W/i ■ V •'■V 'V.'' - ' .■-.•'. J . I ■ •' "(V.V. ■ . •.-•>» / THE Commonwealth of Missouri. C£ / /V--> /9WiL^2^^X^ THE COMMONVv^EALTH OF MISSOURI; ^^nttnnial m^torir* rf / fr CONTRIBUTORS : AECH^OLOGY, HISTORY. - PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. MATERIAL WEALTH, A. J. CONANT, A. M. Col. "W. F. Switzler. G. C. Swallow, LL.D. R. A. Campbell, C. E. EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, W.T.Harris, LL.D. BIOGRAPHIES, - - - Several able writers. ED^fM ^f 6. ^^^J^NS. iVOt/ 14 1889 ^.li ST. LOUIS : BRYAN, BRAND & CO., PUBLISHERS, 1877. Euterecl according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by CHAKCY R. BARNS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. J6 12 im^ C. R. BARNS, Printer, BECKTOLD & CO., Binders 215 Pine Street, St Louis. 215 Pine St , St. Louis. PREFACE. . The present volume liticl its origin in a suggestion of President Grant, at the opening of the Centennial year, looking to the preparation of historical and other memorials of • the growth of the various States, counties and towns throughout the Union, during the epoch then closing. The original intention was to bring out the volume before the close of the Centennial year ; but it was soon found that a much longer time was necessary for the proper preparation of a work of such magnitude ; and hence, nearly two years have been employed in the undertaking. The Archeeological and Historical departments have largely exceeded the original limits designed, and the space set apart for local and biographical matter has been reduced in a corresponding degree. The purpose of the editor and publishers has been to present, in this volume, such a picture of our noble State as would be worthy of preser- vation in the library of every patriotic citizen. To accomplish this end, no pains or outlay has been spared. The writers employed will each be recognized at once as the persons qf- all others best qualified for their several departments. They need no introduction to the reader. The steel portraits, from the hand of J. C. Buttre, and the wood-engravings from half a score of artists equally excellent in their line, will speak for themselves. The typography of the volume will also compare favorably, as we think, with anything yet produced in Missouri. It has been a source of the greatest satisfaction to the editor, that every one engaged upon the volume, in every department, has conscientiously contributed his best efforts to the work. For himself, the editor claims no credit beyond that of an earnest effort to present, in an attractive and useful shape, the productions of the abler men whose names appear upon the title-page. If he shall be deemed to have succeeded in this, his reward will have been attained. CHANCY E. BARNS. n LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS. C. H, HARDIN, Centennial Governor of Missouri, - - - Frontispiece. JAMES S. EOLLINS, of Columbia, -^ - - - Facing Page 123 H. C. BROKMEYER, Lieutenant Governor, 177 EDWARD M. SAMUEL, of St. Louis, 254 GEN. G. R. SMITH, of Sedalia, 285 J. O. BROADHEAD, of St. Louis, ..------ 297 CHARLES D. EITZEN, State Senator, of Hermann, - - - . 337 GEN. FRANCIS P. BLAIR, - - 344 COL. JOHN F. PHILIPS, Member of Congress, - - - - - 369 COL. T. T. CRITTENDEN, Member of Congress, - - - - 407 CARLSCHURZ, . - 444 WILLIAM GENTRY, of Sedalia, .465 LOUIS V. BOGY, U. S. Senator, - 473 HENRY T. BLOW, of St. Louis, - - 497 THOMAS ALLEN, LL. D., of St. Louis, Pres. lion Mountain R, R. - 537 WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL. D., Sup't of Public Instruction, St. Louis, - 619 REV. E.S.DUL1N,LL. D., of St. Joseph, 633 NATHAN COLE, of St. Louis, Member of Congress, . - - - 641 JOHN F. LONG, U. S. Collector, St. Louis, 648 M. A. ROSENBLATT, City Collector, St. Louis, ----- 657 CHARLES V. RILEY, State Entomologist, 672 JAMES ELLISON MILLS, Geologist and Mineralogist, - " " " ^^^ E.M.MARVIN, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, - - - 693 REV. WM. POPE