LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 913.73 P93a 1835 ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY rachm daeh Am beshuth Chanilaal ben Bar melee." Which, being interpreted, is: "The inner chamber of the sanc- tuary of the sepulchre of Hannibal, Illustrious in the consumma- tion of calamity. He was beloved. The people lament, when arrayed in order of battle, Hannibal, the son of Bar-melec." This is one of the largest remains of the Punic or Phoenician language now in existence. Characters of this description are also found on the rocks of 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 fac simile of which is presented at No. 5. These were furnished by Baron Humboldt, in his volume of Researches in South America; between which and those given us above, by Dr. Clarke, it is easy to perceive a 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 public by Prof. Rafinesque, in his At- lantic 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. Un- der figure 3 are the American letters, or letters of Otolum, an ancient city, the ruins of which are found in North America, being, so far as yet explored, of an extent embracing a circum- ference of seventy-fivo 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 work. We here subjoin an account of those characters, numbered 1„ 122 AMERICAN ANTIQUIT1E8 2, 3, by the author, Prof. Rafinesque; and also of the American glyphs, which, however, are not presented here, but on another page of this work. They are formed by a combination of the letters numbered 1, 2, 3, and resembling very much, in our opinion, the Chinese characters, when grouped or combined, with a view to express a sentence or a paragraph in their language. The ac- count is as follows: LYBIAN. AMERICAN. No. 1. 2. 3. Ear Eye Nose AIPS ESH IFR Tongue OMBR Hand VULD Earth LAMBD Sea Air Fire Sun Moon Mars MAH NISP RASH BAP CEK DOR Merc'y GOREG Venus UAF Saturn SIASH Jupiter THEUE A E I u L M N P B P C k D t G V f S sh Thz <§> W IG ® m mimmmmm mmwMMmm ^+X !Pti w v-&m ii 03 MWM$. iH n ■ ■ ■• A EI IZ ow uw IL IM IN 1R IB UK ID ET [GH UW ES ISH uz AND DI8COVERIKS IN THE WEST. 123 Letter to Mr. Champollion, on the Graphic Systems of America, and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central America. ELEMENTS OF THE GLYPHS. I have the pleasure to present you here a tabular and com- parative view of the Atlantic alphabets of the two continents, with a specimen of the groups of letters, or glyphs, of the monuments of Otolum,* or Palenque ; which belong to my seventh serious of graphic signs, and are, in fact, words formed by grouped letters, or elements, as in Chinese characters, or somewhat like the cyphers now yet in use among us, formed by acrostical anagrams, or combinations 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 known alpha- bets, the Chinese Sanscrit, but in vain. The Chinese characters offered but few similarities with the glyphs, and not having a lit- eral but syllabic alphabet, could not promise the needful clue. The Sanscrit alphabet, and all its derived 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 resemblance with our American glyphs. In fact, I could see in them the Egyptian cross, snake, circle, delta, square, trident, eye, feather, fish, hand, &c, but sought in vain for the birds, lions, sphynx, beetle, and a hundred other nameless signs of Egypt. However, this first examination and approximation of analogy in Egypt and Africa, was a great preliminary step in the inquiry. I had always believed that the Atfantes of Africa have partly colonized America, as so many ancient writers have affirmed. This belief led me to search for any preserved fragments of the alphabets of Western Africa and Lybia, the land of the Afri- can Atlantes, yet existing, under the names of Berbers, Tuarics, Shelluhs, &c. This was no easy task The Atlantic antiqui- ties are still more obscure than the Egyptian. No Champollion P * A late discovered city of North America, nearly equal to the Egyptian Thebes. 124 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 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 inscrip- tions delineated. However, I found at last, in Germany, (Africa Illustrata,) an old Lybian alphabet, which has been copied by Purchas, in his collection of old alphabets. I was delighted to find it so explicit, so well connected with the Egyptian, being also an acrostic al- phabet, and above all, to find that all its signs were to be seen in the glyphs of Otolum, the American city. Soon after it appeared,, in a supplement to Clapperton and Denham's Travels in Africa,, another old and obsolete Lybian alphabet, not acrostical, found by Denham, in old inscriptions among the Tuarics of Tagih and Ghraat, west of Fezan; which, although unlike 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 be- lieve 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 sub- ject into several parts, directing my inquiries, 1st. On the old Lybian alphabet. 2dly. On the Tuaric alphabet. 3dly. On their element in the American glyphs. 4thly. 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. 1. The old Lybian, delineated in the table No. 1, has all the appearance of a very ancient alphabet, based upon the acros- tical plan of Egypt; but in a very different language, of which we have sixteen words preserved. This language may have been that of a branch of Atlantes, perhaps the Getulians, (Ge-tula, or Tulas of the plains,) or of the Ammonians, old Lybians, and also Atlantes. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 125 Out of these sixteen words, only five have a slight affinity with the Egyptian. They are: Lybian. Egyptian. Lybian. Egyptian Nose Ifr Nif Venus Uaf AU> Sea Mah Maub Ear Alps Ap Saturn siash Sev While this Lybian has a greater analogy with the Pelagic dia- lects, as many as twelve out of sixteen being consimilar. Lybian . Pelagic. Lybian. Pelagic. Eye Esh Esbas Earth Lnmbd Landa Nose Ifr Rinit' Sea Mah Marah Hand Vuld Hul, chil Fire Rash Purah Moon Cek Selka, kres Venus Uaf I'enas Mars Dor Hares, Thor Saturn Siash Satur, Shiva Mercury Goreg Mergor Jupiter Theue 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 connected with the Pelagian nations of Greece, Italy and Spain, but much less so with the Egyptians, from whom they however borrowed 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 twenty-two sounds, by modification of six of the letters, as usual among the Pelagian and Etruscan. 4. Above all, by being based upon the acrostics of three important series of physical objects, the five senses represented by their agents in man, the four elements of nature, and the seven planets; which are very philosophical ideas, and must have originated in a civilized nation 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 hand, for the five 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 fifth planet, has nearly the same sign as U, the fifth letter. These physical emblems are so natural and obvious, that they are sometimes found among many of the ancient alphabets; the 126 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES sun and moon even among the Chinese. But in the Egyptian al- phabets, 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 eighteen in number. It is doubtful whether these names were well applied, in all instances, as the explainer was ignorant, and Denham not aware of the importance of this alphabet. Some ap- pear not well named, and U with V have the 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, in- stead of UULD! As we have it, this alphabet is sufficiently and obviously derived from the first, eleven out of the sixteen letters being similar or nearly so, while only five 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 Hei- ratic Egyptian, 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 alpha- bets found in inscriptions; but as they have been delineated with- out a key or names, it is at present very difficult to decypher them. I, however, recommend them to the attention of the learned, and among others, point out the Lybian inscription of Appolonia, the harbor of Cyrene, given by Lacella, in his travels in the Cyrenaica. The letters of this inscription appear more numerous than sixteen^ or even twenty-two ; and, although they have some analogies with the two Lybian alphabets, yet approxi- mate still more to the Demotic of Egypt and the Phoenician. But the inscriptions in Mount Atlas and at Farawan, when col- lected and decyphered, will be found of much greater historical importance. III. Meantime, in the column No. 3, of the tabular view, are given forty-six elements of the glyphs of Otolum. These forty-six AND DISCOVF.IUS IN THE WEST. 12T elements are altogether similar or derived from the Lybian proto- types 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 be easily perceived and separated. Sometimes they are ornamented by double lines or otherwise, as monumental letters often are. Sometimes united to outside numbers, represented by long ellipses, meaning 10, and round dots, meaning unities, which approximates to the Mexican system of graphic numeration. Besides these forty- six 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 ac- tual theory. Therefore, the conclusion must occur, that such as- tonishing coincidence cannot be casual, but it is the result of ori- ginal derivation. The following remarks are of some importance: 1. The glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom, like 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 written, 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. 3. The letter represented by a head occurs frequently; but it is remarkable that the features are very different from those of the remarkable 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 involved by similar forms. We have not here the more certain demonstrations of Bilingual inscriptions; but if the languages should uphold this theory, they certainly will be increased by 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, 128 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the Coptic has been found such a close dialect of the Egyptian, that it has enabled you to read ih3 oldest hieroglyphs. We find among the ancient dialects of Chiapa, Yucatan and Guatimala, 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 t» my third letter. I will now merely give a few attempts to read some of the groups. For instance: 1. The group or word on the seat of the sitting man of plate 4, in the Atlantic Journal of Prof. Raffinesque, of monuments of Palenque, I read UOBAC, being formed by a hand, a tongue, a circle, an ear, and a crescent. It is perhaps his name. And underneath the seat is an eye with a small circle inside, meaning EB. 2. In plate 5, (see Atlantic Journal for all the plates alluded to,) is an eye with two annexed rings, meaning probably BAB, and perhaps the sun, which is BAP in the Lybian alphabet. 3. In plate 1, the glyph of the corner with a head, a fish, and a orescent, means probably KIM. 4. The first glyph of page 15, is probably BLAKE. 