thousand pounds. And if the calculation be carried forward ia this sort of proportion, we shall produce an animal more than forty feet high, and nearly an hundred in length, with a proportionable thickness. \\ hat would be the sensation, if we were to meet an animal of this sort in his ancient haunts ; it would almost appear a moving mountain ; but add to this, the enormous eyes of the animal, set at a frightful distance from each other, with an amplitude of forehead between, clothed like the side of a hill, with a forest of shaggy hair; a mouth, gaping like some dreary cavern, set round with teeth sufBcieut to crush a buftalo at a mouthful ; its distended nos- trils emitting vapor like the puffs of a steam boat, with a sound, when breathing, that might be heard afar; the legs appearing in size of dimensions sufiicient to bear a ship on his shoulders ; and his feet or paws spread out like a farmer's corn fan, armed with claws like flukes to an anchor of a vessel of war ; the tail, as it is said in Job, waving to and fro, like a cedar bending before the wind. But add to all this, anger ; let him but put his fierceness on, his eyes flash fire, his tail elevated aloft, lashing the ground, here and there, at a dreadful distance from his body ; his voice like the double rolling of thunder, jarring the wilderness; at which every living thing would tremble, and drop to the earth. Such an ani- mal would indeed be the " chief of the ways of God," it would be perfectly safe in the midst of a tornado in the wilderness ; no tree, or a forest of them, could possibly harm the monster by falling against it ; it would shake them off, as mere troublesome insects, as smaller animals do the flies in a summer's daj'. The one in Peale's museum, of which we have spoken, a page or two back, is one out of nine skeletons of this monster, which were dug out of the earth in the neighborhood of the Shongum mountain, in Ulster county, on the southwestern side of the State of New York, eight of which were sent to Europe. See Spafford's Gazeteer of New York. Near Rochester, in the State of New- York, in 1833, two teeth of this animal were discovered, but a small depth beneath the sur- face. They were found in the town of Perrinton, near Fullam's Basin, some time ago, by JNIr. William Mann, who was engaged in digging up a stump. They were deposited about four feet below the surface of the earth. These were in a tolerably good state of 19 146 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES preservation ; the roots begin to crumble a little, but the enamel of the teeth is in almost a perfect state. The teeth were the grind- ers, and from their appearance, were located in the back part of the upper jaw. The largest one weighs three pounds and ten onces, measuring six inches lengthwise of the jaw, and three inches across the top, the root is about six inches long with several prongs. The other tooth is smaller. If we are to suppose this animal to have the same number of teeth that other animals commonly have, and that the rest of the teeth were of the same proj-.crllons, as to size, the circle of the jaw from one end to the other must have been six feet. Again, if we were to estimate the comparative size of this tooth with tbat of a large ox, and from thence infer the size of the snimal to which this tooth belonged, we should probably find that its size was forty times larger than our largest oxen. A forest of trees would soon be nibbled to their roots by a herd of such animals as these ; and the western continent would prove a small enough pasture for a moderate number of them. Doctor Adam Clarke mentions, in his commentary on the sub- ject of this animal, denominated Behemoth iu Job, 40th chapter, 15th verse, that he had weighed one of the very smallest grinders of an animal of this supposed extinct race, and found it, in its very dry state, to weigh " four pounds eight ounces;" " the same grind- er of an elephant, saj's Dr. Clarke, I have weighed also, and find it bui two pounds ; the mammoth, therefore, continues this great author, from this proportion, mast have been as large as two ele- phants and a quarter." If, then, au animal of this kind, haviug'a tooth weighing only four pounds and eight ounces, was more than twice as large as an ordinary elephant, how unwieldy and monstrous must have been the animal to which the tooth just mentioned, weighlxjg twenty-five pounds, once belonged, arguing from proportion, as Dr. Clarke has done. The same author, in his Biblical Commentary on the first book of Genesis, says, that from a considerable part of a skeleton which he had seen and examined, it was computed that the animal, when living, must have been nearly twenty-five feet high and sixty feet in lengtli ; the bones of one toe were entire, and were something more than three feet long. The height of the the animal, as com- puted by Dr. Clarke, will agree well with the observations of travellers. In the vicinity of May's Lick, or Salt Spring, in the State of Kentucky, there are several holes, marked in such a man- AND DISCOVtRIKS IN THE WEST 147 ner as to proclaim at once, that they were formed by animals wal"; lowing in them, after they had bathed and satiated themselves with the waters of the fountain ; these were the works of buffaloes, deer, and other small animals. But the same appearances are evident in some banks in the neigh- borbhood, which were hollowed in a semi-circular manner, from the action of beasts nibbing against them, and carrying off quanti- ties of the earth on their hides, forming a thick coat, to defend against the stings of numberless flies, like the rhinoceros of Africa. One of those scooped out hollow banks, appeared like the side of a hill from which an hundred tliousand loads of soil might have been carried off; the height of the wasted bank, where it was affected by attrition, was at least twenty-five feet. The other ani- mals, being smaller, could get down and up again from their wal- lowing, \vith ease and quickness ; but the mammoths were com-* pelled, from their size, to lean against some hill or mountain, so as to coat their hide with earth. Near this spot are often found the frames of this animal, sunk in the mire. In the State of Missouri, between White River and Strawberry River, are certain ranges of mountains, at whose base, in a certain spot, are found " large quantities of these bones gather- ed in a small compass, which collection was doubtless occasioned by the appetite which these animals had for prey. Attracted in this way to these marshy places, they were evidently mired when they ventured too far in, and of course the struggles of the last one would sink the bones of his predecessor still deeper. Thus, these collections are easily accounted for, although, at first, it seems very strange to see these bones accumulated, like those of some of the extinct Indian tribes of the west." Beck's Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri, page 33i. Adam Clarke supposes the Behemoth to have been a carnivorous animal. See his remarUs on this monster, in his Commentary on Job, 40th chapter, 15th verse : " The Behemoth, on the contrary, ^i. e. in opposition to the habits of the hippopotamus and elephant,) is represented as a quadruped of a ferocious nature, and formed for tyranny, if not rapacity ; equally lord of the lla)ds and of the mountains ; rushing with rapidity of foot, im^teacT of slowness or stateliuess ; and possessing a rigid and enormous tail, like a cedar tree, instead of a short naked tail of about a foot long, as the hip- popotamus, or a weak, slender, hog-shaped tail, as the eleplhant." 148 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Job says, chap. 40th, verse 17th, that he (this monster) moveth his tail like a cedar, i. e. its motions were Hke those of a tall cedar tree moved slowly oue way aud the otlier by the wind ; which ex- plicitly and emphatically marks the monstrousness of this creature's size. " He moveth his tail like a cedar," slowly one way aud the other j exactly as the lion, the tiger, or the leopard, in the motions of thia limb, especially when angry, or when watching for their prey ; on which account, it is probable. Job has seen fit to make mention of this peculiar motion of the animal ; and also it is an evi- dence of the overwhelming power or strength of the mammoth. He was, indeed, as it is said in Job, " the chief of the ways of God," in the creation of animals. At St. Helen's Point, north of Guayaquil, in the republic of Co- lombia, South America, on the coast of the Pacific, on the equator, are found the enormous remains of this animal. The Peruvian tradition of those bones is, that at this very point once landed, from some unknown quarter, of the earth, a colony of giants, who mutu- ally destroyed each other. At New Grenada, in the same pro- vince, and on the ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras, vast quantities of the remains of this huge beast are found. — Hamooldt's Researches in South America. The remains of a monster, recently discovered on the hank of the Mississippi, in Louisiania, seventeen feet under ground, may be considered as the greatest wonder of the west. The largest bone, which was thought to be the shoulder blade, or jaw bone, is twenty feet long, three broad, and weighed twelve hundred pounds. The aperture in the vertebre, or place for the pith of the back bone, is six by nine inches caliber ; supposed, when alive, to have been an hundred and twenty-five in length. The awful and tremend- ous size of what this creature must have been, to which this shoul- der blade, or jaw bone, belonged, w heii alive, is almost frightful to think of. In President Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, we have the follow- ing, as the tradition of the Indians respecting this animal, which they call the big buffalo, and assert, that he is carnivorous, as Dr. Clarke contends, and still exists in the northern parts of America. " A delegation of warriors from the Dele ware tribe, visited the government of Virginia, during the Revolution, on matters of busi- ness; after this had been discussed, and settled in council, the goveruor asked some questions relative to theif country, and, among AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 149 others, wfeat they knew or had heard of the animal whose bones were found at the Licks on the Ohio. "Their chief speaker immediately put himself into an attitude of oratory, and with a pomp suited to what he conceived the elevation of his subject, informed him, that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of these tremendous animals came to the Big Bone Lick, asid began an universal de- struction of the bear, deer, elk, bulTaloes, and other animals, which hadl)een created for the use of the Indians. "And that the Great Man above, looking down, and seeing this, was so enraged, that he seized his lightening; descended on the earth, seated himself on a neighboring mountain, on a certain rock, where the print of his feet are still remaining, from whence he hurled his bolts among them, till the whole were slaughtered ; ex- cept the big bull, who presenting his forehead to the shafts, shook them ofl" as they fell, but at length, one of them missing his head, glanced on his side, wounding him sufficiently to make him mad ; whereon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, at a leap, then over the Wabash at another, the Illinois at a third, and a fourth leap, over the great lakes, where he is living at this day." " A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner by the Indians, near the mouth of the Tennessee river, relates, that after being transferred through several tribes, was at length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri, to a river which runs westwardly ; that these bones a- bounded there and that the nations described to him the animal to which these belonged, as still living in ihe northern parts of their coiintry." i\Ir. Jellerson contends, at page 77, of his Notes on Virginia, that this animal is not extinct. " It may be asked," says this philoso- pher, " why I insert the mammoth as if it still existed. I ask in return, why I should omit it, as if it did not exist. The northern and western parts still remain in their aboriginal state, unexplored and undisturbed by us, or by others for us. He may as well exist there now as he did formerly, where we iind his bones. If he be a carnivorous animal, as some anatomists have conjectured, and the Indians affirm, his early retirement to deeper wilds, jaay be ac- counted for, from the great destruction of the wild game, by the Indians, which commenced in the very first instant of their connex- ion with us, for the purpose of purchasing nxatchcoats, hatchets, and guns, with their skins," 160 JkMERICAN ANTIQUITIES The description of ths monster's habits, as given by the Dela- ware chief, has a surpr'sing agreement with the account of the Behemoth, given by Jo j ; especially at this verse : " Surely the mountains bring him fo:th food, where all the beasts of the field play." " He frequenis those places (says Dr. Clarke) where he can have most prey ; ht: makes a mock of all the beasts of the field. They can neither resist Kis power, nor escape his agility." " It appears (says the above f?uthor) " to have been a many toed ani- mal ; the springs which such a creature could make, must have been almost incredible ; nothing by swiftness could have escaped its pursuit. God seeris to have made it as the proof his power, and had it been prolific, and not become extinct, it would have de- populated the earth of both men and animals. TRACKS OF MEN AND ANIMALS IN THE ROCKS OF TENNES- SEE, AND ELSEWHERE. AiMONG the .subjects of antiquity, which are abundant on the American continent^ v, e give the following, from Morse's Universal Geography, which in point of mysteriousness is not surpassed, per- haps, on the globe. lu tke State of Tennessee, on a certain moun- tain, called the enchanted mountain, situated a few miles south of Braystown, which is at the head waters of the Tennessee river, are found impressed in the surface of the solid rock, a great number of tracks, as turkies, bears, horses, and human beings, as perfect as they could be made oi. snow or sand. The human tracks are re- markable for having uniformly six toes each, like the anakims of Scripture ; one only excepted, which appears to be the print of a negro's foot. One, among those tracks, is distinguished from the rest, by its monstrousness, being of no less dimensions than six- teen inches in length, across the toes thirteen inches, behind the toes, where the foot narrows toward the instep, seven inches, and the heel ball five inches. One also among the tracks of the animals, is distinguished for its great size : it is the track of a horse, measuring eight by ten inches ; perhaps the horse which the great warrior led when passing this mountain with his armv. That these are the real tracks of tho AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 151 animals they represent, appears from the circumstance of this horse's foot having slipped several inches, and recovered again ; the figures have all the same direction, like the trail of a company on a journey. Not far from this very spot, are vast heaps of stones, \yhich are the supposed tombs of warriors, slain, perhaps in the very battle this big footed warrior was engaged in, at a period when these mountains, which give rise to some branches of the Tugulo, Apa- lachicola, and Hiwassa rivers, were in a state of soft and clayey texture. On this range, according to Mexican tradition, was the holy mountain ; temple and rave of Olaimi, ^^here was also a city and the seat of their empire, more ancient than that of Mexico. To reduce that city, perhaps, was the object of the great warior, whose track with that cf his horse and company, still appear. We are of the opinion, that these tracks, found sunk in the sur- face of the rocks of this mouatain, is indubitable evidence of their antiquity, going back to the time wlien men dispersed over the earth, immediately after the flood. At the period when this troop passed the summit of this moun- tain, the rock was in a soft and yielding state ; time, therefore, suf- ficient for it to harden to its present rock consistency, is the argu- ment of the great distance of time elapsed since they went over it. It is probable the whole of these mountains, out of which arise the branches of the rivers above alluded to, were, at the time when the deluge subsided, but a vast body of clay ; for even now, the sur- face, where it is not exposed to the rays of the sun, is of a soft text- ure, capable of being cut with a knife, and appears to be of the nature of the pipe stone. In order that those tracks might retain their shape against the operation of rains, the clay must have been of a tough and oily na- ture ; and hardened by slow degrees, after saving been brought to feel the influence of the siin's rays, and drying nature of the winds. The changing and revolutionising consequences of the flood, it is likely, unbarred these bodies of clay from the depths of the earth, by washing off" all the other kinds of strata, not so adhesive as is the nature of this clay ; out of which these ranges of mountains have been made, some eighteen hundred yeirs later than the origi- nal creation. In the wild and savage country of Guiana, in South America, are mountains of a prodigious height, on whose /mooth and perpen- 152 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES dicular sides, wliich seem once to have been a barrier to mighty •waters, are engraved, at a surprising distance from their base, the figures of animals ; also the sun, moon, and stars, with other hiero- glyphical signs. The tradition respecting them, among the natives, is that their ancestors, in a time of great waters, came in canoes, to the tops of these mountains, and that ihe stones were then so soft, and plastic, that men could easily trace marks on them \vith their fingers, or with sticks. These rocks, it would appear, were then in a state similar to those in Tennessee, which also had retained the impressions made on them by the feet of the traveller. But these mysterious traces found on the mountain in Tennessee, are not the only impressions of tlie kind. Mr. Sclioolcraft, in his travels in the central parts of the Mississippi regions, informs *us, that on the limestone strata of rock, which forms the shores of the Mississippi, and along the neighborhood of St. Louis, were found tracks of the human foot, deeply and perfectly impressed in the solid stone. But two traces of this sort have been, as yet, discovered ; these are the same re- presented on the plate, as given by Schoolcraft. — See plate. " The impressions in the stone are, to all appearances, those of a man standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little advanc- ed, and the heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, by accurate measurement, is six inches and a quarter, and between the extremities of the toes, thirteen and a half. The length of these tracks is ten and a quarter inches, across the toes four inches and a half, as spread out, and but two and a half at the heel. Directly before the prints of these feet, within a few inches, is a well im- pressed and deep mark, having some resemblance to a scroll, or roll of parchment, two feet long, by a foot in width. To account for these appearances, two theories are advanced; one is, that they were sculptured there by the ancient nations : the other, that they were impressed there at a time when the rock was in a plastic state ; both theories have their difficulties, but