YEAMAN, D. D., - - 697 GEO. FRANK GOULEY, Grand Secretary of Grand Lodge F. & A. Ma- sous of Missouri, - " 701 H. CLAY SEXTON, Chief Engineer St. Louis Fire Department, - - 707 DR. J. H. McLEAN, of St. Louis, 711 JAMES HARRISON, of St. Louis, 715 GEN. JOHN S. MARMADUKE, of St. Louis, 720 EDWARD A. LEWIS, Presiding Judge St. Louis Court of Appeals, - 727 J. G. WOERNER, Probate Judge, St. Louis, 731 JAMES W. L. SLAVENS, Mayor of Kansas City, ... - - 747 [s. S.TODD, M.D., of Kansas City, 753 WILLIAM HOLMES, of Kansas City, 761 SAMUEL L. SAWYER, of Independence, 764 VI. LIST OF STEEL PLATES. WILLIAM CHRISMAN, of Independence, - . . _ Facing Page 766 T. B. BULLENE, of Kansas City, 778 GEORGE W. SAIilUEL, of St. Joseph, - 785 JOHN CORBY, of St. Joseph, - - - - - . . . 800 DUDLEY M. STEELE, of St. Joseph, 802 DR. GALEN E. BISHOP, of St. Joseph, 807 A. D. JAYNES, of Sedalia, .-----... 809 JOSEPH G. NORWOOD, M. D., LL. D., of Columbia, - - - 825 JOHN M. SAMUEL, of Columbia, - - - - - - - - 836 JOHN B. HELM, of Hannibal, .---..-. 853 R. F. LAKENAN, of Hannibal, 856 A. W. RIDINGS, of Warrensburg, ....... 863 SAJilUELH. OWENS, of Moniteau, - - - - - ... 882 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I -ARCHEOLOGY. CHAPTER I. Page. Traces of Vanished Peoples.— Their World-wide DiflFusion.— Eussian Earth- works. — Epyptian Monuments Ancient at the Date of Oldest Kecords. — A Troy Still Older than the Ancient Troy of Homer 3 CHAPTER n. Methods of the Archseologist.— The Shell-heaps of the Baltic— The Buried For- ests of Denmark.— The Sisterhood of Science.— The Five Geological Periods. — The Ages of Stone and Bronze. — Iron in Common Use Three Thousand Years Ago 7 CHAPTER IH. No "Age of Bronze" in America. — Traditions Kegarding the Mounds. — Tus- carora Chronology. — The Animal Mounds of the Upper Mississippi Kegion. — Ancient Fish Traps. — Burial, Sacrificial and Historical Mounds 12 CHAPTER IV. The Archaeological Monuments of Missouri. — Their rapid destruction. — Sites of Towns and Cities. — The Labors of H. M. Brackenridge. — The Big Mound at St. Louis. — Col. OTallon's Eesidence Erected on an Ancient Mound. — The Mounds in Forest Park. — ^Evidences of a Vast Population. — jSTew Madrid its Center. — Description of Various Works 25 ^ CHAPTER V. One People the Builders of these Mounds.— Cremation and Burial Mounds. — The Big Mound at St. Louis. — Mistaken Views. — Minute Description of the Work. — Stone Mounds. — Stone Sepulchres in St. Louis and Pei-ry Counties, 38 CHAPTER VI. '•'The Cave-Dwellers." — Tales of Discoveries in Kentucky, etc. — The Caves of the Ozark Mountains. — Proofs of Long Occupancy. — Skeletons and other Kelics Found. — The Cave-Dwellers a difterent race from the Mound-Builders. 47 1 VIII. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Page. Temple Mounds.— Growth of Ancient Eeligious Systems.— Characteristics of this Class of Monuments.— The Great Mound at Cahokia its hest representative in North America.— Brackenridge's Description of it in ISll.— How it came to be called "Monks' Mound."— The Ceremonies of the Sun-Worshippers.- Other Temple Mounds.— The Indians not descended from the Mound-Builders. 53 CHAPTER VIII. Garden Mounds.— The Food of the Pre-historic Kaces.— Fish Probably one of their Main Kesources.— The Use of the Ditches within their City Walls.— Domestic Animals.— Agriculture.— Eeligious Systems.— Dissimilarity between Northern and Southern Tribes of Indians.— Traces of Aztec Culture among the Latter.— Vast Numbers of the Garden Mounds.— Proofs of their Purpose.— The Utah Mounds.— Interesting Discoveries.— A new Variety of Wheat grown from Kernels found Therein.— An Opening for Further Kesearches 62 CHAPTER IX. Miscellaneous Works.— Historical or National Festival Mounds.— Stone Struc- tures.— Kuins on the Gasconade River.— Group near Louisiana, Mo.— Some Indiana Eelics.— Cremation Chambers.— Proofs of Agricultural Knowledge. —Great Canals Ante-dating the Erie.— Ancient Counterparts of Modern Achievements.