5. I can 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 Otolum. And next reach, step by step, to the desirable know- ledge of reading those glyphs, which may cover much historical knowledge of high import. Meantime I have opened the path, if my theory and conjectures 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 my 8th series; which was found in Guatimala and Yucatan, at the Spanish conquest. A specimen of it has been given by Humboldt in his American researches, plate 45, from the Dresden Library, and has been -ascertained to be Gutatimalan instead of Mexican, being totally ■unlike the Mexican pictoral manuscripts. This page of Demotic has letters and numbers, these represented by strokes meaning 5, and dots meaning unities, as the dots never exceed four. This is nearly similar to the monumental numbers. These words are much less handsome than the monumental AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 129 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 understood in central America, as late as 200 years ago. If this is done, it will be the best clue to the monumental inscrip- tions. C. S. RAFINESQUE. 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 Gazetteer, p. 103, states that several hun- dred mummies were discovered near Lexington, in a cave, bu 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 1826, on the upper level, had occasion to sink a well for his accommodation, who persevered in digging to the depth of eighty feet without finding water, but still persisting in the attempt, his workmen found themselves obstructed by a sub- stance, which resisted their labor, though evidently not stone. They cleared the surface and sides from the earth bedded around it, when there appeared the slump of a tree, three feet in diame- ter, 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 and apparent character of coal, but had not the friable and fusible 9 130 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES quality of that substance. Ten feet below, the water sprang up r and the well is now in constant supply and high repute. Reflections on this discovery are these: 1st. That the tree was undoubtedly antediluvian. 2d. 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 position, several feet below the bed of that river. 3d. That America was peopled before the flood, as appears from the action of the axe in cutting down the tree. 4th. That the antediluvian Americans were acquainted with the use and properties 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. 22, was a blacksmith, and worked in iron and brass r more than a thousand years before the flood. It was about 500 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 re- cord, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron, yet a knowledge of the metals must have existed long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, as was also Adam, which they could not have been without spades, hooks, &c." The Roman plough was formed of wood, being in shape like the anchor of 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 primative plough, from which, in the progress of ages, improve- ments 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 the very 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 wa- AND DI6C0VERIE6 IN THE WEST. 131 ters, 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 industry and agricultural pursuits are discovered in the felling of 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 existed; 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 not subterranean; and it is more than inti- mated that such was the fact, when it is said, "all the fonntains of the great deep were broken up," on the day the flood com- menced. But by what means were they broken up? This is left to con- jecture, as the Scriptures are higher in their aim, than the mere gratification of curious questions of this sort; but in some way this was done. The very terms " broken up," signify the exer- tion of power and violence, of sufficient force to burst at once whole tracts of earth 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? We imagine we can. It is well known, that 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 inconceivable velocity, stop the earth in this motion suddenly; what would the effect be? All the fluids, that is the waters, whe- ther 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, rolling the mighty flood over all countries, with a steady current, till the waters again sought their general level, which commenced to take place at the end of five months 132 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES from the beginning; when the earth again went onward in its annual journey. This is our opinion of the way how "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up." If the earth were to be arrested in its course now, 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, so that it should not be liable to overset. Cause this plank to move, at first slowly, but increase its steady onward velocity as much as the fluid will bear, without causing a reaction; 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 difference, the law of gravitation would prevent the waters of the earth from leaving the surface, but would cause a rapid current in the direc- tion the earth is pursuing. It is supposed by many, that were the earth checked in its daily or diurnal motion on its axis, that the Pacific would, in a mo- ment, rise mountains high, and commence to roll its fathomless depths directly over the entire continent of America. The At- lantic would do the same, and sweep all Europe, Asia and Africa; while the Indian ocean, which is but the western side of the Pa- cific, would follow on, and thus the globe would again be deluged by a flood. As a reason for this belief, it is shown, that the sur- face of the earth moves at the equator, in turning on its axis, at the rate of more than 1,000 miles an hour; a velocity about equal to the speed of a cannon ball, and were this motion, checked suddenly, it would, it is supposed, produce the above effect. But, if such would be the effect, of a sudden interruption of the earth's diurnal motion, how is it that the earth was not over- flowed at the time the Divine power, at the request and com- mand of Joshua, the captain of the conquering tribes of the He- brews stood still, jfor the space of a whole day? In answer to this, we have but one reason to offer, and this is it: — that the matter of the earth's surface, would, the very moment of such an arrest; increase its gravitating power, so as exactly to coun- teract such a catastrophe, or such a tendency of its waters. AND DISC0VERIK6 IN THE WEST. 133 To show this opinion correct, we have only to suppose the diurnal motion of our planet, increased so much as that it should make its revolution on its axis in one hour instead of twenty- four. What would he the effect? it would cause every particle of matter whether stone, timher, forests, houses with all the works of man, rivers, lakes, animals — with every human being to be thrown with all the force of an explosion high into the atmos- phere, which as it fell to the earth, would be again thrown off as before, by which means the earth would soon be reduced with all its appendages to a complete state of Chaos. If so, then we have a right to our conclusion, in the inverse proportion, which would take place were the earth suddenly caused to stand still on its axis; the gravitating principle would be increased in exact pro- portion as it would be lessened in case of an increased velocity of the earth's surface. So that were such a thing to take place,, as in the daj T s of Joshua, not a particle of the globe's surface, whether of earth or water, would be disturbed on account of the faithfulness of the principle of gravitation. But to stop the earth in its other motion, which is performed in its annual journey around the sun, would not effect in any way, the principle above alluded to. That such would be the operations on the earth's surface, were its motion, on its axis increased, as we have discribed, is shown from the fact that a wheel of nine feet circumference, made of wrought iron, will fly to attorns, before it reaches a velocity of 400 feet to the second, were a sufficient impetus attached to it. — Silliman's Journal. That the waters of the deluge came from the west, is evident from the manner in which the various strata of the earth are situ- ated over the whole of our country; and that its motion was 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, hills and smaller eminences, lying on beds of clay and soils of various kinds below it. The effects of the deluge can be traced in all the earth, but particularly many parts of America, about the lakes, and to the east, showing that the waters flowed in that direction. For a beautiful and able description of this subject, see Thomas's Tra- vels, published at Auburn, under the head, The Deluge. 134 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES But it may be inquired, from whence came water to furnish the earth with so long a rain as of forty days and nights; and from whence originated vapor enough to becloud the whole circum- amibent atmosphere of the earth at once. Surely some cause more than 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, pre- sented 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 furn- ished the atmosphere for so long and so dreadful a storm, and justify the expression, " and the windows of heaven were opened." By some it has been imagined that the flood of Noah was pro- duced by the near approach of a comet, the waters of which at- tracted the waters of the globe from the depths so as to deluge the earth. But this opinion is not admissible, as the same comet which by the laws of gravitation would be compelled to follow the same track or orbit, would long ere this time have deluged the world several times, which has not taken place. Others have supposed that the poles have been entirely shifted. If such may have been the fact, it is true the earth would have been easily flooded, as the frozen oceans, with two continents of ice, would have been placed suddenly beneath the rays of a vertical sun, the effect of which would, even now, were such a catastrophe to take place, bring on a universal deluge, equal to that of Noah's. Also the whirl and shifting of the waters of the ocean would have contributed greatly to this effect. Jn support of this theory, it is shown that in the high northern latitudes, banks, and even the entire bodies of equatorial animals have been found imbeded in the ice, which have been brought to light by unusual thaws. Even in the most dreary and desolate northern regions are found in great quantities >the tropical plants and trees in a state of pre- servation. But these, we believe, are to be accounted for, not on the prin- ciple of the shifting of the poles, but rather by the arrest of the globe in its orbit round the sun, occasioning a rapid current of the AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 135 waters of the earth eastwardly, which, as the strata of the earth generally shows, was the fact, would produce the appearances as above stated by the lateral flow of the waters round the earth from the equator toward the poles. To the arrest of the earth in its orbit, it may be objected, that if such had been the fact, the globe would have fallen during that time a great way toward the sun ; to which we assert, that the same power which could arrest the earth in so