we in- cline to the latter, because the impressions are strikingly natural, says JNIr. Schoolcraft, exhitbing even the muscular marks of the foot, w-ith great precision and faithfulness to nature, and on this ac- count, weakens, in his opinion, the doctrine of their being sculp- tured by the ancient nations. But why there are no others going to and from these, is unac- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 153 countable, unless we may snppose the rest of this rock, at that time, was buried by earth, brush, grass, or some kind of covering. If they were sculptured, why not other specimens appear ; this one isolated effort of the kind, would seem unnatural. — See tke plate, which is a true fac simile of those trach. COTUBAMANA, THE GIANT CHIEF. On the subject of the stature of the Patagonians, we have the following remarks of Morse, the geographer. " We cannot, with- out a charge of unreasonable scepticism, deny all credence to the accounts that have been transmitted to us, of a race of men of ex- traordinary stature, in the country about the Strait of Magellan. Inscrutable as are the ways of Providence, and as limited as is the progress hitherto made in the natural philosophy of the globe we inhabit, no bounds can be assigned to the endless variety of phenomena, which successively appear. The man who can assign a reason why an Irish giant, or a Polish dwarf, should be born amidst nations of ordinary stature, will have. solved every problem, as to the existence, either of gigantic Patagonians, or of pigmy Es- quimaux. From an impartial revision of the various authorities, it appears, as an established fact, that the usual stature of one or more tribes of Indians in Patagonia, is from six and a half to seven and a half feet." When the Spaniards conquered and destroyed the nations and tribes of some of the West India islands, among them was a tribe whose chief was a man of great stature. Cotubamana was the name of this cacique, who resided with his nation on the island Higuey, adjacent to Hispaniola. This chieftian, as related by Las Casas, the historian, was the strongest of his tribe, and more perfectly formed than one man of tt thousand, of any nation whatever. He was taller than the tallest of his countrymen, in width from shoulder to shoulder ejcceeding «J1 men^ measuring full three feet, with the reSt of his person in 20 154 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES admirable proportion. His aspect was not handsome ; yet his coun- tenance was grave, strongly marked with the characteristics of a man of courage. His bow was not easily bent by a common man ; his arrow was three pronged, pointed with the bones of fishes ; all his weapons were large enough for a giant ; in a word, he was so nobly propor- tioned as to be the admiration of even the Spaniards. Already the murderous Spaniards had been more than conquer- ors in several battles which drove the poor fugitives to their caves, and the fastnesses of the mountains, whither they had followed their chief. A daily pursuit was continued, but chiefly to capture the as yet invincible Cotubamana. While searching in the woods and hills of the island, at a certain time, and having got on their trail, they carae at length to a place where the path which they had followed suddenly spread, and divided into many, the whole company of the Spaniards, except one man, chose a path, which they pursued. This one exception, was a man earned Juan Lopez, a powerful Spaniard, and skilful in the mode of Indian warfare. He chose to proceed alone, in a blind foot path, leading oif to the left of the course the others had taken, winding among little hills, so thickly wooded that it was impossible to see a man at the distance of half a bow shot. But as he was silently darting along this path, he encountered all at once, in a narrow pass, overhung by rocks and trees, twelve Indian warriors, armed with bows and arrows, following each other in Indian file. The poor natives were confounded at the sight of Lopez, imagining there must be a party of soldiers behind him, or they would doubtless have transfixed him with their arrows. Lopez demanded of them where their chief was ; they replied, he is behind us, and opening to let him pass, he beheld the dauntless Cotubamana in the rear. At sight of the Spaniard, the gallant cacique bent his gigantic bow, and was on the point of launching one of his three headed arrows into his heart ; but Lopez at the instant, rushed upon him, and wounded him with his sword. The other Indians, struck with terror, had fled. The Spaniard and Cotubamana now grappled with each other ; Lopez had seized the chief by the hair of his head with one hand, and was aiming with tke other a thrust with his sword at his naked body,^ but the AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 155 chief struck down the sword with his arm, and closed in with his antagonist, and threw him with his back upon the rough rocks. As they were both men of great strength, the struggle was long and violent. Tlie sword lay beneath them, but Cotubamana seized with his great hand the Spaniard's throat, and began to strangle him, when the sound of the contest brought the other Spaniards to the spot. They found their companion writhing and gasping in the agonies of death, in the gripe of the Indian. The whole band now fell upon him, and finally succeeded in binding his noble limbs, when they carried him to St. Domingo, where the infernal Span- iards hanged him as if he had been a murderer. — Irving''s Life of Columbus, 3d vol. p. 159. Could this native have been less than 12 feet in height, to be in proportion with the breadth of his back between his shoulders, which was full three feet, as Las Casas relates.^ In reading the story of the miserable death of this hero of his own native island, Higuey, we are reminded of the no less tragical end of Wallace, the Scottish chief, who was, it is said, a man of great size and strength, and was also executed for defending his country. Geliath of Gath was six cubits and a span high, which, accord- ing to the estimate of Bishop Cumberland, was ele\'en feet and ten inches; Cotubamana and Goliath of the Philistines, were, it ap- pears, much of the same stature, terrible to look upon, and irresisti- ble in strength. There are those who imagine, that the first inhabitants of the globe, or the antediluvians, were much larger than our race at the present time ; and although it is impossible to prove this opinion, yet the subject is not beyond the reach of argument in its support. The circumstance of their immense longevity favors strongly this opinion ; our speeies, as they are now constituted, could not possibly endure the pressure of so many years ; the hearty with all the blood vessels of the body, would fail. All the organs of the human subject, which appertain to the blood, would ossify, and cease their action, long before five, six and nine hundred years should transpire, unless differently or more abundantly sustained with the proper support, than could now be furnished from the lit- tle bodies of the present times. Small streams sooner feel the power of a draught than a river or a lake ; great trees are longer sustained beneath the rays of a burn- 156 AMERICAN ARTiqUITIES ing sky, without rain, than a mere weed or shrub ; and thi» is by reason of the greater quantum of the juices of the tree, and of the greater quantum of the water of the river or the lake. App'y this r'^:'i:,.ning to the antediluvians, and we arrive at the conciuoioD, that their bodies must have been larger than ours, or the necessary juices could not have been contained, so as to furnish a heart, and all the blood vessels, with a sufficient ratio of strength and vigor to support life so many ages in successsion. Their whole conformation must have been of a larger, looser, and more generous texture, as the flesh and skin of the elephant, which is the largest as well as the longest lived animal known to the science of zoology. The mammoth was undoubtedly a long lived animal. The eagle, the largest of the fowl family, lives to a great age. That the antediluvians were of great stature, is strongly support- ed by a remark of King Solomon, found in his Book of Wisdom, in the Apocrypha, 14th chapter, at the 6th verse, where he calls all the inhabitants of the earth, who were destroyed by the deluge, ^^ proud yianlSj'''' whose history, by tradition, handed down from the family of Noah, through the lineage of Shtm, was well known to that king, the wisest of men in his day and age. And even after the flood, the great stature of men is supported in the Scriptures in several places, who were, for some generations, permitted to live several hundred years, and were all accordingly of great stature. Whole tribes or nations of gigantic inhabitants peopled the country of Canaan, before the Jews drove them out. Their manners and customs were very horrible, whom Solomon, the king, charges with being guilty, among many other enormities, of glutting themselves with the blood and flesh of human beings ; from which we learn they were cannibals. See Book of Wisdom, 12th chap. Sth verse — Apocrypha. The very circumstances of the human race, before the flood, re- quired that they should be of greater strength of body than now, because it is not likely so many useful and labor saving machines were then invented and in use as now. Every thing was to be effected by strength of muscle and bone, which of course vrould require greater bodies to produce it. Were we to indulge in fancy on this subject, we should judge them no pigmy race, either in person or in temper ; but terrible, XND DISeOTEIUES 15 THE WEST 157 broad, tnd tall in slatare, loose and dabby in their 6e&h and skin , coarse and hideous in their features, slow and strong in their ges- tures, irascible and ferocious i:i their spirits, without pity or refine- ment ; given •wholly to war, rapine and plunder ; formed into bands ; clans and small bodies of marauders, constantly prowling round each other's habitations, outraging all the charities of a more refined state of things, measuring all things by mere bodily strength. From such a stale of things we should naturally look for the consequence mentioned in the Bible ; which is, that the whole earth was filled with violence before the flood, and extremeh wicked erery way, so as to justify the Divine procedure in their exteiniiuation. Indications now and then appear, in several parts of the earth, as mentioned by the traveller, of the existence of fowls, of a size compared with the mammoth itself, cx)nsid3ring the difference in the elements each inhabit, and approach each other in size as near- ly as the largest fowl now known, does the largest animal. Henderson, in his travels in New Siberia, met with the claws of a bird, measuring three feet in length; the same was the length of the toes of a mammoth, as measured by Adam Clarke. The Yakuts, inhabitants of the Siberian countrj-, assured Mr. Henderson, that they had frequently, in their hunting excursions, found the skeleton, and even the feathers of this fowl, the quills of which were large enough to admit a man's arm into the calibre, which would not be out of proportion with the size of the claws mentioned above. Captain Cook mentions having seen, during his voyages, a mon- strous bird's nest in New Holland, on a low sandy island, in En- deavor River, with trees upon i*, where were an incredible num- ber of sea fowls. This monstrous nest was built on the ground, with large sticks, and was no less t?ian twent\--six feet in circum- ference, more than eight feet across, and two feet eight inches high- Geographys speak of a species of eagle, sometimes shot in South America, measuring from tip to tip of the wings, fortv feet. This, indeed, must have been of the species celebrated in the tradition of the ancients, called the Phoenix. In various parts of Ireland, are frequently dug up enormous boms, supposed to have belonged to a species of deer, now extinct. Some of these horns have been found, of the extent of fourteen 158 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES feet from tip to tip, furnished with brow antlers, and weighing three hundred pounds. The whole skeleton is frequently found with them. It is supposed the animal must have been about twelve feet high. — Morsels Universal Geog. A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST, AS GIVEN BY THE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY AT CINCINNATI. Near Newark, in the county of Licking, Ohio, is situated one of those immense works or fortifications. Its builders chose, with good taste and judgment, this site for their town, being exactly on the point of land at the junction of Racoon Creek and South Fork, where Licking River commences. It is in form resembling somewhat a horse shoe, accommodated, however, to the sweep of those two streams ; embracing in the whole, a circumference of about six hundred rods, or nearly two miles. A wall of earth, of about four hundred rods, is raised on the sides of this fort next to the small creek, which comes down along its sides from the west and east. The situation is beautiful, as these works stand on a large plain, which is elevated forty or fifty feet above the stream just noticed, and is almost perfectly flat, and as rich a soil as can be found in that country. It would seem tr.e people who made this settlement, undertook to encompass with a wall, as much land as would support its inhabitants, and also suffi- cient to build their dwellings on, with several fortifications, arrang- ed in a proper manner for its defence. There are, within its ranges four of those forts, of different di- mensions ; one contains forty acres, with a wall of about "ten feet high; another, containing twent-two acres, also walled; but in this fort is an elevated observatory, of sufficient height to overlook the whole country. From this, there is the appearance of a secret or subterranean passage to the water, as one of the creeks runs near this fort. A third fort, containing about twenty-six acres, having a wall AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 159 around it, thrown out of a tleep ditch on the inner side of the wall. This wall is now from twenty-five to thirty feet in height. A fourth fortification, enclosing twenty acres, with a wall of about ten feet high. Two of these forts are perfect circles ; one a per- fect square ; another an octagon or eight sided. These forts are severally connected by roads running between parallel walls ; and also in the same way communicate with the creeks ; so that these important points, in case of invasion, should not be deprived of wa- ter. There are, besides the forts, four other small works of de- fence, of a circular form, situated in such a manner as to protect, in a measure, the roads running from fort to fort. The fort which is of the eight sided form, containing the great- est space within, has eight gateways, with a mound in front of each of them, and were doubtless placed there to aid in a defence against invaders. The other forts have no gateways connected with the roads that lead to them, except one, and this is a round fort united to the octangular fort, containing twenty-two acres; the gateway to this looks toward the wilderness; at this gate is also a mound, sup- posed to be for its defence. Oq the southern side of this great town, is a road running off to the country, which is also walled in the same way ; it has been surveyed a (aw miles, and is supposed to connect other similar works on the Hokhoking, thirty miles distance, at some point a few miles north of Lancaster, as walls of the description connected with this work, of ten or twelve miles in extent, have been discovered. It is supposed, also, that the walls on each side of the road were made for the double purpose of answering as a fence to their fields, with gateways to accommodate their farms, and for security in time of danger, so that communion between friendly settlements might not be interrupted. About the walls of this place have been dis- covered very beautiful rock crystal and horn stone, suitable for ar- row and spear heads, a little lead, sulphur, and iron. This kind of stone, suitable for spears, was, undoubtedly, valua- ble on other accounts, as axes, knives, mallets, &c., were made of it. It is likely that, as very little iron has been discovered, even in its oxydized state, their vast works of excavation were carried on by means of wooden shovels and scrapers, which would answer very well in the easy and stoneless soil of that country. A second fort, situated southwesterly from the great works i to say with certainly, what manufac- tures were carried on here, whether brick or iron, cr both." It was a clay, that had been exposed to the action of fire ; the re- mains of which are four and five feet in depth ; whicl thows in a good degree, the amount of business done was great. " Iron ore, in this country, is sometimes found in such clay ; brick and potter's ware are now manufactured out of it. This fort is, from its natural site, one of the strongest positions of the kind in the State of Ohio, so high is its elevation, and so nearly perpendicular are the sides of the hill on which it was built." At the several angles of the wall, and at the gateways, the abundance of stone lying there, leads to the belief, that ihose points, towers and battlements once overlook- ed the country to an immense distance ; from whence stones and arrows might have been launched away, from engines adapted to that purpose, among the approaching enemy, with dreadful effect. " No military man could have selected a better position for a place of protection to his countrymen, their temples and their gods," than this. ANCIENT WELLS FOUND IN THE BOTTOM OF PAINT CREEK. In the bed of Paint Creek, which washes the foot of the hill, on which the walled town stood, have been discovered four wells. They were dug through a pyritous slate rock, which is very rich in iron ore. When first discovered, by a person passing over them in a canoe, they were covered, each by stones of about the size and shape of the common mill stone. These coTers had holes through their centre, through which a large pry, or handspike might be put for the purpose of removing them off and on the wells. The hole through the centre of each stone, was about four inches in diameter. The wells at their tops were more than nine feet in circumference ; the stones were well wrought with tools, so as to AND DISCOTERIES IN THE WEST- 169 make good joints, as a stone masou would say, which were laid around them severally, as a pavement. At the time they were dug, it is not likely, Paint Creek run over these wells. For what they were sunk, is a mystery ; as that for the purposes of vater, so many so near each other, would scarcely appear necessary ; pf»r- haps for some kind of ore or favorite stone, was the original object, perhaps for salt water. There is, at Portsmouth, Ohio, one of those works, which is very extensive and wonderful, on account of walled roads, a ' high place,' with many intricate operations in its construction. On the east bank of the Little Miami, about thirty miles east from Cincinnati, are va.st works of this character ; having the form almost exactly of the continent of North and South America, as presented on the map, on which account some have supposed they were made in imitation of it. A RECENT DISCOVERY OF ONE OF THOSE ANCIENT WORKS AMONG THE ALLEGHANIES. New discoveries are constantly making of these ancient works, the farther we go west, and the more minutely the research is prosecuted, even in parts already settled. During the last year, 