— Our Southern " Bayous " of Artificial Origin 70 CHAPTER X. Crania.— Differences Between the Skulls of the Mound-Builders and the Indi- ans.— Difficulties of the Subject.— Two Varietesof Crania in the same Mounds. —Principles of Classification.— Influence of Local Customs.— Peruvian Skulls. Characteristics of Missouri Specimens, Etc. — The Tools of Ancient Ameri- cans. — Proofs of a Knowledge of Iron 97 CHAPTER XI. Concluding Observations. — The Origin of the Pre-Historic Eaces of America. — Theory of Spontaneous Generation. — The Law Governing their Migrations. — Successive Movements of the Nahua Eace.^The Aztecs the. Last Colony of that People. — Opinions of Baron Humboldt. — Our own Country Probably the Original Home of the Aztec Civilization. — The Indian Eaces of Asiatic Origin. — Facilities of Immigration via. Behring's Straits. — A Personal Word. —Dry Bones Clothed 113 TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX. PART II -HISTORY. CHAPTEE I. Page. Expedition of Juan Ponce De Leon in 1512, to Florida, in search of Gold and the Fountain of Eternal Youth.— His Failure and Death.— De Soto's Marvelous Expedition in 1539.— A Splendid Pageant.— He Discovers the River Missis- sippi in 1541.— Crosses it, and Marches into the Present Territory of Missouri. — DeSoto's Death and Romantic Burial 127 CHAPTER II. Louisiana.- French Explorations.— Acquisition of Louisiana.— Missouri a Portion of the Province.— Expedition of Marquette and Joliet in 1673.— They Discover the Upper Mississippi and the Mouth of the Missouri 133 CHAPTER HI. Discovery of the Mouth of the Mississippi.— La Salle and Hennepin.— Seeking a Northwest Passage to China, they Discover the Mouth of the Mississsppi and Take Formal Possession of the Country in the Name of Louis XIV.— In Honor of Him they Call it " Louisiana."— Missouri a Portion of it.— Letters Patent to Cruzat. John Law's Company 137 CHAPTER IV. First Settlement in Missouri.— The French Settle Ste. Genevieve in 1735.— Its In- undation in 1785.— New Bourbon.— Renault's Searches for Gold and Silver. . . 142 CHAPTER Y. Laclede.— St. Louis.—" The Louisiana Fur Company."— Laclede its Master Spirit. —His Expedition from New Orleans in 1763.— Ste. Genevieve.— Fort de Char- tres.— A Description.— Discovery by Laclede, in 1764, of the Site of St. Louis. —Extracts from an Address of Hon: Wilson Primm.— Laclede's Death and Burial.— What a Bubble is Fame • 144 CHAPTER VI. St. Louis in 1765 to 1778.— Louis St. Ange de Belle Rive moves his Garrison from Fort Chartres to St. Louis.— Is Made Governor.— Pontiac ; His Visit, Assassi- nation and Burial.— Termination of French Authority.— Arrival of Don Pedro Piernas and Establishment of Spanish Rule. -Death of St. Ange.-Francisco Cruzat.— Don Fernando Leyba.— Death of Laclede.— Sale of His Property ... 151 \ X. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. St. Louis in 1778 to 1800.— The Village Fortified by a Wall of Brush and Clay.— Attack of British and Indians.— Traitorous Conduct of Leyba.— His Death.— Francisco Cruzat Again Appointed Governor.— New and Stronger Fortifica- tions Erected.— Map of St. Louis as it was in 1780.— The Great Flood of 1785. —Michael Perez.— Zenon Trudeau.— Census of 1799.— Land Grants 155 CHAPTER YIII. Eetrocession of Louisiana to France.- Its Purchase by the United States.— 1800 a Notable Year. — Treaty of Ildefonso. — Spain forced to Ketrocede Louisiana to France.— Its Purchase by the United States.— Treaty of 1803.— Capt. Amos Stoddard.— French and Spanish Land Grants Protected by Treaty, and Acts of Congress 159 CHAPTER IX. Missouri as a District und-er United States Authority, 1804. — Amos Stoddard Suc- ceeds Delassus at St. Louis. — " Territory of Orleans." — District of Louisiana." -General James Wilkinson Appointed Governor of the Latter. — Visit of Aaron Burr. — ^Wilkinson Succeeded by Captain Merriwether Lewis.^His Sui- cide. — General Benjamin Howard Succeeds Him. — A Keign of Six Days. — Captain William Clark Appointed Governor. — Four Districts Established. — Statistics of Population.