extraordinary a manner could also hold it suspended in its true place, till the effect should be accomplished for which the arrest was designed. In this way the surface of the earth was ruined ; a dispropor- tionate 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 al- lowed from the creation till the flood ; a time quite sufficient 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 monu- ment, the stump 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 opportunity which this grand conclusion affords me, of stating that America was the cradle of the human race; of tracing its co- lonies westward over the Pacific ocean, and beyond the sea of Kamschatka, to new settlements ; of following the emigrants by land and water, until they reached Europe and 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 while to inform an European, that in coming to America he had left the new world behind him, for the purpose of visiting the old. — American Antiquarian Society, p. 331.) But this opinion 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 136 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES names of the very rivers arising out of the regions of country call- ed Paradise; such as Pison, Havilah, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Eu- phrates; or as they now are called, Phasis, Araxes, Tigris, and Euphrates ; 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 Prof. Mitchell, has absolutely no data whatever. If but a tradition favoring that opinion 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 extravagant to argue a contrary belief. This one stump of Cincinnati, we consider, surpasses in conse- quence 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 ; because it is a remnant of matter, in form and fashion, such as it was, before the earth " perished by water," bearing on its top the indubitable 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 current 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 " went upon the face of the xcaters." 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 this law of nature. Now, if it had been built any where in the country called Ar- menia, where the mountain Ararat is situated ; and as it is found the waters had a general eastern direction, the ark in going on the the face of the waters would have, during the time the waters of deluge prevailed, which was one hundred and fifty days, or five months, gone in an eastern direction as far perhaps as the regions AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WE6T. 137 of the islands of Japan, beyond China, east, a distance of about 6000 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 carried 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 6000 miles from America, where it did actually rest. More than 1600 years had elapsed when the ark was finished, and it may fairly be inferred, that as Noah was born about 1000 years after the creation of the world, that mankind had, from ne- cessity, arising from the pressure of population, gone very far away from the regions round about Eden ; and the country where Noah was born may as well bo supposed to have been America, as any other part of the earth; seeing there are indubitable signs of antediluvian population in many parts of it. Unite this circum- stance with that of the ascertained current of the deluge from America, and with the fact of the ark's having rested in an east- erly direction from this country, we come to a conclusien, that here, perhaps, in the very state of New- York, the miraculous vessel 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 suppose, of being the country where the ark was erected. It is not to be supposed, thai more than 1600 years could pass away, without the antediluvians having enjoyed the advantages of art and science, seeing these are the natural results of human society. The ark itself is a demonstration that even ship building was known, or how could Noah have understood what was meant, when it was said to him, " build an ark or vessel of gopher wood," &c. This supposition of the antediluvians having a knowledge of letters or their equivalents, is maintained by discoveries made on 138 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIE8 opening the vast heaps of bricks which formed the tower of Babel. These bricks, it appears, were much larger and thicker ^than the same article is now made, as they are found to be some- thing over a foot square and three inches thick. On many of these, as stated by M. Beaucham, a French traveller and astrono- mer, who visited Babylon in 1781, are engraven unknown charac- ters and hieroglyphics. On one brick he found a lion presented in relief, which shows that the mould in which the brick was form- ed, had the form of this animal carved or cut into the timber or metal of which the mould was made. On another he found the shape of a half moon formed in the same manner. One of the masons who was employed in digging brick from these ruins, told M. Beauchamp, that there were often found, little cells which con- tained images of the human shape formed of clay, and that on one brick which had been taken from thence, were represented in varnish the figures of a cow, and of the sun and moon, which shows they had also a knowledge of painting, and delineation which belongs to the fine arts. — (See Evening Recreations, vol. 1, p. 62, 1830.) Now it is not reasonable to suppose that the art of letters, faint- ing, and sculpture were all found out during the short space, from the time the ark rested on Ararat, till the time of the commence- ment of the building of that tower ; and we will add also, the knowledge of brick making, and of architecture. Ts it not, there- fore, clear that all these were known and practised by the antedil- uvians ? This knowledge was, therefore, received from the family of Noah, and especially from Shem or Melchesideck, who, it ap- pears, in leaving the ark came westward from its resting place with some one of the colonies, who settled the land of Shinar. The invention of letters, is attributed to the Phoenicians, but the secret is, that, doubtless, to Shem or Melchesideck this art was known, and taught ; as well also, as the positions of the con- tinents of the globe. Shem could therefore tell the latitude of the ancient seat of Pa- radise, though he may have been born in America, and though the flood has destroyed the beauty and towering grandeur of the pristine situation of the seat of Adam. In Morse's Universal Geography, first volume, page 142, the AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WE8T. 139 discovery of the stump is corroborated : M In digging a well in Cincinnati, 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 sur- face which had evident marks of the axe ; and on its top there appeared as if some iron tool had been consumed by rust." The axe had, no doubt, been struck into the top of the stump, when the horrors of the deluge first appeared, in the bursting forth of the waters from above, from the windows of heaven ; — when sounds terrific, from the breaking forth of the waters of the great deep, and from the shock all sensitive beings must have felt when the earth was caused to stand still it its onward course around the sun. Remember Joshua, at whose command and prayer, God stopped the earth for the space of a whole day, but not 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 in- terruption of the other motion would have had. Who would not flee, when phenomena so terrible, without pre- sage or warning, were changing the face of things, and the feel- ings 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 tumb- ling 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. In one of the communications of the admired Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, professor of Natural History, to the American antiqua- rian society, mention is made of a certain class of antiquities as distinguished 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 occasion- ally tools and utensils, buried to those depths." This, it will be perceived, is much below the bed of lake Erie, of consequence must have been antediluvian, and agrees with the discovery of 140 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the stumps at Cincinnati. " We are informed, that in Rhode Is- land, 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 as- certain and collect the facts of this description. They will be ex- ceedingly curious, both for the geologist and historian. After such facts shall have been collected and methodised, we may per- haps draw some satisfactory conclusions ; light may possibly be shed upon the remote Pelasgians, and upon the traditionary At- lantides," the inhabitants of the island, we have before spoken of, Atalantis. But 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 of the deluge, 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, how- ever 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 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 Williamsburgh has recently deen 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 vertebra, or backbone, regularly ar- ranged, and very 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 nine- ty and an hundred feet, having 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 appear- AND DISCOVERIES US THE WEST. 141 ances, 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 America, was perhaps not much disturbed; but was rather suddenly overwhelm- ed from the west, by the bursting forth of the subterranean Paci- fic, 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 over the whole continent, furnished from the countries of the west. 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. 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 po- pulation in America. We have examined the blade of a sword found in Philadelphia, now in Peel's Museum, in New York, which was taken out of the ground something more than sixty feet below the surface. The blade is about twenty inches in length, is sharp on one edge, with a thick back, a little turned up at the point, with a shank drawn out three or four inches long, on which was doubtless, inserted in the handle, and clenched at the end. It is known that the sword of all ancient nations was very short, on which account, their wars on the field of battle, were but an immense number of single combats. At Cincinnati there is a barrow or mound of human bones, si- tuated 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 142 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES caved away, from its being undermined. Among the earth thus fallen down, were found several stone hatchets, pieces of pottery, and a. flute, made of the great bone of the human leg. This is a very curious instrument, with beautifully carved figures, repre- senting birds, squirrels, and small animals, with perforated holes, in the old German manner, which, when breathed into, emitted tones of great melody. Among the modern 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 teeth, 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 stated, 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 we have been speaking, was dis- covered 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 mothers 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- man Catholics have availed themselves of this image, and made it a testimony of the antiquity of their religion, and of the extensive AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 143 range of their worship, by attempting to prove thereby, that the idol was nothing else than a Madona and child, the virgin Mary r 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, tumuli, 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 ori- gin 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, p. 27, and is known as the Septua- gint 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 inspired 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 exqui- site skill in 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 posses- sion of the Romans; as the Greeks were, soon after the transla- tion of the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek, subdued by the Ro- mans, who, in their conquests here and there over the earth, in- cluding Europe, England, Scotland, and the northern islands, car- rying that kind of image with them as a god, or talisman, and from thence to America. 