1832, a Mr. Ferguson communicated to the editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, a discovery of the kind, which he examined, and describes as follows: " On a mountain called the Lookout mountain, belonging to the vast Alleghanian chain, running between the Tennessee and Coos rivers, rising about one thousand feet above the level of the sur- rounding valley. The top of the mountain is mostly level, but presents to the eye an almost barren waste. On this range, not- withstanding its height, a river has its source, after traversing it for about seventy miles, plunges over a precipice. The rock from which the water falls, is circular, and juts over considerably. Im- mediately below the fall, on each side of the river, are bluffs, which rise about two hundred feet. Around one of these bluffs, the river 22 170 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES makes a bend, which gives it the form of a peninsula. On the top of this are the remains of what is esteemed fortifications ; which consist of a stone wall, built on the very brow of this tremendous ledge. The whole length of the wall, following the varying courses of the brink of this precipice, as thirty-seven rods and eight feet, including about two acres of ground." The ouly descent from this place is between two rocks, for about thirty feet, when a bench of the ledge presents itself, from two to five feet in width, and ninety feet long. This bench is the only road or path up from the water's edge to the surr"v't. But just at the foot of the two rocks, where they reach this path, and within thirty feet of the top of the rock, are five rooms, which have been formed by dint of labor. The entrance to these rooms is very small, but when within, they are . found to communicate with each other, by doors or apertures. Mr. Ferguson thinks them to have been constructed during some dreadful war, and those who con- structed themj to have acted on the defensive ; and believe that twenty men could have withstood the whole army of Xerxes, as it was impossible for more than one to pass at a time ; and might by the slightest push, be hurled at least an hundred and fifty feet down the rocks. The reader can indulge his own conjectures, whether, in the construction of this inaccessible fortress, he does not perceive the remnant of a tribe or nation, acquainted with the arts of excavation and defence ; making a last struggle against the invasion of an overwhelming foe ; where, it is likely, they were reduced by famine, and perished amid the yells of their enemies. A DESCRIPTION OF WESTERN TUMULI OR MOUNDS. We now proceed to a description of the ancient tumuli of the west, and of discoveries made on opening many of them ; quoted from the Researches of the Antiquarian Society. Ancient Tumuli are considered a kind of antiquities, diflfering in character from that of the other works ; both on account of what is frequently discovered in them, and the manner of their construe- A5D DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 171 tion. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones, which were intended for sacred and important purposes. In many part* 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 Antediluvians. { Tkat they are very ancient, and 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 men- tions them, particularly describing the tumulus of Tydeus, and the spot where it was. In memory of the illustrious dead, a se- pulchral mound of earth was raised over their remains ; which, from that time forward, became an altar, whereon to ofler sacrifices, and around which to exhibit games of athletic exercise. These of- ferings and games were intended to propitiate their names, to honor and perpetuate their memories. Prudentius, a Roman bard, has told us, that there were in ancient Rome, just as many temples of gods, as there were sepulchres of heroes ; implying that they were the same. Need I mention the tomb of Anchies, which Virgil has described, with the ofierings there presented, and the games there exhibited r The sanctity of Acropolis, where Cecrops was inhumed .- The tomb of the father of Adonis, at Paphos, v.'hereon a temple dedicated to Venus, was erected ? The grave of Cleoma- chus, whereon stood a temple dedicated to the worship of Apollo r Finally, I would ask the classical reader, if the words translated tomb, and temple, are not used as synonymous, by the poets of Greece and Rome .' ^ irgil, who wrote in the days of Augustus Caesar, speaks of these tumuli, as being as ancient as they were sacred, even in his time. In later times, aftei warriors arose and performed great and mighty deeds, the whole tribe or nation joined to raise, on some ' high place,' generally, a lefty tumulus, for commemorative, and sacred purposes. At first, sacrfices might have been, and probably were, oflered on these tumuli, to the true God, as the Great Au- thor and Giver of life ; but in later times, they forgot Him, and worshipped the manes of heroes they had buried there. The conical mounds in Ohio, are either of stones or of eartli. The former, in other countries, and in former ages, were intended as monuments, for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of some 172 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES important event, or as altars whereon to offer sacrifices. The latter were used as cemeteries and as altars, whereon, in later times, temples were erected, as among the people of Greece and Rome. The tumuli, " are of various altitudes and dimensions, some be- ing only four or five feet, and but ten or twelve in diameter, at their base; while others, as we travel to the south, rise to the height of eighty, ninety, and some more than an hundred feet, and cover many acres of ground. They are, generally, when completed, in the form of a cone. Those in the north part of Ohio, are of infe- rior size, and fewer in number, than those along the river. These mounds are believed to exist, from the Rocky mountains in the west, to the AUeghanies in the east ; from the southern shore of Lake Erie to the Mexican Gulf ; and though few and small in the north, are numerous and lofty in the south, yet exhibit proof of a common origin. On Jonathan creek, in Morgan county, are found some mounds, whose bases are formed of well burnt bricks, between four and five inches square. There are found lying on the bricks, charcoal cin- ders, and pieces of calcined human hones. Above them the mounds were composed of earth, showing, that the dead had been buried in the manner of several of the eastern nations, and the mounds raised afterwards to mark the place of their burial. One of them is about twenty-four feet in circumference, and the stones yet look black, as if stained with fire and smoke. This cir- cle of stones seems to have been the nucleus on which the mound was forrned, as immediately over them is heaped the common earth of the adjacent plain. This mound was originally about ten feet high, and ninety feet in circumference at its base; and has every appearance of being as old as any in the neighborhood, and was, at the first settlement of Marietta, covered with large trees. A particular account of many curious articles, which go to show the person buried there was a member of civilized society, is given farther on in tiiis work, under the head of " a description of im- plements found in the tumuli." The person buried here was about six feet in height, nothing difl'ering from other men in the form of his bones, except the skull, which was uncommonly thick. The timber growing on this mound, when it was cleared off, was ascertained to be nearly five hundred AND DISCOVERIES IH THE WEST- 173 years old, from counting the concentric circles or grains of the wood on the stumps- On the ground beside them were other trees in a state of decay, that had fallen from old age." If we were to conjecture, from this son of data, how great a lapse of years has ensued since the abandonment of this mound, we should pursue the following method. From the time when the country became desolate of its inhabitants, till trees and forests would begin to grow, cannot well be reckoned less than five years. If then they are permitted to grow five hundred years, till as large and as old as some of the trees were on the mound when it was cleared by the people of Marietta, from that time till their natural decay and fall to the earth, and reduction to decayed wood, as was found on the mound, could not be less than three hundred years, in decaying so as to fall, and then fifty years to rot in ; this would give eight hundred and fifty-five years for the first growth of tim- ber. From this time we reckon a second crop, which we will sup- pose, was the one growing when the mound was cleared of its tim- ber ; which was, according to Mr. Atwater's statement, " between four and five hundred years ;" add this to the age of the first crop, say four hundred and fifty, and we have, in the whole, one thou- sand three hundred and five years, since it was deserted of its buil- ders. Dr. Cutler supposes at least a thousand years. Then it will follow, taking out the time since Marietta was settled, and the mound cleared of its timber, that the country was deserted about five hundred years after the commencement of the Christian era. About the same time, say from the year 410 to 500 of the Chris- tian era, the greater part of Europe was devastated by the Goths, the Huns, the Heruli, the Vandals, the Swevri, the Alians, and other savage tribes, all from the northern wilds of ancient Russia. By these the western empire of the Romans, comprehending Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Eagland, was subverted ; all litera- ture was obliterated, and the works of the learned, which contained the discoveries and improvements of ages, were annihilated. And from all we can make out by observing the growth of tim- ber, with that which is decayed, as found on the deserted works of the west, we are inclined to believe, that about the same period of time when Europe was overrun by the northern hordes, that the region now called the United States, where the ancient inhabit- ants had fixed their abode, was also overrun by northern hordes 174 AXIRICAIT AWTIQUITIE9 from toward Bhering't:' Gtraits, who had, in ages before, got across from Asia, tke Tartars, or Scythians, and had multiplied ; and as they multiplied, progressed farther and farther southerly till they discovered an inhabiteo country, populous, and rich, upon whom they fell with all the ."liry of Attila and his Huns; till, after many a long and dreadful war, they were reduced in numbers, and driven from their country fa^- to the south ; when the rich fields, vast cities, innumerable towns, with all their works, were reduced to the ancient dominion <.f nature, as it was when first overgrown im- mediately after the &oo'i, except their vast pyramids, fortifications, and tumuli, these be ug of the same nature and durability of the hills and mountains, nave stood the shock of war and time — the monuments of powerr 1 nations disappeared. " In clearing out ?. spring near some ancient ruins of the west, on the bank of the Livtle Miami, not far from its entrance into the Ohio, was found a ct per coin, four feet below the surface of the earth ; from the far. s nile of which it appears, that the characters on the coin are old Pu sian characters. — Morse- s Universal Geogra- phy ^ Vol. l,p. 442. The era of the Per; iaus, as noticed on the page of history, was from 559, after the flo- d, till 334, before Christ, and were a people of great strength, of eiiterprising character, and enlightened in the arts and sciences ; anii for aught that can be objected, traversed the globe, planted cole lies, perhaps even in America, as the coin, which lay so deep beneath the surface of the ea. th, would seem to justify ; which was truly a Persian coin of copper. At Cincinnati, a mo^rd, only eight feet high, but one hundred and twenty long, by sirty in breadth, has been opened, and is now almost obliterated, by the construction of Main-street, which has furnished many curiors discoveries relative to the ancient inhabi- tants who built it. Oi' the articles taken from thence, many have been lost ; but the most worthy of notice are embraced in the fol- lowing catalogue: 1st. Pieces ©f jasper, rock crystal, granite and some other stones, cylindrical at the extremes, and swelled in the middle, with an an- nular groove near the end. £d. A circular piece of stone coal, with a large opening in the centre, as if for an axis or axletree, and a deep groove ; the circumference suitable for a hand ; it has a num- ber of small perforations, dispo.sed in four equidistant lines, which AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 175 run from the circumference towards the centre. 3d. A small ar- ticle of the same shape, with eight lines of perforations, but com- posed of argilaceous earth, well polislied. 4th. A bone ornamented with several lines, supposed to be hieroglyphical. 5tb. A sculp- tured representation of the head and beak of a rapacious bird, re- sembling the eagle. 6th. A mass of lead ore, lumps of which have been found in other tumuli. 7th. A quantity of isinglass, (mica membranacea,) several plates of which have been found in and about other mounds. Sth. A small oval piece of sheet copper, with two perlorations ; a large oblong piece of the same metal, with longitudinal grooves and ridges. These articles are described in the fourth and fifth volumes of the American Philosophical Transactions, by Governeur Sargeant and Judge Turner, and were supposes, by Philosopher Barton, to have been designed, in part, for ornament, and, in part, for superstitious ceremonies. In addition to which, the author, (Mr. Atwater,) says, he has since discovered, in the same mound, a number of beads, or sections, of small hollow cylinders, apparently of bone or shell. Several large marine shells, cut in such a manner as to serve for domestic utens'ls, and nearly converted into a state of chalk ; seve- ral copper articles, each consisting of two sets of circular concavo convex plates, the interior of each set connected with the other by a hollow axis, around which had been wound some lint, and the whole encompasacd by the bones of a man's hand. About the pre- cincts of this town, Cincinnati, human bones have been found " of different sizes ; sometimes enclosed in rude stone coffins, but oftener lying blended with the earth ; generally surrounded by a portiou of ashes and charcoal," as if they had been burnt either alive or dead, as the Hindoos burn both th.^ dead husband and the living wife, on the same funeral pile. See Wird's History of the Hindoos, page 57 ; where he states, " that not less than five thou- sand of tnese unfortunate women, it is supposed, are burnt annu- ally." The ancient Jews practised the sam ; thing ; see Amos, 6th chap. 10th verse : " And a man's uncle shail take him up, and he that bumetk him, to bring out the bones out of the house." The ancient Edomites burnt the dead bodies of their captured enemies- See Amos 2d chap. 1st verse : " He," that is Edom, " burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime." The same may have been practised in America. 176 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Besides these relics found at Marietta, others, equally interest- ing, have been procured from a mound on the Little Muskingum, about four miles from Marietta. There are some pieces of copper which appear to have been the front part of a helmet. It was originally about eight inches long and /our broad, aad has marks of having been attached to leather ; it is much decayed, and is now quite a thin plate. The helmet was worn by the ancients as a defence against the blows of the swoid, aimed at the head. The Greeks, the Ro- mans, with many other nations of antiquity, made use of this ma- jestic, beautiful, warlike covering of the head. But how came this part of the ancient armor in America .' This is the mystery, and cannot be solved, only on the principle, that we believe the wearers lived in those ages coeval with the martial exploits of the Medes, Persians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and of the Celtic nations of Europe. In the same mound on the Muskingum, was found a copper or- nament ; this was on the forehead of a human skeleton, no part of which retained its form, except that part of the forehead where the copper ornament lay, and had been preserved no doubt by the salts of that mineral. In Virginia, near Blacksburgh, eighty miles from Marietta, there was found the 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 lad who found the bow, was a black- smith, and worked up this curious article with as little remorse as he would an old gun barrel. In the 18th Psalm, 34th verse, mention is made by DaA-id, king of Israel, of the steel bow, which must have been a powerful in- strument of death, of the kind, and probably well known to the Jews, as superior to the wooden bow. This kind of warlike artil- lery, the bow and arrow, has been used by all nations, and in all ages of time. The time of King David was about one thousand one hundred years before Christ ; when, he says, a bow of steel was broken by his own arm. This must have been done in some of his fights with the enemies of Saul, as it is very probable that he fought personally after he came to the kingdom ; and from his earnestness in the fight, drew the string of his bow too far, so that the instrument could not bear it, consequently it snapped asunder ; which circumstance he has celebrated in the praises of the God of AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 177 Israel, as an evidence of the aid and strength derived from Heaven in the heat of battle. But Dr. Clarke supposes, steel is out of the question, as he thinks the art of making steel was unknown at that time, and believes the bow alluded to, which was broken by David, was a brass one, but it is unknown to the writer of this work, whether brass will spriwj at all so as to throw an arrow with any effect. But why may not steel have been known, and the art of producing it from iron, in the time of David, as well as the art of making brass, which is equally hidden, and more so than that of steel ^ Tubal Cain was a worker in brass and im«, before the flood j and we should sup- pose the way to procure steel from iron, would as soon have been discovered by the antediluvian blacksmiths, as knowledge how to make brass from a union of copper and zinc- The discovery of this steel bow, in the west, is exceedingly cu- rious, and would seem to justify the belief, that it came from the old world, as an instrument of warfare in the hands of some of the Asiatic, African, or European nations, possibly Danes, as the pre- sent Indian nations were found destitute of every kind of bow and arrow, except that of wood. " In Ross county, near Chilicothe, a few years since, was found, in the hand of a skeleton, which lay buried in a small mound, an ornament of pure gold ; this curiosity, it is said, is now in the Mu- seum at Philadelphia." — Atwater. The tumuli, in what is called the Sciota country, are both numerous and interesting. But south of Lake Erie, until we arrive at Worthiugton, nine miles north of Columbus, they are few in number, and of comparatively small magnitude. Near Columbus, the seat of government of Ohio, were several mounds, one of which stood on an eminence in the princi- pal street, which has been entirely removed, and converted into bricks. It contained human bones, some few articles, among which was an owl carved in stone, a '•ude but very exact representation. The ou'l, among the Romans, was the emblem of wisdom, and it is not impossible but the ancients of the west, may have carved it in the stone for the same reason ; who may have been, in part, Romans, or nations derived from them, or nations acquainted with their manners, their gods, and their sculpture, as we suppose the Danes were. " In another part of the town of Columbus, was a tumulus of 28 178 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES clay, which was also manufactured into bricks. In this irefc many human bones ; but they lay in piles, and in confusion," which would seem to elicit the belief, that these were the bones of an enemy, or they would have been laid in their accus- tomed order. Or they may have been the bones of the conquered, thrown together in a confused manner, and buried beneath this mound. As we still descend the Sciota, through a most fertile region of country, mounds and other ancient works, frequently appear, until we arrive at Circleville. Near the centre of the circular fort at Circleville, was a tumulus of earth, about ten feet high, and seve- ral rods in diameter at its base. On its eastern s?.de, and extend- ing six rods from it, was a semicircular pavement, composed af pebbles such as are now found in the bed of Sciota river, from whence they appear to have been taken. The summit of this tu- mulus was nearly ninety feet in circumference, with a raised way to it, leading from the east, like modern turnpike. The summit was level. The outline of the semicircular pavement, and the walk, are still discernible. Mr. Atwater was present when this mound was removed, and carefully examined the contents it de- veloped. They were as follows : First ; two skeletons, lying on what had been the original surface of the earth. Second ; a great quantity of arrow heads, some of which were so large as to induce a belief that they were used for spear heads. Third ; 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, yet no iron was found, but an oxyde or rust remained, of similar shape and size. The swords of the ancient nations of the old world, it is known, were very short. Fourth ; charcoal, and wood ashes, on which these articles lay, were surrounded by several bricks, very well burnt. The skeleton appeared to have been burnt in a large and very hot fire, which had almost consumed the bones of the de- ceased. 