— St. Louis. — Interesting Facts 163 CHAPTER X. 1S03-4-5-6. — LcAvis and Clark's Expedition up the Missouri, Across the Eockj^ Mountains, Down the Columbia, to the Pacific Ocean. — Homeward Journey. — Z. M. Pike's Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi and Arkansas Eivers.— His Eeturn, Military Services and Death 168 CHAPTER XI. 17G9. — First Settlements West of St. Louis. — St. Charles Settled by Blanchette. — " Commons." — Forts. — Portage des Sioux. — Indian Incident.— The Mamelles. — Femme Osage, Perruque and Other Creeks. — Loutre Island. — Indian Attack. — W. T. Cole. — Another Attack. — Bloody Fight with Indians. — Captain James Callaway and Otliers Killed — Cote Sans Dessein 170 CHAPTER XII. "The Boone's Lick Country," — Its Settlement. — Ira P. Nash visits it in 1801. — Expedition of Lewis and Clark.— In 1807 Nathan and Daniel Boone make salt at "Boone's Lick." — Daniel Boone. ^Popular Error . Corrected. — Sketch of Daniel Boone. — His Death. — Eealy Settlements in Cooper and Howard Coun- ties. — Siockade Forts. — Tragic Death of Sarshell Cooper 177 / / TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI'. CHAPTER XIII. I Page. Earfchquakes at New Madrid, 1811-12.— Description of the Catastrophe.— Hon. ^ ; wis F. Linn's Letter.— The Venerable Godfrey Lesier, an Eye Witness, Describes it.— Eeelfoot Lake, Tennessee, a Kesult of its Violence.— " New Madrid Claims."— Acts of Congress Locating and Confirming Them 183 CHAPTER XIV. 1812.— Missouri Territory Organized.— Five Counties.— Governor William Clark.— Election for Delegate to Congress and Members of the Territorial Legislature. —Edward Hempstead Chosen Delegate.— Sketch of Ms Life and Services.— First Territorial Legislature.— Census of 1814.- Rufus Easton.— John Scott.— Legislatures of 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, 1817 and 1818.— Application to Form a State Government ^^"^ CHAPTER XV. Three Central Counties— Howard, Cooper and Boone.— Franklin, Boonville and Fayette.- The Santa Fe Trade.— " Missouri Intelligencer."— Hardeman's Gar- den Described.— Town of Sniithton, in Boone County, Etc., Etc 191 CHAPTER XVI. The First Steamboats.— Robert Fulton, the Pioneer Steamboat Builder.— His Death in 1815.- In 1817 the " General Pike " Lands at St. Louis.— In 1819 the "Independence" Enters the Missouri River, Proceeds to Franklin and Chari- ton, and returns to St. Louis.— Public Meeting at Franklin.— Other Steamers Navigate the Missouri Daring the Same Year 198 CHAPTER XVH. Missouri as a State.— Application to be Admitted into the Union.— The Beginning of the Anti-Slavery Agitation —An Angry Debate in Congress.- The Proviso Adopted by the House and Rejected by the Senate.— Congress Adjourns, Re- fusing to Admit the State.— Agitation and Bitter Controversies Arise.— Integ- rity of the Union Menaced.— The Question before the XVIth Congress.— " The Missouri Compromise " Passed.— Constitutional Convention of 1820.— David Barton.- Constitution Presented to Congress.— Resistance to Admis- sion.— Another Fearful Anti-Slavery Storm.— Mr. Clay with His Grand Com- - mittee of Thirty Comes to the Front.— They Report a Second " Missouri Compromise," which is Adopted.— Missouri is Admitted.— Popular Error Corrected Respecting Mr. Clay.— Questions Answered by President Monroe's Cabinet '-01 CHAPTER XVIH. First Election for Governor and other State Officers.— Alexandei McNair Elected Governor.— First Legislature Under the State Constitution.— Governor McNair's Message.— Supreme and Circuit Judges Appointed.— Election of XII. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page United States Senators.-Exciting Contest.-David Barton and Thomas H. Benton Elected.— Remarkable Incidents Connected with Benton's Election.— Counties Organized.— Capital Moved to St. Charles •. • • 211 CHAPTEE XIX. From 1824 to 1830.— Frederick Bates Elected Governor to Succeed Governor McNair, Defeating General William H. Ashley.