144 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. It is, however, not impossible, but it may be indeed of true Roman 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. Consequently, long before the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador, on the American continent, the Christian religion was planted in the north of Eu- rope; first in France, in the year 496, and then soon after in England; and so on farther north among the ancient Scandina- vians, Norwegians, &c, and by these to Iceland and Green- land; who may have also brought this trait of that church to America. Another 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 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 Philadel- phia. It is supposed the stone was formed for astronomical cal- culations, conveying a knowledge of the movements of the heav- enly bodies. Ji Cavern of the West, in which are found many interesting Hieroglyphics, supposed to have been made 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 represen- tations of such delineations as would induce the belief that their authors were, indeed, comparatively refined and civilized. 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 flood, and is situated close to the bank. In the early settlement of Ohio, this cave became possessed by a party of Kentuckians, called " Wil- 145 f to this ! gn-post Liquor :h a ta- call for stances, r which the cla- of such of rob- •ews of i boats, 3re sell ave by i party II good try be- ns, and specta- of, and cry of d to m- of the )ut that e cause lion at mouth ew Or- nments stained party; 3lf was reward five in se, and . The AND DISCOVBRIES IN THE WEST. 145 ■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 ta- vern induced almost all the boats descending the river to call for refreshments and amusement. Attracted 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 cla- mor of the riotous, and the blasphemy of gamblers. Out of such •customers, Wilson found no difficulty in forming a band of rob- bers, 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 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 be- gan to be alarmed, on finding their property make no returns, and their people never coming back. Several families and respecta- ble 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 in- quiry, and large rewards were offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of such unparalleled crimes. It soon came out that Wilson, with an organized party of forty-five men,was the cause ©f such waste of blood and treasure; that he had a station at Hurricane island, to arrest every boat that passed by the mouth of the cavern, and that he had agents at Natchez and New Or- leans, 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 partv; some dispersed, others were taken prisoners, and he himself was killed by one of his associates, who was tempted by the reward offered for the head of the captain of the gang. This cavern measures about twelve rods in length, and five in width; its entranc3 presents a width of eighty feet at its base, and twenty-five feef high. The interior walls are sniooth rock. The Uo 146 AMERICAN ANTKUfc'lTIKP 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, uni- ted by an aperture of about fourteen feet; which, to ascend, is like passing up a chimney, while the mountain is yet far above. Not long after the dispersion and arrest of the robbers, who had infested it, in the upper vault were 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 impor- tant than a description of the mere cave, which are found en- graved on the sides within, an account of which we proceed to give: 1. The sun, in different stages of rise and declension; the moon, under various phases; a snake, biting its tail, and representing 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 cro- codile; 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 much in the costume of Greece and Rome. We must at once perceive that these objects, with an excep- tion or two, were employed by the ancient Greeks to display the nature of the world, the omnipotence of God, the attributes of AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 147 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 600 b. c ; Pythagoras, about the same time ; Herodotus, about 450 b. c. ; and I'lato, a little later, acquired in Egypt all that knowledge of nature, which rendered them so eminent and remarkable. But the Egyptian priests did not di- vulge their doctrines, but by the aid of signs and figurative em- blems. Their manner was, to discover to their auditors the mysteries of God and nature, in hieroglyphics ; which were cer- tain visible shapes and forms of creatures, whose incJinations and dispositions led to the knowledge of the truths intended for instruction. All their divinity, philosophy, and their greatest se- crets, were comprehended in these ingenious characters, for fear they should be profaned by a familiar acquaintance with the com- monalty. It requires but a rapid and cursory view of the heiroglyphics above enumerated, to convince us of design; and also, that the cavern, 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 ado- ration for causing all the vegetation of the earth to bring forth its increase. 2. The moon denoted tho next most beautiful object in the creation, and was worshipped for her own peculiar usefulness : and, more particularly, for supplying the place of the departed sun 3. The snake, in the form of an orb, or circle, biting its (ail, pointed out the continual 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. 4. The viper, the most venomous of all creatures, was the env 10* 148 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES blem of the devil, or wicked angel: for, as its poison is quick and powerful, so is the destroying spirit, in bringing on man- kind evils which can only be opposed by the grace and power of God. 5. The vulture, tearing out the bowels of a prostrate man, seems a moral intending to reprove fierceness and cruelty. Dr. Rush says this hieroglyphic represents intemperance, and by them was so understood. 6. The panther, held by the ears by a child, was meant to impress a sense of the dominion of innocence and virtue over oppression and vice; or perhaps it bore the Greek meaning of a wretch encompassed with difficulties which he vainly attempts to avoid., 7. 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 hea- then nations concur in representing their gods beholding and doing all things in heaven and earth in profound silence. 8. The several trees and shrubs were undoubtedly emblematical 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 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 sketch- ed on the surface of a rough wall, the design obscured by smoke, or nearly obliterated from the effect of damp, and the gradual de- cay of time. 9. The fox, from every authority, was put to denote subtlety and craftiness. 10. The hydra serpent probably signified malice in envy — passions which the hieroglyphic taught mankind to avoid. 11. The two doves were hieroglyphics of constancy and love; all nations agree in this, in admiring the attachment of doves* 12. 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 AND DI8COVERIES IN THE WEST. 149 members are licked into form by the mother, who passes days in that anxious and unceasing employ. 13. 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 inflicted by them with a preparation of their own blood. 14. The eagle represents and is held to this day as the emblem 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. 15. The owl must have been set up to deter men from deceit and hypocrisy. He cannot endure the light 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 Greeks. 16. The quails afford no clue to their hieroglyphic, unless they signify the corn season, and point out the time for the usage of some peculiar 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 moon appears. 17. 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, and the boar his wrath, the sloth his patience, and the nondescript his hidden virtues, which are past finding out. 18. 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 European antiquities, were it not for the character and manner of the heads. The dress of these figures consisted of a carbasus, or rick cloak ; a sabucala, or waistcoat, or shirt ; a supparum, or breeches, open at the knees ; solea, or sandals, tied across the toes and heels ; the head embraced by a bandeau, crowned with flowers. 19. The dress of the females, carved in this cave, have a Gre- cian cast, the head encircled by the crown, and was confined by a bodkin; the remaining part of this costume was Roman. The garments called stolla, or perhaps the toga pura, flounced from 1'60 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES the shoulders to the ground ; an indusium appeared underneath ; the indusium was confined under the breast, by a zona or cestus ; and sandals, in the manner of those of the men. Could all this have been produced by the mere caprice of aboriginal artizans ? We think not. They have, in this in- stance, 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 contrast 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 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 ar- tists who delineated those figures would represent no less than eight animals, different in their configuration, one from the other,, which had in reality no being, and such as 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 Asphaltides, or sea cf 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 naval of his belly. He moveth his tail like a ce- dar; the sinews of his loins ai-e 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.''' AJVD DI&COVEIUK8 I.N THE V. £«T. 151 Whoever has examined the skeleton of one of those animals, now in the Philadelphia Museum, will acknowledge the bones are equal to bars of brass or iron. Its height over the shoulders, eleven feet; from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, following the exterior 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 which 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 be- longed to a skeleton weighing one thousand pounds, was found to be four pounds ten ounces ; a tooth weighing twenty- five pounds, would give a skeleton of more than five thousand pounds. And if the calculation be carried forward in this sort of proportion, we shall produce an animal more than forty feet high, and nearly a hundred in length, with a proportionable thickness. What would be the sensation, were we 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 fore- head between, clothed like the side of a hill, with a forest of shaggy hair; a mouth, gaping like some drear cavern, set round with teeth sufficient to crush a buffalo at a mouthful; its distended nostrils emitting vapor like the puffs of a steamboat, with a sound, when breathing, that might be heard afar; the legs appearing in size of dimensions sufficient 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 O'l, 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 animal would indeed be the "chief of the ways of God." It would be perfectly safe in the midst of a tornado in the wilder- ness; no tree, or a forest of them, could possibly harm the mon- 152 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES ster by falling against it. It would shake them off, as smaller animals do flies in a summer's day. 