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 was found a large mirror, about three feet in length, one foot and a half in width, and one inch and a half in thickness ; this was of isinglass, (mica membranacea.) AND DISCOVElUES IN THE WEST- 179 On this mirror was a plate of irou, which had become an oxyde ; but before it was disturbed by the spade, resembled a plate of coit iron. The mirror answered the purpose very well for which it ^^a3 intended. This skeleton had also been burned like the former, and lay on char«oal and a considerable quantity of wood ashes; a part of the mirror is in the possession of Mr. Atwater, as also a piece of brick, taken from the spot at the time. The knife, or sword handle, was sent to Peale's museum, Philadelphia. To the southwest of this tumulus, about forty rods from 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 cemetry, as it contains an immense number of human skeletons, of all sizes and ages. These skeletons are laid horizontally, with their heads gen- erally towards the centre, and the feet towards the outside of the tumulus. In it have been found, besides these skeletons, stone axes and stone knives, and several ornaments, with holes through them, by means of which, with a cord passing through these perfo* rations, they could be worn by their owners. On the south side of this tumulus, and not far from it, was a semicircular fosse, or ditch, six feet deep ; which, when examin- ed at the bottom, was found to contain a great quantity of human bones, which, it is believed, were the remains of those who had been slain io some great and destructive battle ; because they be- longed to persons invariably who had attained their full size ; while those found in the mound adjoining, were of all sizes, great and small, but laid in good order, while those in the ditch were in the utmost confusion ; and were, no doubt, the conquered invaders, buried thus ingloriously, where they had intrenched themselves, and fell in the struggle. The mirror was a monstrous piece of isinglass, a lucid mineral, larger than we recollect to have ever heard of before, and used among the rich of the ancients, for lights and mirrors. A mirror of any kind, in which men may be enabled to contemplate their own form, is evidence of a considerable degree of advancement in the arts, if not even of luxury itself. The Rev. Robert G. Wilson, D. D., of Chilicothe, furnished the Antiquarian Society, with information concerning the mound, which once stood near the centre of that town. He took pains to write down its contents at the time of its demolition. Its perpendicular 180 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES height was about fifteen feet, and the circumference of its base about one hundred and eighty feet, composed of sand. It was not till this pile of earth had been removed, that the original design of its builders could be discovered. On a common level vj'ith the sur- rounding earth, at the very bottom of this mound, they had devoted about twenty feet square ; this was found to have been covered at first with bark, on which lay, in the centre, a human skeleton, overspread with a mat, manufactured from weeds or bark, but greatly decayed. On the breast of this person lay w hat had been a piece of cop- per in the form of a cross, which bad become verdigris; on the breast also lay a stone ornament, three inches in length, and two and a half in width, with two perforations, one neat each end, through which passed a string, by means of which it was suspend- ed from the wearer's neck. On this string, which appeared to have been made of the sinews of some animal, which had been cured or tanned, but were very much injured by time, was strung a great many heads, made of i»or^, or bone, he could not tell which. With these facts before us, we are left to conjecture at what tin;e this individual lived, what were his heroic deeds in the field of battle ; his wisdom, his virtues, his eloquence in the councils of his nation ; for his coteraporaries have testified in a manner not to be mistaken, that among lliem he was held in honorable ^nd grateful remembrance, by the mound which was raised over him at his decease. The cross on the breast of this skeleton, excites the most sur- prise, as that the cross is the emblem of the Christian religion. It is true, a knowledge of this badge of Christianity, may have been disseminated from Jerusalem, even as far east as to China ; as we know it was at a very early period, made known in many countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia; especially, at the era when the Ro- man emperor Coustantine, in the year 331, ordered all the heathen temples to be destroyed, for the sake of Christianity, throughout his vast dominion. The reader may recollect, we have elicited an argument, from the age of the timber, or forest trees, growing on the mound, at Marietta, proposing to show the probable era when the country be- came depopulated ; and come to the conclusion, that at least, about thirteen hundred years have passed away since that catastrophe. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 181 This would give about five hundred years from Christ till the depopulation of the ancient western country ; so that, during the lapse of those five centuries, a knowledge of what had been propa- gated at Jerusalem about Christ, may have been, easily enough by missionaries, travelling philosophers of the Romans, Greeks, or of other nations, carried as weli to China, as to other distant countries, as we know was the fact. The string of beads, and the stone on his breast, which we take the liberty of calling the Shalgramu stone, or the stone in which the Hindoos suppose the god Vishnoo resides ; together with the copper cross on his breast, and beads on his neck, are circumstances, which strongly argue that a mixture of Brahmitiism and Christianity were embraced by this individual. To prove that the wearing of beads around the neck, or on the arm, for the purposes of devotion, is a religious Hindoo custom, we refer to Ward's late history of those nations, who was a Baptist missionary, among that people, and died in that country. This author says, page 40, that Brumha, the grandfather of the gods, holds in his hand, a string of beads, as ao evidence of his devotion or goodness. Ungee, the regent of fire, is represented with a bead roll in his hand, to show that he is merciful or propitious to those who call upon him. — Page 45. The Hindoo mendicants, or saints, as they suppose themselves, have invariably, a string of beads, made of bone, teeth of animals, ivory, stones, or the seeds of plants, or of something, hanging about their necks, or on their arms, which they recount, calling over and over, without end, the name of the god, as evidence of devotion to him. — Page 422. The devotions of the ascetic disciples among the Hindoos, con- sists in repeating incessantly the name of their g(Jd, using, at the same time, the bead roll, or rosary, as the catholics do. — Page 427. " Strings of beads were used for this purpose, from remotest anti- quity, in all eastern Asia." — Humboldt, p. 204. This author further says, " the rosaricy" which is a string of beads, "have been in use in Thibet and China, from time imme- morial ; and that the custom passed from the east, viz : China, to the Christians in the west, viz : Europe ;" and are found among the catholics ; no other sect of Christians, that we know of, have borrowed any trappings from the pagans, to aid their devotions, but this. i62 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES The stone found on his breast, as before remarked, we assume to call the Shalgramu stone. See also, Ward's account of this stone, page 41 and 44, as follows : A stone called the Shalgramu is a form of the god Vishnoo, and is in another case, the representative of the god Saoryu, or the sun. — Page 52. The Shalgramu, or Lingu, is a black stone, found in a part of the Gundeekee river. They are mostly perforated, in one or more places, by worms, while at the bottom of the river ; but the Hin- doos believe the god Vishnoo, in the shape of a reptile, resides in this stone, and caused the holes. With this belief, how very natural it would be to wear on the breast, either in view or concealed, this stone, as an amulet, or charm, as found on the breast of this skeleton, in union with the cross. We are inclined to believe, that the Roman Catholic religion, borrowed, at a very early period, after their peculiar formation and corruption, subsequent to the time of Constantine, the notion of the rosary, or bead roll, which they recount while saying prayers, from the Hindoos ; and that from Christian missionaries, the Hin- doo Brahmins borrowed the idea of the cross, which they might also wear, together with the Lingu stone, as an amulet or charm. For we see on the breast of this person, both the emblem of Chris- tianity, and of the Hindoos' superstition, on which account, we are of the opinion, that the ministers of the Brahmin religion, lie buried beneath many of the western mounds. Mr. Ward informs us, page 272, that near the town of Dravina, in Hondostan-hu, are shown to this day, or at the time he lived in India, four small elevations, or mounds, from the top of which, the great ascetic philosopher, Shunkuracharyu, used to teach and ha- rangue the people and his disciples. From this circumstance, we catch a glimpse of the oratorial use of the mounds in the east ; and why not the same use be derived from them to the ancient people of the west ; and more especially so, if they may be be- lieved to have, in any measure, derived themselves from any na- tions of the Chinese world. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE AVEST. 183 GREAT WORKS OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS ON THE NORTH FORK OF PAINT CREEK. On the north branch of this creek, five miles from Chilicothe, nre works so immense, that altliough we have given the reader several accounts of this kind, yet we cannot well pass over these. They are situated on an elevated piece of land, called the second bottom. The first bottom, or flat, extends from Paint Creek, till it is met by a bank of twenty-five feet in height, which runs in a straight line, and parallel with the stream. An hundred rods from the top of this first bank, is another bank, of thirty feet in height ; the wall of the works runs up this bank, and twenty rods- beyond it. The whole laud enclosed, is six hundred and twenty rods in circumference, and contains one hundred and twenty-six acres of land. This second bank, runs also parallel with the creek, and with the first. On this beautiful elevation, is situated this immense work, containing within it, seventeen mounds of diflerent sizes. Three hundred and eighty rods of this fort are encompassed with a wall twelve feet high, a ditch twenty feet wide, and the wall the same at its base. Two hundred and forty rods, running along on the top of the first bank, is the rest of the wall ; but is without a ditch ; this is next to the river or creek, between which and the water, is the first bottom or flat. Within this great enclosure, is a circular work of an hundred rods in circumference, with a wall and ditch surrounding it, of the same height of the other wall. Within this great circle, are six mounds, of the circular form ; these are full of human bones; the rest of the mounds, eleven in num- ber, are for some other purpose. There are seven gateways, of about five rods in width each. " The immense labor, and nume- rous cemeteries filled with human bones, denote a vast populuation, near this spot, in ancient times." — Atwater. "Tumuli are very coaimon on the river Ohio, from its utmost sources to its mouth, although on the Monongahela, they are few, and comparatively small, but increase in number and size, as we descend towards the mouth of that stream at Pittsbnrgh, where the 184 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES Ohio begins ; after this they are still more numerous and of greater dimensions, till we arrive at Grave Creek, below Wheeling. At this place, situated between two creeks, which run into the Ohio, a little way from the river, is one of the most extraordinary and august monuments of antiquity, of the mound description. Its ciicuraference at its base, is fifty-six rods, its perpendicular height ninety feet, its top seven rods and eight feet in circumference. The centre at the summit, appears to have sunk several feet, so as to form a kind of amphitheatre. The rim enclosing this concavity is seven or eight feet in thickness ; on the south side, in the edge of this rim, stands a large beach tree, the bark of which 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, will not suffer its demolition, in the smallest degree, for which he is highly praise- worthy. Following the river Ohio downwards, the mounds appear on both sides, erected uniformly, on the highest alluvials, along that stream, increasing in numbers all the way to the Mississippi, on which river they assume the largest size. Not having surveyed them, says Mr. Atwater, we shall use the description of Mr. Breckenridge, who travelled much in the west, and among the Indians, and devoted much attention to the subject of these astonishing western antiquties. These tumuli, says Mr. Breckenridge, as well as the fortifica- tions, are to be found at the junction of all the rivers, along the Mississippi, in the most eligible po.sitions 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 three hundred in circumference at the base. Their great num- ber, and their amazing size, may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidence of their great antiquity. 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. The most numerous, as well as the most considerable of these re- mains, are found precisely in those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, namely, from the mouth of the Ohio, on the east side of the river, to the Illinois, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 185 and on the "west side, from the St Francis to the Missouri. J am perfectly satisfied that cities, similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this western coun- try . " — BreCkenridge. From this view, we are compelled to look upon those nations as agriculturists, or they could not have subsisted ; neither wild game nor fish could possibly support so great a population. If agricul- turists, then it must follow, of necessity, that many modes of building, as with stone, timber, earth or clay, were practised and known, as well as methods of clearing the earth of heavy timber. Aud if they had not a knowledge of metals, we cannot well con- ceive how they could have removed the forests for the purposes of husbandry, and space for building. But if we suppose they did not build houses with wood, stone and brick, but lived in tents or some friigile hut. yet the use of metals cannot be dispensed with, on account of the forests to be removed for agricultural purposes. Baron Humboldt informs us, in his Researches in South America, that when he crossed the Cordillera mountains, by the v.'ay of Pa- nama and Assuay, and viewed the enormous masses of stoue cut from the porphyry quarries of Pullal, which was employed in con- structing the ancient highroads of the Incas, that he began to doubt whether the Peruvians were not acquainted with other tools than hatchets made of tliut and stone ; and that grinding one stone on another to make thera smooth and level, was not the only method they had employed in this operation. On which account, he ad.