— Bates" Death.— John Miller Elected his Successor.— Visit of General Lafayette to St. Louis, in 1S25.— Demonstra- tions of Respect and Gratitude.— His Visit to Washington City.— Action of Congress.— Grants of Land and Money.— His Return to France.— First Legis- lature at Jefferson City in 1826.— Burning of the Statfe House.— Canvass of 1828.— Whigs and Democrats Organize.— Slavery Emancipation Programme- Singular Incident Frustrates It.— Alexander Buckner Elected United States Senator in 1829 in ulace of David Barton • 216 CHAPTER XX. From 1830 to 1840.— Cholera in St. Louis in 1832.— The Alarm it Occasioned.— Deaths.— The Black Hawk War.— The First Railroad Convention in Missouri. —"The Hetherly War."— " The Platte Purchase."— Origin of the Measure and its Accomplishment.— Daniel Webster's Visit to St. Louis in 1837.— Recep- tion, Banquet and Speech.— The Florida War.— Colonel Richard Gentry Raises a Regiment in Central Missouri.— Their March from Columbia.— Arri- val in Florida.— Battle of Okee-cho-bee.— Colonel Gentry's Heroic Death.— Bravery of the Missouri Volunteers. --Report of Colonel Zachary Taylor.— Action of Missouri Legislature Thereon 223 CHAPTER XXI. From 1830 to 1840 Continued.— The Mormons and the Mormon War.— Sketch of Mormonism and of Jo. Smith.—" The Book of Mormon."— Its Origin.— Mor- mons Settle at Independence in Jackson County —Are Driven out and Es- tablish Themselves at Far West in Caldwell County.— Description of Far West and of the Mormon Temple.— The Mormons at DeWitt, Carroll County. — They Organize under Colonel G. W. Hinkle. — The Citizens Fly to Arms and Elect General Congreve Jackson to Command Them. — Bloodshed Immi- nent. — Judge James Earickson of Howard Negotiates a Peace. — The Mormons Abaiidon DeWitt and go to Far West. — False Alarm at CarroUton. — Missouri Militia March Against the Mormons in 1838. — Their Surrender and Dispersion. "-The Tragical Deaths of Jo. Smith and Parley P. Pratt. — ^Attempted Assas- Ination of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs by Porter Rockwell, a Mormon Leader. 238 CHAPTER XXII. From 1840 to 1850. — The Elections from 1840 to 1850. — Characteristics and Enthu- siasm of the Campaign of 1840. — Rocheport Convention. — Result of the Election. — Suicide of Governor Reynolds. — The Great Freshet of 1844. — Constitutional Convention of 1845.— The Mexican War. — " The St. Louis Legion," Colonel A. R. Easton. — Public Meeting. — "Army of the West," TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIII. Page. General S. W. Kearney.— First Eegiment Missouri Volunteers Under Colonel A. W. Doniphan. — Battles of Brazito and Sacramento. — Triumphant Entrance Into Chihuahua.— Colonel Sterling Price's Eegiment.- His March to Santa Fe.— Battles of Canada, El Embudo and Taos.— Colonel John Ealls' Eegi- ment.— Battle of Santa Cruz de Eosales.— Great St. Louis Fire of May 1849. —Twenty-three Steamers Burned and $3,000,000 of Property Destroyed.— •'The Jackson Eesolutions " pass the Legislature. — Vote on them in Each House. — Colonel Benton's Appeal From and Canvass Against Them Ex- citement his Course produced 254 CHAPTER XXIII. From 1850 to I860.— Gubernatorial Election Eeturns for 1852, 1856 and 1857.- The XVIth General Assembly. — ^Election of United States Senator. — ColonelBenton beaten for United States Senator by Henry S. Geyer, a Whig. — Explosions of the Steamers " Glencoe " and "Saluda." — Meeting of the XVHth General Assembly in Extra Session. — War of the Factions over the Speakership. — Free-soil and Slave-soil.— The Eegular Session.— Another Battle over the Speakership.— Sterling Price Inaugurated Governor.— The XVIIIth General Assembly. — Election of Ui;iited States Senator to Succeed David E. Atchison. — The Slavery Question and the Kansas and Nebraska Bills.— Appalling Dis- aster at the Gasconade Bridge. — The Kansas-Nebraska Agitation of 1856. — Missoitrians Cross the Border. — Bloody Collisions between the "Pro-" and "Anti-Slavery" Parties.