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 Spaf- ford'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 Mr. William Mann, who was engaged in digging up a stump. They were deposited about four feet be- low the surface of the earth. These were in a tolerably good state of preservation ; the roots begin to crumble a little, but the enamel of the teeth is in almost a perfect state. The teeth were the grinders, and from their appearance, were located in the back part of the upper jaw. The largest one weighs three pounds and ten ounces, 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 com- monly have, and that the rest of the teeth were of the same pro- portions, 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 com- parative size of this tooth with that of a large ox, and from thence infer the size of the animal 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. Dr. Adam Clarke mentions, in his commentary on the subject of this animal, denominated behemoth in 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 grinder of an elephant, says Dr. Clarke, I have weighed also, and find it but two pounds ; the mammoth, therefore, continues this great author, from this proportion, must have bearr as large as two ele AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 153 phants and a quarter." If, then, an animal of this kind, having a tooth weighing only four pounds and eight ounces, was more than twice as large as an ordinary elephant, how unwieldily and monsterous must have been the animal to which the tooth just mentioned, weighing twenty-Jive pounds, once belonged, arguing- from proportion, as Dr. Clarke has done. The same author in his Biilical Commentary on the first book of Genesis says, that from a considerable part of a skeleton which he had seen and ex- amined, it was computed that the animal, when living, must have- been nearly twenty-five feet high and sixty feet in length ; the bones of one toe were entire, and were something more than three feet long. The height of the animal, as computed 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 manner as to proclaim at once,, that they were formed by animals wallowing in them, after they had bathed and satiated themselves with the waters of the foun- tain; these were the works of buffaloes, deer, and other small ani- mals. But the same appearance are evident in some banks in the neighborhood, which were hollowed in a semi- circular manner, from the action of beasts rubbing against them, and carrying off quantities of the earth on their hides, forming a thick coat, to de- fend against the stings of numberless flies, like the rhinoceros of Africa. One of those scooped out hollow banks, appeared as if an hundred thousand loads of soil might have been carried off ; the hieght of the wasted bank, where it was affected by attrition, was at least twenty-five feet. The other animals being smaller, could get down and up again from their wallowing, with ease and quickness; but the mammoths were compelled, 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" k the mire. In the state of Missouri, White river and Straw- berry river, are certain ranges of mountains, at whose base, in a, certain spot, are found "large quantities of these bones gathered! in a small compass, which collection was doubtless occasioned by the appetite these animals had for prey, and had been attracted thither, on account of other animals flocking to the salt licks, at that place; the mammoths, following, became mired when they 154 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES ventured too far, in pursuit, into the marsh, 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 accu- mulated, like those of some of the extinct Indian tribes of the wes t." — (Beck's Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri, p. 332. J Adam Clarke supposes the behemoth to have been a carnivo- rous animal. See his remarks on this monster, in his Commentary on Job, 40th chapter, 15th verse : " The behemoth, on the con- trary, (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 floods and of the mountains ; rushing with rapidity of foot, instead of slowness or stateliness; and possessing a rigid and enormous tail, like a cedar tree, instead of a short naked tail of about a foot long, as the hippopotamus, or a weak, slender, hog-shaped tail, as the elephant. " Job says, c. xl. v. 17, that he (this monster) moveth his tail like a cedar, that is, its motions were like those of a tall cedar tree moved slowly one way and the other by the wind, which explicitly and emphatically marks the monstrousncss of this creature's size. " He moveth his tail like a cedar,'" slowly one way and the other; exactly as the lion, the tiger, or the leopard, in the motions of this limb, especially when angry, or 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 evidence of the overwhelming power or strength of the mammoth. He was, in- deed, 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 Colombia, South America, on the coast of the Pacific, on the equa- tor, 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 mutually destroyed each other. At New Granada in the same province, and on the ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras, vast quan- tities of the remains of this huge beast are found. — (Humboldt s Researches in South America.) The remains of a monster recently discovered en the bank of AJ.D DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 156 the Mississippi, in Louisiana, seventeen feet under ground, maybe 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 1200 pounds. The aperture in the vertebra*, or place for the pith of the back bone, is six by nine inches calibre ; supposed when alive to have been 125 feet in length. The awful and tremendous size of what this creature must have been, to which this shoulder blade or jaw bone belong- ed, when 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 Ihe Delaware tribe visited the government of Virginia, during the Revolution, on matters of busi- ness ; after this had been discussed, and settled in council, the governor asked some questions relative to their country, and among others, what 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 eleva- tion of his subject, informed him that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of these tre- mendous animals came to the Big-bone lick, and began an univer- sal destruction of the bear, deer, elk, buffaloes and other animals which had been 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 lightning, 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, except the big bull ; who, presenting his forhead to the shafts shook them off 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 156 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES several tribes, was at length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri, to a river which runs westwardly ; that these bones abounded there, and that the nations described to him the animal to which these belonged, as still living in the northern parts of their country." Mr. Jefferson contends, at page 77 of his Notes on Virginia^ that this animal is not extinct. " It may be asked," says this phil- osopher, " 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 find his bones. If he be a carnivorous animal, as some anatomists have conjectured, and the Indians affirm, his early retirement to deeper wilds, may be accounted for, from the great destruction of the wild game, by the Indians, which commenced the very first instant of their connexion with us, for the purpose of purchasing match- coats, hatchets, and guns, with their skins." The description of this monster's habits, as given by the Delaware chief, has a sur- prising agreement with the account of the behemoth given by Job, especially at this verse: — ""Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play." " He frequents those places, (say's Dr. Clarke,) where he can have most prey ; he makes a mock of all the beasts of the field. They can neither resist his power nor escape his agility. It appears to have been a many-toed animal ; the springs which such a creature could make must have been almost incredible ; nothing by swiftness could have escaped its pursuit. God seems to have made it as the proof of his power, and had it been prolific, and not become extinct, it would have depopulated the earth of both men and animals. Tracks of Men and Animals in the Rocks of Tennessee and elsewhere. Among the subjects of antiquity, which are abundant on the American continent, we give the following, from Morse's Univer- AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 157 ■sal Geography, which in point of mysteriousness is not surpassed, perhaps, on the globe. In the state of Tennessee, on a certain mountain, called the enchanted mountain, situated a few miles south of Braystown, which is at the headwaters 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 on snow or sand. The human tracks are remarkable 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 dis- tinguished from the rest, by its monstrousness, being of no less dimensions than sixteen 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; nearly the size of a half bushel measure, and perhaps the horse which the great warrior led when passing this mountain with his armv. That these are the real tracks of the animals they represent, ap- pears 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, which are the supposed tombs of warriors, slain, 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, Apalachcola, and Iliwassa rivers, were in a state of soft and clayey tex- ture. On this range, according to Mexican tradition, was the holy mountain ; temple and cave of Olami, where 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 warrior, whose track with that of his horse and company, still appear. We are of the opinion, that these tracks, found sunk in the surface of the rocks, of this mountain, is