>pt- ed a new opinion, contrary to those generally received- He con- jectured that they must have had tools xn?Ae of copper, hardened with tin, such as it is known the early nations of Asia made use of. This conjecture w.ts fully sustained by the discovery of ar. ancient Peruvian ruinin ^ chisel, in a silver mine at Vilcabamba, which had been worked in the time of the Incas. This instrument oi" copper was twelve centimeters long and two broad, or in English measure, four inches long, and three-fourths of an inch wide ; which he car- ried with him to Europe, where he had it analyzed, and lound it to contain ninety-four parts of copper and six of tin. He says, that this keen copper of the Peruvians is almost identicallv the same with that of the ancient Galic axe, which cut wood ueaily as ^vell as if made of iron and stetl. Every where, on the old continent, at the beginning of the civil- 24 186 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES izalion of nations, the use of copper, mixed with tin, prevailed over that of iron, even in places where the latter had heen for a long time known. Antonio de Herera, in the tenth book of his History of the West Indies, says, expressly, that the inhabitants of the maritime coast of Zocatallan, in South America, prepared two sorts of copper, of which one was hard and cutting, and the other maleable ; the hard copper was to make hatchets, weapons, and instriiments of agriculture with, and that it was tempered with tin. — Humboldt, vol. 1 , pages 260 — 268. Among a great variety of the gods of the people of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, is found one god, named To-gi Ocummea ; which ns, literally, the iron axe. From which circum- stance we imagine the people of those islands, sometimes called the Friendly Islands^ were, at some period before their having been discovered by Captain Cook, acquainted with the use of iron, and consequently in a more civilized condition. Because men, in those early times, were apt to deify almost every thing, but especially those things the most useful. Were the people of Christendom to lose their knowledge of the true God, and to fall back into nature's ignorance, is there an ar- ticle, within the compass of the arts, which would, from its useful- ness, have a higher claim to deification, than the metal called iron. That group of islands belongs to the immense range shooting out from New-Holland, in south latitude about 20 degrees, and once perhaps were united to China, forming a part of the continent. But however this may be, \\\q first inhabitants of those islands were derived from China, and carried with them a knowledge of the arts ; among which was that of the use of iron, in the form of the axe, which it appears had become deified from its usefulness. The reason of the loss of this knowledge, must have been the separation of their country from the continent, by convulsions, from age to age ; which not only altered the shape and condition of the land, but threw the inhabitants into confusion, separating them far from each other, the sea running between, so that they became re- duced to savagism, as they were found by the first Christian na- vigators. kUD DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 187 TRAITS OF ANCIENT CITIES ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Nearly opposite St. Louis, there are the traces of two ancient cities, in the distance of a few miles, situated on the Cohokia creek, which empties iuto the Mississippi but. a short distance below that place. Here is situated one of those Pyramids, which is an hun- dred and fifty rods in circumference at its base, (nearly an half mile,) and one hundred feet high. At St. Louis is one with two stages or landing places, as the architectural phrase is. There is another with three stages, at the mouth of the Missouri, a few miles above St. Louis. With respect to the stages, or landing places of these pyramids, we are reminded of the tower once standing in old Babylon, which had eight stages from its base to the summit, making it six hundred feet high. At the mouth of the Cohokia creek, a short distance below St. Louis, are two groups of those mounds, of smaller size, but we are not informed of their exact number. At Bayeau Manchac and Baton Rouge, are several mounds, one of which is composed chiefly of shells, which the inhabitants burn iuto lime. There is a mound on Black river, which has two stages or stories ; this is surrounded with a group of lesser ones, as well as those at Bayeau Manchac, and Baton Rouge. There is one of those pyramids near Washing- ton, in the state of Misfsissippi, which is one hundred and forty-six feet high ; which is but little short of nine rods perpendicular ele- vation, and fifty-six rods in circumference. Mr. Breckenridge is of the opinion that the largest city, belonging to this people, the authors of the mounds and other works, was situated on the plains between St. Francis and the Arkansas. There is no doubt but in the neighborhood of St. Louis must have been cities or large towns of these ancient people ; as the number and size of the mounds above recounted would most certainly justify. Ffteen miles in a southwesterly direction from the town of St. Louis, on the Merimac river, was discovered, by a Mr. Long, on lands which he had purchased there, several mounds of the ordi- nary size, as found in the valley of the Mis.sissippi, all of which go to establish that this country, lying between the Missouri and 188 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the Mississippi rivers, below St. Louis, and between the junction of the Illinois and the Mississippi above, with the whole region about the union of those rivers with each other, — which are all not far from St. Louis — was once the seat of enipire ; equal, if not sur- passing the population and the arts, as once they flourished on the plains of Shiuar, the seat of Chaldean power, and on the banks of the Eiiphrate;s. It was on the lands of this gentleman, Mr. Long, that the disco- very of a burying ground, containing a vast number of small tumu- li, or gravf s, took place. On opening these graves, there were found deposited, in stone coffins, composed of stone slabs, six in number, forming the bottom, sidts and top, with end pieces ; the skfletons of a race of human beings apparently of but from three to four feet in height. This discovery excited much surprise, and cdll<;d forih, from several pens, the conjectures of able men, who published a variety of opinions respecting them. Some imagined tliem to be the relics of race of pigmy inhaMtants who had be- come extinct. Others on account of the si.-^e of the teeth, 'vhich denoted full grown and adult persons, conjectured them to be the skeletons of a race of baboons or monkeys, from the shortness of their f^tature. From this opinion arose another conjecture, that they had been the objects of worship to the ancient nations, as they had been sometimes among the earlier Egyptians. The bones of these subjects were entirely destroyed, and re- duced to ashes of a white chalky consisteiK-y, except the teeth, ■\^■^icl^ uL>re perfect, being made imperishable from their enamel. Many 0' these graves were opened, and the inmates found not to exce<;d three and four leet. At length one W3S opened, and the skeleton it contained appeared to be of the full sizt. of a iaige man, except its length ; however, this, on close inspeciion, was found to have had its legs disjointed at the knees, and placed along side the thigh benes, which at once, in the eyes of some, accounted for the statures of the whole. Such a custom is, indeed, singular ; and among all the discove- ries of those ancient traits, nothing to compare with this has come to light. Respecting this instance of short skeletons, it has been also urged, that as certain tribes of the common Indians, now in- habiting the upper shores of the Missouri, place their dead on scaflblds and in baskets^ fastened to the limbs of trees, till their AyO DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 189 flesh becomes separated from the bones, that the authors of these short graves did the same. And that when by this process, they had become fair and white, they deposited them in small coffins, as discovered on the farm of Mr Long. But although this is doubt- less true respecti»)g the Missouri Indians, yet we have no account of short graves having been found among them. But as we are unable (o cast light on this discovery, we shall leave it as we found it — a great curiosity. TRADITION OF THE MEXICAN NATIVES RESPECTING THEIR MIGRATION FROM THE NORTH. In corroboration of Mr. Atwater's opinion, with rc.«!pect to the gradual remove of the ancient people of the west toward Mexico, we subjoin what we have gnthered from the Researches of Baron Humboldt, on that point. See Helen Maria William's translation of Humboldt's Researches in South America, vol. 2, p. 67. From which it appears the people inhabiting the vale of Mexico, at the time the Spaniard's overrun that country-, were called Aztecks, or Aztekas; and were, as the Spanish history informs us, usurpers, havirig come from the north, from a country which they called Azlalan. » This country of Aztalan, Baron Humboldt says, " we must look for at least north of the 42(1 degree of latituJe." He comes to this conclusion from an examination of the Mexican or Azteca manu- scr'pts, which were made of a certain kind of loaves, and of skins prepared ; on which, an acrcuiit iu paiut^^d hieroglyphics or pic- tures, was given of their migration frrm Aztalan to Mexico, and how long they halted at certain places, which, in the aggregate, amounts to " four hundred and sixteen years." The following names of places appear on their account of their journeyings, at which places iliey made less or more delay, and built towns, forts, tUTJuli, &c. Ist. A place of Humiliation^ and a place of Grottoes. It would seem at this place they were much afH'Cted and humbled ; but in what manner is not related ; and also at this place, from the term 190 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES yrolloes, that it was a place of cuverns and dens, probably where they at first hid, (Iwelt till they bui!t a town and cleared the ground. Here they built the places which they called Tocaicc and Oztatan. 2d Journey ; they stopped at a place of fru'd trees ; probably meaning, as it was farther south, a place where nature was abun- dant in nuts, grapes, and wild fruit trees. Here they built a mound or tumuli, and, in their language, it is called a Teocali. 3d Journey ; when they stopped at a place of herhs^ with hroctd haves ; probably me.'\ning a place where many succulent plants grew, denoting a good soil ; which invited them to pitch their tents here. 4th Journey ; when they came to a place of human bonct ; where they, either during their stay had battles with each other, or with some enemy, or they may have found them already there, the relics of other nations before them ; for, according to Humboldt, this migra- tion of the Aztecas, took place A. D. 778 ; so that other nations certainly had preceded them, also from the north. 6th Journey ; they came to a place of Eagles. 6th Journey ; to a place of precious stones, and minerals. 7th Journey ; to a place of spinning, where they manufactured clothing of cotton, barks, or of something proper for clothing of some sort, and mats of rushes and feathers. 8th Journey ; they came to another place of eagles, called the Eagle-mountain, or in their own language, Qiauldli Tepee: Tepee, says Humboldt, in the Turkish language, is the word for mountain ; which two words are so near alike, tepee and tepe, that it would seem almost an Arab word, or a word used by the Turks. 9th. Journey ; when they came to a place of walls, and the se- ven grottoes ; which shows tJie place had been inhabited before, and these seven grottoes were either caves in the earth, or were made in the side of some mountain, by those who had preceded them. 10th Journey; when they came to a place of thistles, sand and vultures. 11th Journey, when they came to a place of Obsideon Minors, which is much the same with that of isinglass, scientifically called micae membranacae. This mineral substance is frequently found in the tumuli of the west, and is called, by the Mexicans, the shin- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 191 ing god. The obsideon stone, however, needs polishing, before it will answer as a mirror. 12th Journey ; came to a place of water, probably some lake, or beautiful fountains, which invited their residence there ; on the ac- count not only of the water, but for fishing and game. 13th Journey; they came to the place of the Divine Monkey, called in their own language, Teozomoco. Here, it would seem, they set up the worship of the monkey, or baboon, as the ancient Egyptians are known to have done. This animal is found in ]\Iex- ico or New vSpain', according to Humboldt. 14th Journey ; when the came to a high mountain, probably with table lands on it ; which they called Chopaltepec, or mountain of locusts. A place, says Baron Humboldt, celebrated for the mag- nificent view from the top of this hill ; which, it appears, is in the Iklexican country, and probably not far from the vale of JMexico ; where they finally permanently rested. 15th Journey ; when they came to the vale of Mexico ; having here met with the prodigy, or fulfilment of the prophecy, or oracle^ which at their outset from the country of Aztalan, Huehuetlapallan, and Araaquemecan ; which was (see Humboldt, 2d vol. p. 185, "1 that the migrations of the Aztecks should not terminate till the chiefs of the nation should meet with an eanle perched on a cactus tree ; at such a place they might found a city. This was, as their bull-hide books inform us, in the vale of Mexico, We have related this account of the Aztcca migration from the country of Aztalan, Huehuetlapallan, and Amaquemecan, from the regions of north latitude 42 degrees, merely to show that the coun- try, provinces, or districts, so named in their books, must have beea the country of Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois, with the whole region thereabout -, for these are not far from the very latitude named by Humboldt as the region of Aztalan, &c. The western country is now distinguished, by the general name of the " lake country," and why, because it is a country of lakes ; and for the same reason, it was calied the Mexicans, Azteca, In- dians, ^k/fi/ff/j, because in their language, atl is water, from which Aztalan is doubtless a derivitive as well also as their own name as a nation, or title, which was Astccas, or people of the Lakes. This account, derived from the Mexicans since their reductioa by the Spaniards, gathered from the researches of learned travel- i92 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES lers, who have, for the very purpose of learning the origin of the people of this country, penetrated not only into the forest retreats in the woods of Mexico, but into the mysteries of their hard lan- guage, their theology, philosophy and astronomy. This account of their migration, as related above, is corroborated by the tradition of the Wyandot Indians. We come to a knowledge of this tradition, by the means of a Mr. William Walker, some time Indian agent for our government ; who, it seems, from a pamphlet published, 1823, by Frederick Falley, of Sandusky, giving Mr. Walker's account, that a great many hundred years ago the ancient inhabitants of America, who were the authors of the great works of the west, were driven away from their country and possessions, by barbarous and savage hordes of warriors, who came from the north and northeast ; befoie whose power and skill in war, they were compelled to flee, and went to the south. After having been there many hundred years, a runner came back into the same country, from whence the ancient people had been driven, which we suppose is the very country of Aztalan, or the region of the western states ; bringing the intelligence, that a dreadful be(ist had landed on their coast alone the sea, which was spreading among them havoc and death, by means of 6re and thun- der ; and ihai it would, no doubt, travel all over the country, for the same purpose of destruction. This beast whose voice was like thunder, and whose power to kill was like fire, we have no doubt, represents the cannon and small arms of the Spauiiads, when they first commenced the mur- der of the ancient people of South America ; many tribes or nations of which were, fron^ time to time, derived from the northern part of our continent, Ion,:; before the northern hordes devastated the country of Aztalan, Huchuetlapan, and Amaquemecan, and with good reason, believed to be from Asia ; of Tartar, Hebrew, and Scythian origin ; from their dreadful propensity to war and blood- shed, which is still characteristic of our northern and western In- dians. ' AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 193 SUPPOSED USES OF THE ANCIExNT ROADS CONNECTED WITH THE MOUNDS. Ancient roads, or highways, which in many parts of the west, are found walled in on both sides for many miles, where the forest trees are growing as abundant, and as large, and aged, as in any part of the surrounding woods. We have already mentioned several roads which have always been found connected with some great works ; as at Piketon, Ports- mouth, Newark, Licking county, and at the works on the Little Miami river. These roads where they have been traced, are found to communicate with some mound, or mountain, which had been shaped by art to suit the purposes of those who originated these stupendous works- The circumstance of their being walled in by banks of earth, leaving froHi one to four and six rods space between, has excited much inquiry, as to the reason and purposes of their construction. But may not this grand characteristic of the people of the west, in road building, be illustrated by comparing a prac- tice of the Mexicans with this fact. We will show the practice, and then draw the conclusion- " The Mexicans believed, according to a very ancient tradition, that the end of the world would take place at the termination of every cycle of fifty-two years ; that the sun would no more appear on the horizon, and that mankind would be devoured by evil genii of hideous appearance, known under the name of Tritzim- imes. On the last day of this great cycle of time, of fifty-two years, the sacred fires were extinguished in all their temples, and dwel- lings, aad every where, all the people devoting themselves to pray- er, no person daring to light a fire at the approach of the night; the vessels of clay were broken, garments torn, and whatever was mo.st precious was destroyed, because every thing appeared useless at the tremendous moment of the last day. Amidst this frantic superstition, pregnant women became the ob- jects of peculiar horror to the men ; they caused their faces to be hidden with masks made with paper of the agave ; they were even 26 194 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES imprisoned in the store houses of maize or com, from a persuasioB, that if the catastrophe took place, the women transformed into tigers, would make common cause with the evil genii, and avenge themselves of the injustice of the men. As soon as it was dark, the grand procession, called the festival of the new fire, commenced. The priests took the dresses of the gods, and followed by an immense crowd of people, went in solemn train to the mountain of Huzachthcatl, which was two leagues or six miles from Mexico. This lugubrious march was called the march of the gods ; which was supposed to be their final departure from their city, and possibly never to return ; in which event, the end of the world was come. When the procession had reached the summit of the mountain, it waited till the moment when the Pleiades, or the seven stars, as- cended the middle of the sky, to begin the horrible sacrifice of a human victim, stretched on the stone of sacrifice, having a wooden disk on the breast, which the priest inflames by friction. The corpse, after having received a wound in the breast, which extin- guished life, while he lay, or was held on the fatal stone, was laid on the ground ; and the instrument made use of to produce fire by friction, was placed on the wound, which had been made with a knife of obsidian stone. When the bits of wood, by the rapid motion of the cylinder, or machine made use of for that purpose, had taken fire, an enormous pile, previously prepared to receive the body of the unfortunate victim, was kindled, the flames of which, ascending high into the air, were seen at a great distance ; when the vast populace of the city of Mexico, and surrounding country, filled the air with joyful shouts and acclamations. All such as were not able to join in the procession, were stationed on the terraces of houses, and on the tops of teocallis, or mounds, and tumulis, with their eyes fixed on the spot where the flame was to appear: which, as soon as it was perceived, was a token of the benevolence of the gods, and of the preservation of mankind du- ring another cycle of fifty-two years. Messengers posted at proper distances from each other, holding branches of wood, of a very resinous pine, carried the new fire from village to village to the distance of many leagues ; and depo- sited it anew in every temple, from whence it was distributed to all private dwellings. When the sun appeared on the horizon, the AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 195 i^outiug was redoubled, the procession went back from the moun- tain to the city, and they thought they could see their gods also re- turning to their sanctuaries. The women were then released from their prisons, every one put on anew dress, the temples were whitewashed, their household furniture renewed, their plate, and whatever was necessary for do- mestic use. " This secular festival, this apprehension of the sun being extinguished at the epoch of the winter solstice, seems to present a new instance of analogy between the Mexicans and the inhabitants of Egypt. When" the Egyptians saw the sun descend from the Crab towards Capiicorn, and the days gradually grow shorter, they were accustomed to sorrow, from the apprehension that the sun was going to abandon the earth, but when the orb be- gan to return, and the duration of the days grew longer, they robed themselves in white garments, and crowned themselves with flow- ers."