indubitable evidence of their antiquity, going back to the time when 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, 168 AJU ERICA N ANTIQUmtfi sufficient for it to harden to its present rocky consistency, is the argument 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 surface, where it is not exposed to the rays of the sun, is of a soft texture, 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 nature; and hardened by slow degrees, after having been brought to feel the influence of the sun's rays, and drying nature of the winds. The changing and revolutionising consequences of the flood, it is likely, unbared 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 stone mountains have been made, some eighteen hundred years later than the original creation. In the wild and savage country of Guiana, in South America, are mountains of a prodigious height, on whose smooth and per- pendicular sides, which 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 hieroglyphical 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 the stones were then so soft, and plastic, that men could easily trace marks on them with 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 the kind. Mr. School- craft, 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 represented on the plate, as given by Schoolcraft. AND DISCOVKRIKS IN T1IK WUT. 15i> M The impressions in the stone are, to all appearances, those of a man standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little ad- vanced, and the heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, by accurate measurment, 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 impressed and deep mark, having some resemblance to a scroll, a 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 the time when the rock was in a plastic state; both theories have their difficulties, but we incline to the latter, because the impressions are strikingly natural, says Mr. Schoolcraft, exhibiting even the muscular marks of the foot, with great precision and faithfulness to nature, and on this account, weakens, in his opinion, the doctrine of their being sculptured by the ancient nations. But why there are no others going to and from these, is unaccountable, unless we may suppose 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 the plate xchich is a true fac simile of those tracks.) Cotubamana^ ike Giant Chief. On the subject of the stature of the Patagonians, we have the following remarks of Morse, the geographer. " We cannot, without a charge of unreasonable scepticism, deny all credence to the accounts that have been transmitted to us, of a race of men of extraordinary 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 160 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES we inhabit* no bounds can be assigned to the endless variety of -phenomena, which successively appear. The man who can as- sign 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 Esquimaux. From an impartial revision of the various authorities, it ap- pears, 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 de- stroyed 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 a thousand, of any nation whatever. He was taller than the tallest of his countrymen, and in width from shoulder to shoulder full three feet, with the rest of his person in admirable propor- tion. His aspect was not handsome; yet his countenance was grave, strongly marked with the characteristics of a man of cour- age. His bow was not easily bent by a common man; his ar- rows were three pronged, pointed with the bones of fishes; all his weapons were large enough for a giant; in a word, he was so nobly proportioned 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 eaves, 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 came at length to a place where the path which they had followed suddenly divided into many, when the whole com- pany of the Spaniards, except one man, chose a path, which they pursued. This one exception, was a man named Juan Lopez, a powerful Spaniard, and skilful in the mode of Indian warfare. He chose to proceed alone, in a blind foot path, leading off" to the left of the course the others had taken, winding among little hills 1 so thickly wooded that it was impossible to see a man at the dis- AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 161 iance 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 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 the other a thrust with his sword at his naked body, but the 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. The 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 Spaniards hanged him as if he had been a Murderer. — lrving's Life of Columbus, vol. 3, p. 159. Could this native have been less than twelve feet in height, to be in proportion with the breadth of his back between his shoul- ders, which was full three feet, as Las Casas relates? In read- ing the story of the miserable death of this hero, 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. Goliath of Gath was six cubits and a span high, which, according to the esti- mate of Bishop Cumberland, was eleven feet and ten inches; Cotubamana and Goliath of the Philistines, were, it appears, much 11 162 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES of the same stature, terrible to look upon, and irresistible 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 species, as they are now con- stituted, could not possibly endure the pressure of so many years; the heart, 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 little bodies of the present times. Small streams sooner feel the power of draught than a river or a lake; great trees are longer sustained beneath the rays of a burning sky, without rain, than a mere weed or shrub; and this 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. Apply this reasoning to the antediluvians, and we arrive at the conclusion, 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 succession. 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 supported 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 giants ," whose history, by tra- dition, handed down from the family of Noah, through the lineage of Shem, 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 AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WE8T. 163 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, chap. 12, v., — 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 invented and in use as now. Every thing was to be effected by strength of muscle and bone, which of course would 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, broad, and tall in stature, loose and flabby in their flesh and skin; coarse and hideous in their features, slow and strong in their ges- tures, irascible and ferocious in their spirits, without pity or re- finement; given wholly to war, rapine and plunder; formed into bands; clans and small bodies of marauders, constantly prowl- ing 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 state 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 extremely wicked every way, so as to justify the Divine procedure in then- extermination by a flood. 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, considering the difference in the elements each inhabit, and ap- proach each other in size as nearly as the largest fowl now known, does the largest animal. Henderson, in his travels in New Sibria, 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 country, assured Mr. Henderson, that they had frequently, in their hunt- ing excursions, found the skeleton, and even the feathers of this fowl, the quills of which were large enough to admit a man's 164 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 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 monstrous birds' nest in New Holland, on a low sandy island, in Endeavor river, with trees upon it, where were an incredible number of sea fowls. This monstrous nest was built on the ground, with large sticks, and was no less than twenty-six feet in circumference, more than eight feet across, and two feet eight inches high. Geographies speak of a species of eagle, sometimes shot in South America, measuring from tip to tip of the wings, forty 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 horns, supposed to have belonged to a species "of deer now extinct. Some of these horns have been found, of the extent of fourteen 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. — (Morse's Universal Geography.) 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 some- what 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 AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEPT. 165 rich a soil as can be found in that country. It would seem the people who made this settlement undertook to encompass with a wall as much land as would support its inhabitants, aud also suffi- cient to build their dwellings on, with several fortifications, arran- ged in a proper manner for its defence. There are, within its ranges, four of those forts, of different dimensions; one contains forty acres, with a wall of about ten feet high; another, contain- ing twenty-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 around it, thrown out of a deep 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 perfect 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 impor- tant points, in case of invasion, should not be deprived of water. There are, besides the forts, four other small works of defence, 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, supposed to be for its defence. On the southern side of this great town, is a road running off to tho country, whioh is also walled in the same way ; it has been surveyed a few miles, and it 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 connect- ed with this work, of ten or twelve miles in extent, have been dis- covered. It is supposed, also, that the wall on each side of the road were made for the double purpose of answering as a fenc. 1 to 166 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 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 discovered very beautiful rock crystal and horn stone, suitable for arrow and spear heads, a little lead, sulphur, and iron. This kind of stone, suitable for spears, was, undoubt- edly, valuable 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 excava- tion 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 on the Licking, and four or five miles, in a northwestern direction from Somerset, the seat of justice for Perry county, is found. This work encloses about forty acres. Its wall is entirely of stone, not regularly laid up in a wall, agreeably to the rules of masonry, but a huge mass of stones and rocks, of all shapes and sizes, as nature formed them, without the mark of an iron tool upon them. These are in sufficient quantity to form a wall, if laid in good order, of about fourteen feet in height, and three in thickness. Near the centre of the area of this enclosure is a stone mound, of a circular form, fifteen feet high, and was erected, as is con- jectured, for an altar, on which were performed their religious rites, and also for a monument to perpetuate the memory of some great event in the history of its builders. It is also believed that the whole of this vast preparation was devoted solely to the pur- poses of worship of some kind; as it is situated on very high grounds, where the soil is good for nothing, and may have been, what is called a high place in Scripture, according to the customs of the ancient pagans of the old world. It could not have been a military work, as no water is found there, nor a place of dwelling, for the same reason, and from the poverty of the soil; but must have been a place of resort on great occasions, such as a solemn assembly to propitiate the gods; and also a place to anoint and crown their kings, elect legislators, trans- act national affairs, judge among the people, and inflict condign punishment. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 167 Who will believe for a moment that the common Indians of the west, who were derived in part from the wandering hordes of the northern Tartar race of Asia, were the authors of these works, bearing the marks of so much labor and scientific calculation in their construction? It cannot be. Vast Works of the Ancient Nations on the east side of the Muskingum. This fort, town, or fortification, or whatever it may have been, is between three and four hundred rods, or rising of a mile in cir- cumferenoe, and so situated as to be nearly surrounded by two small brooks, running into the Muskingum. Their site is on an elevated plain, above the present bank of that river, about a half mile from its junction with the Ohio. We give the account in the words of Mr. Atwater, president of the Antiquarian Society: " They consist of walls and mounds of earth, in direct lines, and in square and circular forms. The largest square fort, by some called the town, contains forty acres, encompassed by a wall of earth from six to ten feet high, and from twenty to thirty in breadth at the base. " On each side are three openings, at equal distances, resem- bling twelve gateways. The entrances at the middle are the largest, particularly on the side next to the Muskingum. From this outlet is a covert way, formed of two parallel walls of earth, two hundred and thirty-one feet distant from each other, meas- ured from centre to centre. The walls at the most elevated part, on the inside, are twenty-one feet in height, and forty-two in breadth, at the base, but on the outside average only about five feet in height. This forms a passage of about twenty rods in length, leading by a gradual descent to the low grounds, where, at the time of its construction, it probably reached the river. Its walls commence at sixty feet from the ramparts of the fort, and increase in elevation, as the way descends to the river; and the 168 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES bottom is rounded in the centre, in the manner of a well founded turnpike road. Within the walls of the fort, at its northwest corner, is an ob- long elevated square, one hundred and eighty feet long, one hun- dred and thirty-two broad, and nine feet high, level on the summit, and even now jiearly perpendicular at the sides. Near the south wall is an elevated square, one hundred and fifty by one hundred and twenty, and eight feet high, similar to the other, excepting that instead of an ascent to go up on the side next the wall, there is a hollow way, ten feet wide, leading twenty feet towards the the centre, and then rising with a gradual slope to the top. This was, it is likely, a secret passage. At the southeast corner is a third elevated square of one hundred and eighty by fifty-four feet, with ascents at the ends, ten feet wide, but not so high or perfect as two others. Besides this forty acre fort, which is situated within the great range of the surrounding wall, there is another, containing twenty acres, with a gateway in the centre of each side, and at each corner these gateways are defended by circular mounds. On the outside of the smaller fort is a mound in form of a sugar loaf; its base is a regular circle, one hundred and fifteen feet in diameter, or twenty-one rods in circumference ; its altitude is thirty feet. It is surrounded by a ditch four feet deep, fifteen feet wide, and defended by a parapet four feet high, through which is a gateway towards the foot, twenty feet in width. Near one of the corners of the great fort was found a reservoir or well,twenty- five feet in diameter, and seventy-five in circumference, with its sides raised above the common level of the adjoining surface, by an embankment of earth, three and four feet high. It was undoubtedly at first very deep, as, since its discovery by the first settlers, they have frequently thrust poles into it, to the depth of thirty feet. It appears to run to a point, like an inverted cone or funnel, and was undoubtedly that kind of well used by the inhabitants of the old world, which were so large at their top as to afford an easy descent down to the fountain, and up again with its water in a vessel borne on the shoulder, according to the ancient custom. (See Genesis, xiii. 24.) "And she (that is Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel,) went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up." Bethuel was an Assyrian,who. AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 169 it seems, had made a well in the same form with that described above. Its sjdes were lined with a stratum of fine ash-colored clay, eight and ten inches thick, beyond which is the common soil of the place. It is conjectured that at the bottom of this well might be found many curious articles which Belonged to the an- cient inhabitants. Several pieces of copper have been found in and near these ancient works, at various places; and one was in the form of a cup, with low sides, the bottom very thick and strong, showing their enlarged acquaintance with that metal, more than the Indians ever had. Ruins of Ancient Works at Circlevllle. At Circlevillc, in Ohio, are the remains of very great works of this description, evidently of a military character, two of which are united; one is exactly square, the other an exact circle. The square fort is fifty rods on each side; the round one is nearly three hundred feet, or eighteen rods in circumference; the circle and square touching each other, and communicate at the very spot where they united. The circular fort is surrounded by two walls, with a deep ditch between them; the square fort is also encompassed by a wall, without a ditch. The walls of the circular fort were at least twenty feet in height, measuring from the bottom of the ditch, before the town of Circleville was built. The inner wall is formed of clay, brought from a distance; but the outside one was formed with the earth of the ditch, as it was thrown out. There were eight gateways or openings leading into the square fort, and only one into the circular. Before each of these openings was a mound of earth, about four feet high, forty feet in diameter at the base, and twenty feet and upwards at the top, situated about two rods in front of the gates, for the defence, no doubt, of these openings. The walls of this work vary a few degrees from north and south, and east and west, but no more than the needle varies; and not a few surveyors have, from this ^70 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES circumstance, been impressed with the belief, that the authors of these works were acquainted with astronomy, and the four car- dinal points. Within the great square fort are eight small mounds, placed op- posite the gateways, for their defence, or to give opportunity to privileged spectators to review the thousands passing out to war, or coming in with the trophies of victory. Such was the custom of ancient times. David, the most potent king of the Jews, stood at the gateway of the city, as his armies went to quell the insur- rection of his son, Absalom. (See 2d Samuel, xviii. 4.) " And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came- out, by hundreds and by thousands." It cannot be supposed the king stood on the ground, on a common level with his armies. Such a situation would be extremely inconvenient, and defeat, in a great measure, the opportunity of review. How impressive, when sol- diers, fired with all the ardor of expected victory, to behold their general, chief, king, or emperor, bending over them, as they pass on, from some commanding position near at hand, giving counsel to their captains; drawing, in this way, large draughts on the in- dividual confidence and love of the soldiery. Such may have been the spectacle at the gateways of the forts of the west, at the eras •of their grandeur. In musin » on the structure of these vast works found along the -western rivers, enclosing such immense spaces of land, the mind is irresistibly directed to a contemplation of ancient Babylon, the first city of magnitude built immediately after the flood. That city was of a square form, being fifteen miles distance on each of its sides, and sixty in circumference, surrounded with a wall eighty-seven feet in thickness, and three hundred and fifty in height. On each side it had twenty-five gateways, amounting in all, to a hundred; the whole, besides the wall, surrounded with a deep and wide ditch. At each corner of this immense square was a strong tower, ten feet higher than the walls. There were fifty broad streets, each fifteen miles long, starting from each of its gates, and a hundred and fifty feet broad, crossing each other at right angles, besides four half streets, surrounding the whole, two hundred feet broad. The whole city was divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, four and a half furlongs on each side. In ithe centre of the city stood the temple of Belus, and in the centre AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 171 of this temple stood an immense tower, six hundred feet square at its base, and six hundred feet high, narrowing in the form of a pyramid, as it ascended. The ascent to the summit was accom- plished by spiral stairs, winding eight times round the whole: this tower consisted of eight distinct parts, each on the top of the other, seventy-five feet high, till the whole, in aggregate, finished the tower. In the different stories were temples or chapels for the worship of the sun; and on its top, some authors say,was an image of gold, forty feet in height, equal in value to three millions five hundred thousand dollars. — Blake's Atlas. The model of this city, with its towers at the corners, and pyramid in its centre, having been made at so early a period of time, being not far from one hundred years after the flood,was doubtless of sufficient influence to impress its image on the memory of tradition, so that the nations spreading out from that region ever all the earth, may have copied this Chaldean model in their various works. This thought is strengthened when we compare its counterpart, the vast works of the west, with this Babylonian prototype of ar- chitectural effort, and imagine we see in the latter, the features and general outlines of this giant among cities, in the towers, walls and pyramids of the western States. Near the round fort at Circleville is another fort, ninety feet high, and was doubtless erected to overlook the whole works of that enormous military establishment. That it was a military es- tablishment is the decided opinion of the president of the Western Antiquarian Society, Mr. Atwater. He