— //M7n6oW/, p. 380, 384. This Mexican usage may have been practised by Ihe people of the west, as the roads would seem to justify, leading as they do, either to some mountain prepared by art, or at some mound : and as these processions took place in the night, so that the Pleiades, or seven stars, might be seen, it was necessary that the roads should be walled as a defence against an enemy, who might take ad- vantage under cover of the night. After having examined these accounts of the ancient works of the west, it is natural to ask, who their authors were : this can be answered only by comparison and conjecture, more or less upheld, as circumstances, features, manners, and customs of the nations, many resemble each other. " If we look into the Bible, we shall there learn, that mankind, soon after the deluge, undertook to raise a tower, high as heaven, designed to keep them together. But in this attempt they were disappointed, and themselves dispersed throughout the world. Did they forget to raise afterwards similar monuments and places of worship ? They did not, and to use the words of an inspired wri- ter, " high places," of various altitudes and dimensions, were raised on every high hill throughout the land of Palestine, and all the east, among the pagan nations. Some of these " high places " bejoaged to single families ; some to mighty chieftains, a petty tribe, a city, or a whole nation. At those " high places," belonging to great 196 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIEA natious, great national affairs were transacted. Here they crowned and deposed their kings ; here they concluded peace, and declared war, and worshipped their gods. The Jews, on many great occasions, assembled at Gilgal ; which word signifies " an heap.'''' Shiloh, where the Jews frequently as- sembled to transact great national affairs, and perform acts of devo- tion, was on the top of a high hill. When this was forsaken, the loftier hill of Zion was selected in its stead ; upon Sinai's awful summit the law of God was promulgated. 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, one of the kings of Israel, who was buried there. 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, Pickaway, and Ross ; examiue the loftiest mounds, and compare them with those described in Palestine, and a conviction will remain, that as in the earliest ages, men preferred the summit of the highest mountains, as a love of the same, as a memorial of ancestry, would influence posterity to the like custom. But tke most extraordinary mound we have heard of, is men- tioned in Mr. Schoolcraft's Travels iu the west. It is called Mount JoUet, and is situated on the river Des Plains, one of the head wa- ter rivers of the Illinois. Its situation is such as to give its size its fullest effect, being on a level country with no hill in sight to form a contrast. Its height is sixty feet, nearly four rods perpen- dicular, its length eighty-four rods, its width fourteen, and is one hundred and ninety-six rods in circumference on its top, but con- siderably larger, measuring round the base. It has been remarked by Dr. Beck, that this is probably the largest mound within the limits of the United States. This mound is built on the horizontal lime stone stratum of the secondary formation, and is fronted by the beautiful lake Joliet, which is but fifteen miles long, furnishing the most " noble and picturesque spot in all America." Schoolcraft. This mound con- sists of eighteen million two hundred and fifty thousand solid feet of earth. How long it must have been in being builded, is more than can be made out, as the number of men employed, and the facilities to carry on the work, are unknown. ANO msCOTEKIXS IIT THE WEST. 197 In England, Scotland, and in Wales, they are thus situated. At Inch-Tuthel, on the river Tay, there is a raound which resembles ours on the Licking, near Newark. The camp at Comerie is on a water of Ruchel, situated on a high alluvion, like ours in the west The antiquities of Ardoch are on a water Kneck, their walls ditch- es, gateways, mounds of defence before them, and every thing about them, resemble our works of this character in America. What Pennant, in his Antiquarian Researches in the north of Europe, calls & picElorium, is exactly like the circular works round ©ur mounds, when placed within walls of earth. Catter-thun, two miles from Angus, is ascribed to the ancient Caledonians, or Scotch. Such works are very common in Ohio. One on the river Loden, or Lowthe, and another near the river Emet, are exactly like those in the west. The strong resemblance between the works in Scot- land and those of the west, I think, says Mr. Atwater, no roan will deny. In various parts of the British isles, as well as England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, are abundance of those works, which were places of worship, burial, and defence, built by the ancient Picts, so called by the Romans, because they painted themselves, like the aborigines of this country. At a very early period of the globe, a small mound of earth served as a sepulchre and an altar, whereon the officiating priest could be seen by the surrounding worshippers. Such sacred works may be traced from W^ales to Russia, quite across that empire north, to our continent; and then across this continent, from the Columbia on the Pacific Ocean, to the Black River, on the east end of Lake Ontario ; thence turning in a southwestern direction, we find them extending quite to the "iouthern parts of Mexico and Peru. " If there exists," says Dr. Clarke, " any thing of former times which may aftbrd evidence of antediluvian manners, it is this mode of burial ; which seems to mark the progress of population in the first ages after the dispersion, occasioned by the confusion of lan- guages, at Babel. Whether under the form of a mound in Scandinavia and Russia, a barrow in England, or cairn in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, or heaps of earth, which the modern Greeks and Turks call Tepec^ and the Mexicans, Tepee, and lastly, in the more artificial shape of a pyramid in Egypt ; they had universally the same origin." 158 AMERICAN ANTIQUITltS' ■ Here we have the unequivocal opinion of a man, who has scarce- ly his fellow in the present generation, respecting a knowledge of the ancient manners of mankind ; who says, that the tumnli, found in all parts of the earth, belong solely to tne age immediately suc- ceeding Noah's flood ; winch greatly favors our opinion, that this country was settled as early as the other parts of the earth which are at as great a distance from Mount Ararat. But what is the distance from Mount Ararat, by way of Bhering's Strait, to the middle of tlie United States, which is the region of the Missouri ? It is something over ten thousand miles ;. nearly half the circuit of the globe. Here, in the region of the Western States, we have, by the aid of Baron Humboldt, supposed the country of Aztalan was situated ; where the great specimens of labor and ancient manners, are must abundant. If this was the way the first people came into America, it is very clear, they could not, in the ordinary way of making a settlement here, and a settlement there, have arrived soon enough, to show signs of as great antiquity. In their works in America, as those of the same sort, found in the north of Europe. Some other way, therefore, we are confident, the first inhabitants must have pursued, so that their works in America, might compare, in character and antiquity, with those of other nations. From Ararat, in a westerly course, passing through Europe, by way of the countries now situated in Russia in Europe, to the Atlantic, the distance is scarcely five thousand miles ; not half the distance the route of Bhering's Strait would have been. And if the Egyptian tradition be true, respecting the island Atalanlis, and the conjectures of .naturalists about a union of Europe and America on the north, there was nothing to hinder their settling here, immediately after their dispersion. It is supposed the first generations immediately succeeding the flood, were much more enlightened than many nations since that period ; the reason is, they had not yet forgotten that which they had learned of the manners of their antediluvian ancestry from Noah ; but as they spread and diverged asunder, what they had learned from him concerning the creation, architecture, and the culture of the earth before the flood, they lost, and so retrograded to savagism. It is true, the family of Shem, of whoni were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the particular providence of God, retained, unadul- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 199 terated, the traditional history of the creation, and of man, till the time Moses embodied it in a book, eight hundred and fifty-seven years after the flood. But the rest of the nations were left, in this respect, to mere recollefflons, which, as soon as they divided and subdivided, become contradictory and monstrous. But the authors of the great works found in the west, seem to have retained the first ideas received from their fathers at the era of the building of Babel, equally, if not superior, to many nations of Europe, as they were in the year eight hundred after Christ. This is consented to on all hands, and even contended for by the historian, Humboldt. In order to show the reader the propritey of believing, that a colony, very soon after the confusion of the lan- guage of mankind, found their way to what is now called America, we give the tradition of the Azteea nation, who once inhabited Aztalan, the country of the western states, but were, at the era of the conquest of South America, found inhabiting the vale of Mex- ico, because they had, as we have shown, been driven away by the irruptions of the Tartarian Indians, as follows : TRAITS OF THE MOSAIC HISTORY FOUND AMONG THE AZ TEC A NATIONS. The tradition commences with an account of the deluge, as they had preserved it in books made of the buffalo and deer skin, on which account there is more certainty than if it had been preserved by mere oral tradition, handed down from father to son. They begin by painting, or as we would say, by telling us that Noah, whom they call Tezpi, saved himself, with his wife, whom they call Xochiquetzal, on a raft or canoe. Is not this the ark? The raft or canoe rested on or at the foot of a mountain, which they call Colhuacau. Is not this Ararat } The men born after this deluge were born dumb. Is not this the confusion of language at Babel ? A dove from the top of a tree distributes languages to them in the form of an olive leaf. Is not this the dove of Noah, which returned with that leaf in her mouth, as related in Genesis } They 200 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES say, that on this raft, beside Tezpi and his wife, were several chil- dren, and animals, with grain, the preservation of which was of importance to mankind. Is not this in almost exact accordance with what was saved in the ark with Noah, as stated in Genesis. When the great spirit, Tezcath'poca, ordered the waters to with- draw, Tezpi sent out from his raft a vulture, which never returned, on account of the great quantities of dead carcasses which it found to feed upon. Is not this the raven of Noah, which did not return when it was sent out the second time, for the very reason here as- signed by the Mexicans ? Tezpi sent other birds, one of which was the humming bird ; this bird alone returned, holding in its beak a branch covered with leaves. Is not this the dove ? Tezpi seeing that fresh verdure now clothed the earth, quitted his raft near the mountain Colhuacan. . Is not this an allusion to Ararat of Asia ? They say the tongues which the dove gave to mankind, were infinitely varied ; which, when received, they immediately dispersed. But among them there were fifteen heads or chiefs of families, which were permitted to speak the same language, and these were the Taltecks, the Aculhucans, and Azteca nations, who embodied themselves together, which was very natural, and travel- ed, they knew not where, but at length arriyed in the country of Aztalan, or the lake country. The plate or engraving presented here, is a surprising represent- ation of the Deluge of Noah, and of the Confusion of the Ancient Language, at the building of the Tower of Babel, as related in the Book of Genesis, see chap. 7 and 11. We have derived the subject of this plate from Baron Hum= boldt's volume of Researches in Mexico, who found it painted on a manuscript book, made of the leaves of some kind of tree, suit- able for the purpose, after the manner of the ancient nations of the sultry parts of Asia, around the Mediterranean. Among the vast multitude of painted representations found by this author, on the books of the natives, made also frequently of prepared skins of animals, were delineated all the leading circum- stances and history of the deluge, of the fall of man, and of the seduction of the woman by the means of the serpent, the first murder as perpetrated by Cain, on the person of his brother Abel. The plate, however, here presented, shows no more than a pic- tare of the flood,, with Noah afloat on a raft, or as the traditions of V fi II ' """■Z-.: AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 201 6ome of the aations say, on a tree, a canoe, and some say even in a vessel of huge dimensions. It also shows, by the group of men approaching the bird, a somewhat obscure history of the coufusiop of the ancient language, at the building of Babel, by representing them as being born dumb, who receive the gift of speech from a dove, which flutters in the branches of the tree, while she presents the languages to the mute throng, by bestowing upon each indivi- dual a leaf of the tree, which is shown in the form of small com- mas suspended from its beak. The circumstance of their being born dumb, points out as clearly as tradition can be expected to do, the confusion of language ; as being dumb is equivalent to their not being able to converse with each other ; or their not being able to converse, was equivalent to their being born dumb. Among the different nations, according to Humboldt, who inha- bited Mexico, were found paintings which represented the deluge, or the flood of Tezpi The same person among the Chinese is called Fohi and Vu-ii, which is strikingly similar in sound to the Mexican Texpi, in which they show how he saved himself and his wife, in a bark, or some say, in a canoe, others, on a raft, which they call, in their language, a huahuate. The painting, of which the plate is the representation, show's Tezpi, or JXoah, in the midst of the waters, lying on his back. The mountain, the summit of which is crowned by a tree, and rises above the waters, is the peak of Colhucan, the Ararat of the Mex- icans. The horn which is represented on the hieroglyphic, is the mountain Colhucan. At the foot of the mountain, on each side, appear the heads of "Jsoah and his wife. The woman is known by the two points extending up from her forehead, which is the uni- versal designation of the female sex among the Mexicans- In the figure of the bird, with the leaves of a tree in its beak, is shown the circumstance of the dove's return to the Ark, when it had been sent out the second time, bringing a branch of the olive in its mouth ; but in their tradition it had become misplaced, and is made the author of the languages. That birds have a language, was believed by the nations of the old world. Some of those na- tions retain a surprising traditional account of the deluge ; who say, that Noah embarked in a spacious acalli or boat, witli his wife, his children, several animals, and grain, the preservation of which was 26 202 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES of great importance to raanldnd. When the Great Spirit, Tezcaf- lipoca, ordered tlie waters to withdraw, Tezpi, or Noah, sent out from his boat a vulture. But as the bird's natural food was that of dead carcasses, it did not return, on account of the great number of those carcasses with which the earth, now dried in some places, abounded. Tezpi sent out other birds, one of which ^\ as the humming bird ; this bird alone returned again to the boat, holding in its beak a branch, covered with leaves. Tezpi now knowing that the earth was dry, being clothed with fresh verdure, quitted bis bark near the mountain Colhucan, which is equivalent to that of Ararat. The purity of this tradition is evidence of two things : 1st., that the book of Genesis, as written by JNIoses, is not as some have imagined, a cunningly devised fable, as these Indians cannot be ac- cused of Christian priestcraft, nor yet of Jewish priestcraft, their religion being solely of another cast, wholly idolatrous. And se- cond, that the continents of America, Africa, and Asia, were an- ciently united, so that the earlier nations came directly over after the confusion of the ancient language and dispersion — on which ac- count its purity has been preserved more than among the more wandering tribes of the old continents. As favoring this idea of their coming immediately from the re- gion of the tower of Babel, their tradition goes on to inform us, that the tongues distributed by this bird were infinitely various, and dispersed over the earth ; but that it so happened that fifteen heads of families were permitted to speak the same language, these are the same shown on the plate. These travelled till they came to a country which they called Aztalan, supposed to be in the regions of the now United States, according to Humboldt. As favoring this idea, we notice, the word Aztalan signifies in their language, ■water, or a country of much water. Now, no country on the earth better suits this appellation than the western country, on account of the vast number of lakes found there. There is another particular in this group of naked, dumb hu- man beings, worthy of notice, which is, that neither their counte- nances nor form of their persons agree at all with the countenances or formation of the common Indians ; they suit far better to the face of the ancient Britons, Greeks, Romans, Carthagenians and Phoenicians. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 203 If 60, it is evident, that the Indians are not the first people who found their way to this country. Among these ancient nations are found many more traditions corresponding to the accounts given by Moses, respecting the creation, the fall of man by the means of a serpent — the murder of Abel by his brother, &c. ; all of which are denoted in their paintings, as found by the earlier travellers among them, since the discovery of America by Columbus, and carefully copied from their books of prepared hides, which may be called parchment, after the manner of the ancients of the earliest ages. We are pleased when we find such evidence, as it goes to the establishment of the truth of the historical parts of the Old Testa- ment, evidence so far removed from the sceptic's charge of priest- craft here among the unsophiscated nations of the earlier people of America. Clavigero, in bib history of Mexico, says, that among the Chiap- anese Indians, was found an ancient manuscript in the language of that country, made by the Indians themselves, in which it was said, according to their ancient tradition, that a certain person, named Voian, was present at that great building, which was made by or- der of his uncle, in order to mount up to heaven 5 that then every people was given its language, and that Votan himself was charged by God to make the division of the lands of Anahuac — so Noah divided the earth among his sons. Votan may have been Noah. Of the ancient Indians of Cuba, several historians of America relate, that when they were interrogated by the Spaniards concern- ing their origin, they answered, they had heard from their ances- tors, that God created the heavens and the earth, and all things : that an old man having foreseen the deluge with which God de- signed to chastise the sins of men, built a large canoe and embark- ed in it with his family, a?ud many animals ; that when the inun- dation ceased, he sent out a raven, which, because it found food suited to its nature to feed on, never returned to the canoe ; that he then sent out a pigeon, which soon returned, bearing a branch of the Hoba tree, a certain fruit tree of America, in its mouth ; that when the old man saw the earth dry, he disembarked, and having made himself wine of the wood grape, he became intoxicated and fell asleep ; that then one of his sous made ridicule of his naked- aesSj and that another sou piously covered him ; that, u]:x)u waking, 204 AMERICA** ANTIQUITIES he blessed the latter and cursed the former. Lastly, these island- ers held that they had their origin from the accursed son, and there- fore went almost naked ; that the Spaniards, as they were clothed, descended perhaps from the other. Many of the nations of America, says Clavigero, have the same tradition, agreeing nearly to what we have already related. It was the opinion of this author, that the nations who peopled the Mex- ican empire, belonged to the posterity of Naphtuhim — (the same, we imagine, with Japheth ;) and that their ancestors having left Egypt not long after the confusion of the ancient language, travel- led towards America, crossing over on the isthmus, which it is sup- posed once united America with the African continent, but since has been beaten down by the operation of the waters of the Atlantic on the north, and the Southern ocean on the south, or by the ope- ration of earthquakes. Now we consider the comparative perfection of the preservation of this Bible account, as an evidence that the people among whom it was found must have settled in this country at a very early pe- riod of time after the flood, and that they did not wander any more, but peopled the continent, cultivating it, building towns and cities, after their manner ; the vestiges of which are so abundant to this day; and on this account, viz., their fixedness, their traditionary history was not as liable to become lost, as it would have undoubt- edly been, bad they wandered, as many other nations of the old world have, among whom scarcely a vestige of their origin is found, of credible tradition, compared with this. Even the Hindoo nations, who, in their origin, wandered also from Ararat, have not, with all their boasted refinement and anti- quity of origin, as clear an account of the first age of the earth, as these Mexicans. But there is another additional reason for it : those countries of the east have been frequently overrun by savage hordes from the wilds of northern Tartary ; while the ancient peo- ple of (his continent have rested in peace, till similar hordes found their way across Bhering's Strait, in later years; and, as is be- lieved, an account of the tradition, both of some of the western tribes, and of the Azteca nations in Mexico, were driven from their ancient possessions. If then we believe, that the first people who visited this country did not come here by the way of Bhering's Strait, from Tartary, AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 805 how then is it that we find such evident marks, in the mounds and tumuli of the west, of the presence of a Hindoo population, as well as of other nations. Let the tradition of the nations of Taltec and Azteca extraction in Mexico answer it. These say, that a wonderful personage, whom they name Quetzalcoatf, appeared among them, who was a white and bearded man. This person assumed the dignity of act- ing as a priest and legislator, and became the chief of a religious sect, which like the Songasis and the Boudhists of Indostan, in- flicted on themselves the most cruel penances. He introduced the custom of piercing the lips and ears, and lacerating the rest of the body, with the prickles of the agave and leaves, the throns of the cactus, and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order that the blood might be seen to trickle more copiously. In all this, says Hum- boldt, we seem to behold one of those Rishi, hermits of the Ganges, whose pious austerity is celebrated in the books of the Hindoos. .Tewitt, a native of Boston, who lately died at Hartford Conn., was, some few years since, captured with the crew of the vessel in which he had sailed, by the Nootka Indians, at Nootka Sound, on the Pacific. In his narrative of his captivity and sufterings, he states, that those Indians had a religious custom, very similar to those of the Hindoos, now in use, about the temple of Jugernaut, in India; which was, piercing their sides with long rods, and leap- ing about while the rods were in the wound. Respecting this white and bearded man, much is said in their tradition, recorded in their books of skin, and among other things, that after a long stay with them, he suddenly left them, promising to return again, in a short time, to govern them and renew their happiness. This person, named Tecpaltzin, resembles, very strongly, in his promise to return again, the behavior of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, who, on his departure from Lacedemon, bound all the citizens under an oath, both for themselves and pos- terity, that they would neither violate nor abolish his laws till his return ; and soon after, in the I.sle of Crete, put himself to death, so that his return became impossible. It was the posterity of this man, whom the unhappy Moutazuma thought he recognized in the soldiers of Cortez, the Spanish con- queror of Mexico. " We know," said the unhappy monarch, in his first interview with the Spanish general, " by our books, that 206 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES myself and those who inhabit this country, arc not natives but strangers, who came from a great distaace. We know, also, that the chief who led our anceftors hither," that is to Aztalan, " re- turned, for a certain time, to his primitive country, and thence came back to seek those who were here established," who, after a while, returned again, alone. We always believed that his de- scendants would one day come to take possession of this country. Since you arrive from that region where the sun rises, I cannot doubt, but thiit the king who sends you, is our natural master." This chief wlio led the Azteck tribes first to Aztalan, is called Tecpaltziu, and seems to be the person who, the monarch says, re- turned to his native land, W'here the sun rises ; which is a strong allusion to the country of Babylon, or some-part of the old world, about the Mediteranean, which is east from Mexico, yi'here the sun rises, the very country where the chiefs of the fifteen tribes, speaking the same language with himself, first received that lan- guage from the bird, as before stated. But Quetzalcoatl, an entire different character, appears among them many ages after their settlement at Mexico, as a reli-gious teacher, who, Humboldt says, resembled the Boudhists or Bram- liuns of Indostan, and the hermits of the Ganges, whose pious aus- terities are celebrated in their Pauranas, or books of theology, and that the Azteca tribes left their country, Aztalan, in the year of our Lord 544 ; and wandered to the south or southwest, doming at last to the vale of Mexico. It would appear, from this view, that as the nations of Aztalan, with their fellow nations, left vast works, and a vast extent of country, apparently is a state of cultivation, with cities and villages, more in number than three thousand, as Breckenridge supposed, that they must, therefore, have settled here long before tlie Christian era. The peculiar doctr'nes of the Hindoos, we are informed, were commenced to be taught iu the east, among, what is now called the Hindoo nations, by Zoroaster, about the the time of Abraham, 1449 yep.;, before the time of Confucius, who was born 551 years before Christ ; so that there was time for those doctrines of Confucius and Zoroaster to take root in China, and to become popular, and also to reach America, by Hindoo missionaries, and overspread these regions even as early as the commencement of the Christian era. Of Zoroaster, it is said, that he predicted the coming of the Mes- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE tVEST- 207 slali, in plain words ; and that the " wise men" of tlie east, who saw his st^r, were of his disciples, or sect. This doctrine he must have learned of Shem, who, we have attempted to show, was Mel- chisedek, or of Abraham, as it had been handed down from Adam, the first of men. But the peculiar doctrine of Confucius, which was the worship of lire, as well as that of the sun, by Zoroaster, it is hkely, was derived from the account he found arnong the ar- chives of the Jews, respecting the burning bush of Moses, whicli had taken place more than a thousand years before the time of Confucius. From this originated, in all probability, as taught by Confucius, the burning of heroes, when dead, among many na- tions ; and from this, that of immolating widows, as among the Hindoos, on the funeral pile, taught by the Eramhun missionaries, who, undoubtedly, visited America, as it joins on to Asia north, cr as it was then possibly called, Amaquemecan, &c., and planted their belief among these nations ; the tokens of which appear so abundantly in the mounds and tumuli of the west. And this Quetzalcotl, a celebrated minister of those opinions, ap- pears to have been the firsl who announced the religion of the east among the people of the west. There was also one other minister, or Bramhun,who appeared among the ]Mozca tribes in South Ame- rica, whom they name Bochica. This personage taught the wor- ship of the Sun; and if we were to judge, should pronounce him a missionary of the Confucian system, a worshipper of fire, which was the religion of the ancient Persians, of whose country Confu- cius was a native. This also is evidence that the first inhabitants of America came here at a period near the ilood, long before that worship was known, or they would have had a knowledge of thLs Persian worship, which was introduced by Bochica, amon"- the Xmerican nations; which, it seems, they had not, till taught by this man. Bochica, it appears, became a legislator among those nations, and changed the form of their government to a form, the construction of which, says Baron Humboldt, bears a strong analogy to the ^o- vernments of Japan and Thibet, on account of the pontiffs holding in their hands both the secular and the spiritual reins. In Japan, an island on the east of Asia, or rather many islands, which com- pose the Japanese empire, is found a religious sect, stiled Sinto who do not believe in the sanguinary rites of shedding either hu- 208 AMERICAN ANTtqUITIES man blood, or that of animals, to propitiate their gods- They even abstain from animal food, and detest bloodshed, and will not touch any dead body. — Morsels Geography^ p. 522- There is, in South America, a whole nation who eat nothing but vegetables, and who hold in abhorrence those who feed on flesh. — Humboldt^ page 200. Such a coincidence in the religion of na- tions, can scarcely be supposed to exist, unless they are of one ori- gin. " I am not ignorant, says Husaboldt, p. 199, that the Tch- outsks anmially crossed Bheriug's Straits, to make war on the in- habitants of the northwest coast of America." Therefore, from what we have related above, and a few pages back, it is clear, both from the tradition of the Aztecas, who lived in the western regions before they went to the south, and from the fact that nations on the Asiatic side of Bhering's Straits, having come aniiunlly over the Straits to fight with the ancient nations of the northwest ; that we, in this way, have given conclusive and satisfactory reasons, why, in the western mounds and tumuli, are found evident tokens of the presence of a Hindoo population, or at least, of nations influenced by the superstitions of that people, through the means of missionaries of that cast ; and that they did 7io< bring those opinions and ceremonies with them when i\\ey first left Asia, after the confusion of the antediluvian langtiage, as led on by their fifteen chiefs ; till by some means, and at some period, they finally found this country ; not by the way of Bhering's Straits, but some nearer course, as we have conjectured in other places in this work- Perhaps a few words on the supposed native country of Quet- zalcotl, may be allowed; who, as we have stated, is reported to have been a white and bearded man, by the Mexican Aztecas. There is a vast range of islands on the northeast of Asia, in the Pa- cific, situated not A^ery far from Bhering's Straits, in latitude be- tween 40 and 50 degrees north. The inhabitants of these islands, when first discovered, were found to be far in advance in the arts of civilzation, and a knowledge of governments, of their continen- tal neighbors — the Chinese and Tartars. The Island of Jesso, in particular, which, of itself, is an empire, comparatively, being very populous; and are also highly polished in their manners. The inhabitants may be denominated white ; their women espe- cially, whom Morse, in his Geography of the islands of Japan, Jessp AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 209 and others iu that range, says expressly, are white, fair and ruddy. Humboldt says, they are a bearded race of men, like Europeans. It appears, the ancient government of these islands, especially that of Japan, \Thich is neighbor to that of Jesso, was iu the hands of»spiiitual monarchs and pontiffs, till the 17th century. As this was the form of government introduced by Quetzaicotl, ^vhen he first appeared among the Azteca tribes ; which we suppose was in the country of Aztalan, or western states, moy it not be conjectured that he was a native of some of those islands, who, in his wander- ings, had found his way to the place now called Bhering's Straits; for, indeed, anciently there may have been only an isthmus at that place, and thence to this country, on errands of benevolence ; as it is said in the tradition respecting him, that he preached peace among men, and would not allow any other offering to the divinity than the first fruits of the harvest ; which doctrine was in character with the mild and amiable manners of the inhabitans of those islands. And that peculiar and striking record, found paipted on the Mex- ican skin-books, which describes him to have been a white and bearded man, is our other reason for supposing him to have been a native of some of these islands, and most probably Jesso, rather than any other country. The inhabitants of these islands originated from China, and with them undoubtedly carried the Persian ddctrines of the worship of the Sun and Fire; consequently, we find it taught to the people of Aztalan and Mexico, by such as visited them from China, or the islands above named ; as it is clear the sun was not the original ob- ject of adoration in Mexico, but rather the power which made the sun. So Noah worshipped. A DESCRIPTION OF THE CEREMONIES OF FIRE WORSHIP, AS PRACTISED BY CERTAIN TRIBES ON THE ARKANSAS. Mr. Ash witnessed an exhibition of fire worship, or the worship of the sun, as performed by a whole tribe, at the village of Ozark, near the mouth of the Ozark, or Arkansas river, which empties into the Mississippi, from the west. 27 210 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES He says, he arrived at the village at a very fortunate period ; at a time when it was filled with Indians and surrounded with theii camp. They amounted to about nine hundred, and were com- posed of the remnants of various nations, and were worshippers of the Sim. The second day after his arrival happened to be the grand festi- val among them. He had the most favorable opportunity of wit- nessing their adorations, at three remarkable stages; the sun's rise, meridian, and setting. The morning was propitious, the air serene, the horizon clear, the weather calm. The nations divided into classes; warrior's, young men and wo- men, and married men with their children. Each class stood in the form of a quadrant ; that each individual might behold the rising luminary, and each class held up a particular offering to the ■un, the instant he rose in his glory. The warriors presented their arms, the young men and women offered ears of com and branches of trees, and married women held up to his light their infant children. These acts were performed in silence, till the object of adoration visibly rose ; when, with one impulse, the nations burst into praise, and sung an hymn io loud chorus. The lines, which were sung with repetitions, and marked by pauses, were full of sublimity and judgment. Their meaning, when interpreted, is as follows : Great Spirit ! master of our lives. Great Spirit ! master of things visible, and invisible, and who daily makes them visible and invisible. Great Spirit! master of every other spirit, good or bad; com- mand the good to be favorable to us, and deter the bad from the commission of evil. Oh Grand Spirit ! preserve the strength and courage of our war- riors, and augment their number, that they may resist the oppres- sion of the Spanish enemies, and recover the country, and the rights of our fathers. Oh Grand Spirit ! preserve the lives of such of our old men as are inclined to give counsel and example to the young. Preserve our children, multiply their number, and let them be the comfort and support of declining age. AN1> DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 211 l^Tcserve our com and our animals, and let np famine desolate the laud. Protect our villages, guard our lives ! Oh Great Spirit, when you hide your light behind the western hills, protect us from the Span- iards, who violate the night, and do evil which they dare not com- mit in the presence of your beams. Good Spirit ! make known to us your pleasure, by sending to us the Spirit of Dreams. Let the Spirit of Dreams proclaim your will in the night, and we will perform it through the day ; and if it say the time of some be closed, send them, Master of Life ! to the great country of souls, where they may meet their fathers, mothers, chil- dren, and wives, and where you are pleased to shine upon them with a bright, warm, and perpetual blaze ! Oh Grand, Oh Great Spirit ! haiken to the voice of nations^ harken to all thy children, and remember us always, for we ar« descended from thee. Immediately after this address, the four quadrants formed one immense circle, of several deep, and danced, and sung hymns de- scriptive of the power of the sun, till near ten o'clock. They then amused and refreshed themselves in the village and camp, but as- sembled precisely at the hour of twelve, and formed a number of circles, commenced the adoration of the meridian sun. The fol- lowing is the literal translation of the mid-day address : Courage ! nations, courage ! the Great Spirit looks down upon \is from his highest seat, and by his lustie appears content with the children of his own power and greatness. Grand Spirit ! how great are his works, and how beautiful are they ! How good is the Great Spirit. He rides high to behold us. 