says the round fort was picketed in, if we are to judge from the appearance of the ground, on and about the walls. Half way up the outside of the inner wall, is a place distinctly to be seen where a row of pickets once stood, and where it was placed when this work of defence was originally erected. Finally, this work about its walls and ditch, a few years since presented as much of defensive aspect as forts which were occupied in our war with the French, such as Oswego, Fort Sianwix, and others. Respecting this place, it is said that the Indian, even to this day, will on no account enter within its outlines, which circumstance proves, bjyond a doubt, that it was also a holy or sacred place, 172 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES where the mysteries of ancient paganism were celebrated with all the pomp and circumstance necessary to the belief of that which is but fiction. Ancient Works un Paint Creek. On Paint Creek, in Ohio, about fifteen miles from Chilicothe, are works of art still more wonderful than any yet described. There are six in number, in the neighborhood of each other. In one of those grand enclosures are contained three forts. One embraces seventeen, another twenty*seven, a third seventy-se- ven — amounting, in all, to one hunted and fifteen acres of land. One of those forts is round, another square, and a third is of an irregular form; approaching, however, nearer to the cir- cular than any othei ; and the wall which embraces the whole, is so contrived in its courses, as to favor those several forms, the whole being evidently one work, separated into three compart- ments. There are fourteen gateways going out of the whole work, be- sides three .which unite the several forts one with the other, in- wardly. All these, especially those leading outwardly, are very wide, being, as they now appear, from one to six rods. At three of those gateways, on the outside of the wall, are as many ancient wells ; and one on the inside, where doubtless, the inhabitants procured water. Their width across the top is from four to six rods, but their depth unknown, as they are now nearly filled up. Within the greatest enclosure, containing the seventy-seven acres, is an eliptical elevation of twenty-five feet high, and so large, that its area is nearly one hundred and fifty rods in circumference, composed almost entirely of stone in their rough and natural state, brought from a hill adjacent to the place. This elevated work is full of human bones, and some have not hesitated to express a belief, that on this work, human beings were once sacrificed. The surface is smooth and level, favoring AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 173 the idea of the horrid parade, such occasions would produce ; yet they may have been erected for the purpose of mere military manoeuvring, which would produce a spectacle very imposing, composed of thousands, harnessed in their war attire, with nod- ding plumes. About a mile from this fort, there is a work in the form of a half moon, set round the edges with stones, exactly resembling the stone circles of the Druids, in which they per- formed their mystic rites in Europe, two thousand years ago. Near this semicircle is a very singular mound of only five feet in height, but ninety feet in circumference, composed entirely of red ochre ; which answers well as a paint. An abundance of this ochre is found on a hill, not a great distance from this place ; from which circumstance, the stream which runs along here, is called Paint Creek. So vast a heap of this paint being deposited, is pretty clear evi- dence, that it was an article of commerce, among these nations. Here may have been a store house, or a range of them, attended by salesmen, or merchants; who took in exchange for it, copper, feathers, bow and arrow timber, stone for hatchets, spears, and knives, wooden ploughs and shovels ; with skins and furs, for clothing ; stones for building their rude altars and works ; with food to sustain the populace, as the manner of cities is of the pre- sent time. Red paint in particular, is used now among the Hin- doos, which they mark themselves with, as well as their gods. This vast collection of red paint, by the ancient nations, on Paint creek favors the opinion that it was put to the same use, by the same people. Near this work is another, on the same creek, enclosing eighty- four acres, part of which is a square fort, with seven gateways ; and the other a fort, of an irregular oval, with seven gateways, surrounded with a wall like the others. But the most interesting work of the three contiguous forts, is yet to be described. It is situated on a high hill, of more than three hundred feet elevation, and in many places almost perpendicular. The wall running round this work, is built exactly on the brow of the precipice, and in its courses, is accommodated to the variations of this natural battle- ment, enclosing, in the whole, one hundred and thirty acres. On its south end the ground is level, where the entrance to the fort is easy. At the north end. which approaches pretty near to Paint 174 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES creek, appears to have been a gateway descending to the water, the ground favoring it at this point, as well as at one other, lead- ing to a little stream, which runs along its base, on the east side of this eminence, where is also another gateway ; these three ' places are the only points which are at all 'accessible. The wall round the whole one hundred and thirty acres, is entirely of stone, and is in sufficient quantity, if laid up in good order, to make it ten feet high, and four thick. At the north gateway, stones enough now lie, to have built two considerable round towers, taken from the hill itself, and are of the red sand stone kind. Near the south end of this enclosure, at the place where it is easiest of access, " appear to have been a row of furnaces, (says Mr. Atwater) or smith's shops, where the cinders now lie, many feet deep ; but was not able to say with certainty, what manufac- tures were carried on here, whether brick or iron, or 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 ; which shows 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 manfactured 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 there, leads to the belief, that those points, towers and battlements once overlooked 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 hiir, on which the walled town stood, have been discovered four wells- AND DISCOVERIES IN* THE WEST. 175 They were dug through a pyritous slate rock whieh 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 covers had holes through their centre, through which a large pry, or hand- spike 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 make good joints, as a stone mason 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 water, so many so near each other, would scarcely appear necessary; perhaps 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 i& 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 vast works of this character. Twelve miles west of Chillicothe, on Paint creek, are found the remains of a furnace ten or twelve feet square, formed of rough stone, sur- rounded by cinders, among trees of full size. There are, at this- place seven wells, situated within the compass of an acre of land, regularly walled up with hewn stone, but are nearly now filled up with the accumulating earth of ages Eight miles farther up the Creek, a small bar of gold was taken out of a mound, which sold in Chillicothe for twelve dollars. A piece of a cast iron vessel was taken out of the circular embankment at Circleville, Ohio. Near the same place was dug up from beneath the roots of a hickory tree, seven feet eight inches in circumference, a copper coin, but bearing no comparison with any coin now known. Another specimen of copper, finely wrought, was found on removing a mound in Chillicothe. On the Little Miami, about four miles above Waynes-Ville, on opening a spring of water, the workmen struck upon a regular stone wall. In digging a well in the village of Williamsburgh, on the east fork of Little Miami, those engaged in the excava- 176 AMKRICAN ANTIQUITIES lion, come to a fire-place with charcoal and brands of burnt wood, at the depth of about thirty feet. On the same stream, thirty miles above, a well was found, supposed to have been made by the ancient people, regularly stoned up, of the same size that wells are now. . In some other mounds refined copper mixed with gold has been discovered. What better evidence can be necessary to establish the fact, that nations not aboriginal have peopled this country, who, for aught that appears to the contrary were as polished, enterprising, and as enlightened as the people of the most refined ages of antiquity, as demonstrated in China, or even in Europe, as far back as the era of the commencement of Chris- tianity? And if we may judge by some discoveries which have been made in the west, we are able to show that they were much more so, of which we shall give the evidence before we close the volume. New discoveries are constantly making of these ancient works, the farther we go west, and the more minutely the research is prosecuted. 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 valle)'-. 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, which, after tra- versing for about seventy miles, plunges over a precipice. The rock from which the water falls, is circular, and juts over consider- ably. Immediately below the fall, on each side of the river, are bluffs, which rise two hundred feet. Around one of these bluffs, the river makes a bend, which gives it the form of a peninsula. On the top of this are the remains of what is esteemed fortifica- tions 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, is thirty-seven rods and eight feet, including about two acres of ground." The only descent from this place is between two rocks, for about thirty feet, when a bench of the ledge presents itself, from AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 177 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 summit. 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 constructed them, to have acted on the defensive; and believes 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 a hundred and fifty feet down the rocks. The reader can indulge his own con- jectures, 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. Jl Description of Western Tumuli or Mounds. Ancient Tumuli are considered a kind of antiquities, differing in character from that of the other works; both on account of what is frequently discovered in them, and the manner of their construction. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones, which were intended for sacred and important purposes. In many parts of the world, similar mounds were used as monu- ments, sepulchres, altars and temples. The accounts of these works, found in the Scriptures, show, that their origin must be sought for among the antediluvians. That they are very ancient, and were used as places of sepul- ture, public resort, and public worship, is proved by all the wri- ters of ancient times, both sacred and profane. Homer, the most ancient Greek poet, frequently mentions them, particularly