'Tis he who causes all things to augment, and to act. He even BOW stands for a moment to harken to us. Courage, nations! courage! The Great Spirit, now above our heads, will make us vanquish our enemies ; he will cover our fields with corn, and increase the animals of our woods. He will see that the old be made happy, and that the young augment. He will make the nations prosper, make them rejoice, and make them put up iheir voice to him, while he rises and sets in their laud, and while his heat and light can thus gloriously shin« out. This was followed by dancing and hymns, which continued from 212 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES two to three hours, at the conclusion of which, dinners were served and eaten with great demonstrations of mirth and hilarity. Mr. Ash says, he dined in a circle of chiefs, on a harbacued hog, and venison very well stewed, and was perfectly pleased with the repast The dinner, and repose after it, continued till the sun was on the point of setting. On this being announced by several who had been on the watch, the nations assembled in haste, and formed themselves into segments of circles, in the face of the sun, pre- senting their offerings during the time of his descent, and crying aloud, " The nations must prosper ; they have been beheld by the Great Spirit. What more can they want .' Is not that happiness enough .' See, he retires, great and content, after having visited his children with light and universal good. Oh Grand Spirit ! sleep not long in the gloomy west, but return and call your people once again to light and life, to light and life, to light and life." This was succeeded by dances and songs of praise, till eleven o'clock at night ; at which hour they repaired to rest, some retiring to the huts that formed their camp, and others to the vicinity of fires made in the woods, and along the river's bank. Mr. Ash took up his abode with a French settler in the village. He under- stood that these Indians have four similar festivals in the year ; one for every season. When the sun does not shine, or appear on the adoration day, an immense fire is erected, around which the ceremonies are per- formed with equal devotion and care." ORIGIN OF FIRE WORSHIP. For many ages the false religions of the east had remained sta- tionary ; but in this period, Magianism received considerable strength from the writings of Zoroaster. He was a native of Me- dia. He pretended to a visit in heaven, where God spake to him out of a fire. This fire he pretended to bring with him, on his re- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 213 turn. It was considered holy ; the dwelling of Grod. The priests were forever to keep it, and the people were to worship before it. He caused fire temples every where to be erected, that storms and tempests might not extinguish it. As he considered God as dwell- ing in the fire, he made the sun to be his chief residence, and therefore the primary object of worship. He abandoned the old system of two gods, one good and the other evil, and taught the ex- istence of one Supreme, who had under him a good and tvi\ angel; the immediate authors of good and evil. To gain reputation, he retired into a cave, and there lr\ed a long time a recluse, and com- posed a book called the Zend Avesta, which contains the liturgy to be used in the fire temples, and the chief doctrines of his re- ligion. His success, in propagating his system, was astonish- ingly great. Almost all the eastern world, for a season, bowed be- fore him. He is said to have been slain, with eighty of his priests, by a Scythian prince, whom he attempted to convert to his reli- gion. It is manifest, that he derived his vVhole system of God's dwell- ing in the fire, from the burning bush, out of which God spake to Moses. He was well acquainted with the' Jewish Scriptures. He gave the same history of the creation and deluge that Moses had given, and inserted a great part of the Psalms of David into his writings. The Mehestani, his followers, believed, in the immor- tality of the soul, in future rewards and punishments, and in the purification of the body by fire, after which they would be united to the good. — Marsh''s Ecclesiastical Hixtory, p. 78. From the same origin, that of the burning bush, it is altogether probable, the worship of fire, for many ages, obtained over the whole habitable earth ; and is still to be traced in the funeral piles of the Hindoos, the beacon fires of the Scotch and Irish, the peri- odical midnight fires of the Mexicans, and the council fires ef the North American Indians, around which they dance. A custom among the natives of New Mexico, as related by Baron Humboldt, is exactly imitated by a practice found still in some parts of Ireland, among the descendants of the ancient Irish. At the commencement of the mouth of November, the great fire of Savihuin is lit up, all the culinary fires in the kingdom being first extinguished, as it was deemed sacrilege to awaken the win- ter's social liame, except by a spark snatched from this sacred fire ; 214 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES on which accouut, the month November as called, in the Irish lan>- guage, Samhuin. To this day, the inferior Irish look upon bonfires as sacred ; they say their prayers, walking round them, the young dream upon their ashes, and the old take this fire to light up their domes- tic hearths, iui;iginiug some secret undefinable excellence connect- ed with it. A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF WESTERN ANTIQUITIES. *' I have a brick," says Mr. Atwater, " 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 Circle- villc, in the mound already described, it would seem that females were sometimes burnt with the males. I need not say, that this custom was deiived from Asia, as it is well known, that is the only country to look to for the origin of such a custom. The Greeks and Romans practised buruing their illustrous dead ; it was prac- tised by the several other nations, but they all derived it from Asia. lu Dr. Clarke's volume of Travels from St. Petersburgh to the Crimea, in the year 1800 ; and in his Travels in Russia, Tartary, and Turkey, it is said, conical mounds of earth, or tumuli, occur very frequently. The most remarkable may be seen between Ye- zolbisky and Voldai, on both sides of the road, and they continue over the whole country, from the latter place to Jedrova, and finally, over the whole Russian empire. The author of the travels above alluded to, says, "There are. few finer prospects than that of Wor- onetz, viewed a few miles from the town on the road to Pautoosky. Throughout the whole of this country, are seen, dispersed over immense plains, mounds of earth, covered with fine turf, the sepul- chres of the ancient world,' common to almost every habitable country.'" This country, (Russia in Europe) from Petersburgh to the Cri- mea, a seaport on the Black sea, the region over which Adam Clarke travelled, is in the very neighborhood of Mount Ararat ; AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 215 and from the circumstance of the likeness existing between the mounds and tumuli there, which Clarke says are the " tombs of the ancient world," and those of the same character, North and South America, we draw the conclusion, that they belong, nearly to one and the same era of time; viz: that immediately succeeding the confusion of language, at the building of Babel. We are told in the same volume of travels, that " the Cossacks at Ekaterindara, dug into some of these mounds, for the purpose of making cellars, and found in them several ancient vases," earth- en vessels, correspoud'ng exactly with vases found in the western mounds. Several have been found in our mounds, which resem- ble one found in Scotland, described by Pennant. A vessel appa- rently made of clay and shells, resembling in its form, a small keg, with a spout on one side of it, formed like the spout of a tea-kettle, with a chain fastened to each end, made probably of copper, ot which Mr. Atwater has not informed us. This chain answered as a bail or handle ; exactly on its top, or side, under the ranige of the chain handle, is an opening of an exact circle, which is the mouth of this ancient tea-kettle. — See plate, letter A. In the Russian tumuli are found the bones of various animals, as well as those of men. In the western tumuli are found also, the bones of men, as well as the teeth of bears, otters, aud*beavers. Thus we learn, from the most authentic sources, that these an- cient works existing in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, are simi- lar in their construction, in the materials with which they were raised, and in the articles found in them. Let those who are constantly seeking for some argument, to over- throw the history of man by Moses, consider this fact. Such per- sons have afiected to believe, that there were diilerent stocks or races of men derived from-.diflTerent original fathers; and in this way they account for the appearance of human beings found on islands. But this similarity of vorks, of language, and of tradition, relating to the most ancient history of man, indicates, nay morcy establishes the fact, that all men spryng from but one origin, one first man and woman, as Moses has written it in the book of Genesis. When Dr. Clarke was travelling in Tarlary, he found a place called Iverness, situated in the turn of a river ; he inq-iiied the meaning of the word, and found that Iverness, in their language. 216 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES signifies in a turn. Whoever looks into Pennant's Tour, will see a plate, representing a town in the turn of a riverj in Scotland, called by the same name, Icemcss. Tiie names of not a few of the rivers in England, Scotland, and Wales, are the names also of rivers in Tartary. Some have supposed that all the great works of the west, of which we have been treating, belong to our present race of Indians ; but from continued wars with each other, have driven themselves from agricultural pursuits, and thinned away their numbers, to that degree, that the wild animals and fishes of the rivers, and wild fruit of the forests, were found sufficient to give them abundant support ; on which account, they were reduced to savagism. But this is answered by the Antiquarian Society, as follows: *' Have our present race of Indians ever buried their dead in mounds by thousands ? Were they acquainted with the use of sil- ver, or copper ? These metals curiously wrought have been found. Did the ancients of our Indians burn the bodies of distinguished chiefs, on funeral piles, and then raise a lofty tumulus over the urn containing their ashes ? Did the Indians erect any thing like the " walled towns," on Paint Creek ? Did they ever dig such wells as are found at Marietta, Portsmouth, and above all, such as those in Paint Creek ? Did they manufacture v'essels from calcareous breccia, equal to any now made in Italy ? Did they ever make and worship an idol, representing the three principal gods of India, called the Triune Cup ? — .Sec plate^ letter E. To this we respond, they never have : no, not even their tra- ditions afford a glimpse of the existence of such things, as forts, tumuli, roads, wells, mounds, walls enclosing between one and two hundred, and even five hundred acres of land ; some of them of stone, and others of earth, twenty feet in thickness, and exceed- ing high, are works requiring too much labor for Indians ever to have performed. The skeletons found in our mounds never belonged to a people like our Indians. The latter are a tall, and rather slender, straight limbed people ; but those found in ihe barrows and tumuli, were rarely over five feet high, though a few were six. Their foreheads were low, cheek bones rather high, their faces were very short and wide, their eyes large, and their chins very broad. But Morse, the geographer, says, page 629, the Tartars have AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 217 small eyes, and not of the oblique form, like the Monguls and Chi- nese, neither of which seem to correspond with the large eyed race who built the mounds and tumuli of the west ; on which account we the more freely look to a higher an more ancient origin for these people. The Indians of North America, in features, com- plexion, and form, and warlike habits, suit far better the Tartaric character, than the skeletons found in the mounds of the west. The limbs of our fossils are short and thick, resembling the Gej- mans more than any other Europeans with whom we are acquainted. There is a tradition among the Germans, that, in ancient times, some adventurers of their nations, discovered the regicu now caiied America, and made settlements in it ; but that, subsequently, they became amalgamated with the inhabitants whom they found alrea- dy here ; whether of Indian, or of the more ancient race of men before them, is not known. We have conversed with one German on this subject, who re- lates that he was acquainted with a family of Germanic origin, who once were in the possession of a Bible, printed about 200 years since, in Germany. In this Bible was an account of the discovery of America. We have taken considerable trouble to discover th's Bible in some branch of the family, but have not been able ; but have found a part or branch of the family, who knew that such a . volume was once in the possession of their ancestors ; but where it I is, or whether it is worn out, they knew not. fr'V Germany is situated east of England, and parts of it lie along Y:^ the coast of the Atlantic, or North Sea, in north latitude 53 de- f?!*' grees. From whence voyagers may have passed out between the I'ii^ -north end of Scotland and the south extremity of old Norway by Pj.; the Shetland and Faroe islands, directly in the the course of Ice- {**,{ land, Greenland and the Labrador coast of America. This is as possible for the Germans to have performed, as for the Norwegians, ^ ,^ Danes and Welch, in the year of our Lord 1000, as shown in an- ^^ other part of this work. White Indians, as found far to the west, jV'^V must have had a white origin. •^ • '^ An idol found in a tumulus near Nashville, Tennessee, (see ■] Plate, letter B.) and now in the Museum of Mr. Clifford, of Lex- i ington, is made of clay, peculiar for its fineness. With this clay ^^was mixed a small portion of g}'psum or plaster of Paris. This .idol was made to represent a man, in a state ef nudity or naked- 28 3IjB AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES nesf, MrhoBe arms had been cut off close to the body, and whose nose and chin have been mutilated, with a fillet and caks upon its head. In all these respects, as well as in the peculiar manner of plating the hair, it is exactly such an idol as Professor Pallas found in bis travels in the southern part of the Russian empire. A custom among the ancient Greeks, may have given rise to the formation of such an idol ; which was copied by the Asiatic ances- tors of the people who brought it with them from Asia to the woods of America. This custom was — when a victim was destined to be sacrificed, the sacred fillet was bound upon the head of the idol, the victim and priest. The salted cake was placed upon the head of the victim only ; it was called " Mola," hence immolare, or im- molation, in later times was used to signify any kind of sacrifice. On this idol, (see the Plate, letter B.,) found near Nashville, the aacred fillet and salted cake are represented on its head : it is sup- posed the copy of this god was borrowed by the Greeks from the Persians from whence it might also have been copied, in later times, by the Chinese nations, and from thence have been brought to America. " If the ancestors of our North American Indians, were from the northern parts of Tartary, those who worshipped this idol came from a country lying farther to the south, where the population was more dense, and where the arts had made greater progress ; while the Tartar of the north was a hunter and a savage, the Hindoo and southern Tartar were well acquainted with most of the useful arts," who, at a later period than that of the first people who settled this country, came, bringing along with them the arts^ the idoh^ and the religious rites of Hindostan, China, and the Crimea." The ancestors of our northern Indians were mere hunters ; while the authors of our tumuli were shepherds and husbandmen. The tempels, altars and sacred places of the Hindoos were always situ- ated on the banks of some stream of water. The same observa- tion applies to the temples, altars and sacred places of those who erected our tumuli. " To the consecrated streams of Hindostan devotee* assembled from all parts of the empire, to worship their gods, and purify themselves by bathing in the sacred waters. In this country, their sacred places were uniformly on the banks of some river ; and who knows but the Muskingum, the Sciota, the Miami, the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Mississippi, were once IND DISCOVERIES IN TUB WEST. Z19 •Seeraed as sacred, and their banks as thickly settled, and as Well cultivated, as are now those of the Ganges, the Indus, and the Ba- rempooter." — American Antq. Researches. "Some years since a clay vessel was discovered, about twenty feet below the surface, in alluvial earth, in digging a well neat Nashville, Tenaessee, and was found standing on a rock, from whence a spring of water issued. This vessel was taken to Peale's Museum, at Philadelphia. It contains about one gallon ; was cir^ cular in its shape, with a flat bottom, from which it rises in a some- what globose form, terminating at the summit with the figure of a female head; the place where the water was introduced, or poured out, was on the one side of it, nearly at the top of the globose part* The features of the face are Asiatic ; the crown of the head is covered by a cap of pyramidal figure, with a flattened circular sum- mit, ending at the apex, with a round button. The ears are large^ extending as low as the chin. The features resemble many of those engraved for Raffle's history 5 and the cap resembles Asiatic head dresses." — Am. Ant. Researchs. Another idol was, a few years since, dug up in Natchez, on the Mississippi, on a piece of ground where, according to tradition, long before Europeans visited this country, stood an Indian temple* This idol is of stone, and is nineteen inches in height, nine inches in width, and seven inches thick at the extremities. On its breast, as represented on the plate of the idol, were five marks, which were evidently characters of some kind, resembling, as supposed, the Persian ; probably expressing, in the language of its authors, the name and supposed attributes of the senseless god of &t