— The XlXth General Assembly.— James S. Green and Trusten Polk Elected United States Senators. — Governor Polk Eesigns. — Eobert M. Stewart Ellected Governor 271 CHAPTER XXIV. I860.— Eeview of Forty Years' Progress.— Tide of Population and Settlement of Southeast and Southern Missouri, along the Upper Mississippi and the / Missouri Valley. — Manufactures. — Improved Lands and their Cash Value. — V Eevelations of the Census of I860.— Live Stock.— Farm Products.— Domestic Manufactures. — Eailroad Enterprises. — Government and State Aid. — The First Whistle of the Locomotive. — Telegraph Lines. — St. Louis as a Eail- road Center. — Progress of Education. — Our Public School System. — St. Louis in 1821 and 1860. — Great Achievements and Destiny of the State 285 ~^ CHAPTER XXV. I860.— Eetm-ns of Elections from 1800 to 1870.— Presidential Election of 1860.— Unexampled Excitement attending it. — National Conventions to Nominate Candidates. — Four Candidates, Douglas, Breckenridge, Bell and Lincoln, Nominated — A Quadrangular Contest. — Abraham Lincoln Elected President. — Gubernatorial Canvass in Missouri. — Claiborne F. Jackson, Hancock Jackson, James B. Gardenhire and Sample Orr Candidates for Governor. — AnExcitino- and Bitter Contest over the Slavery Issues. — C. F. Jackson Elected Governor. 297 XIV. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI. Page. 1861.— XXIst General Assembly.— C. F. Jackson Inaugurated Governor.— Synopsis of his Inaugural.— The Legislature Environed With Embarrassing Questions. -It Calls a State Convention.— Important Preliminary Proceedings.— The Problem of Secession.— The Functions of Conventions Discussed.— Daniel E. Eussell, Commissioner of Mississippi, Addresses the General Assembly.— His Mission a Failure.—" The Peace Congress" at Washington City.— Kesolutioe of JohnHyer, of Dent, Against Coercion.— Contest for United States Senator to succeed James S. Green.— A Triangular Struggle.— Waldo P. Johnson Elected.— Senators Johnson and Polk Expelled from the Senate.— A " Relief Law " Passed by the Legislature and Declared Unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.— An Extra Session of the Legislature Called May 2nd, 1862.— Extra- ordinary " War Measures " Adopted.— Panic Caused by the Capture of Camp Jackson.— Before-day Session of the Legislature —Burning of the Osage Eail- road Bridge.— Sterling Price Appointed Major-General of the State Forces.- Flight of Governor Jackson from the Capital.— He calls the Legislature to Meet at Neosho. — A Fragment of it Assembles. — Proceedings of the Senate. —Secession Ordinance Passed.— Isaac N. Shambaugh's Circular.— Governor Jackson's Message Appointing Officers of '"The State* Guard. "—The Neosho- Cassville Legislature Adjourns to Meet at New Madrid.— The Session Never Held There - ■ 305 CHAPTEE XXVIl. 1861. The " Gamble " State Convention. — It Meets on Feb. 28, 1861. — Names of Members Elected.,^Sterling Price Elected President. — The Convention holds frequent Sessions at the State Capitol and in St. Louis.-Finally Adjourns sine die on July 1, 1863. — Luther J. Glenn, Commissioner from the State of Geor- gia, attends the Convention. — His Reception and Address. — Address referred to a Committee. — Two Reports Presented. — Neither ever Disposed of. — Com- mittee on Federal Relations. — Their Reports. — Action Thereon. — Committee appointed to Re-convene the Convention when Necessary. — Delegates Elected to the Border State Convention. — Robert Wilson elected President of the Con- vention, vice Sterling Price Expelled for Disloyalty. — Ordinance Declaring the Offices of Governor, Lieut. Governor and Secretary of State vacant Adopted. — Hamilton R. Gamble Elected Governor; Willard P. Hall, Lieut. Governor, and Mordecai Oliver, Secretary of State, — Ordinances passed Changing Gubernatorial Election from August to November; also Abolishing Certain Civil Offices, and Prescribing an Oath of Loyalty for Civil Officers, and for issuing Union Defence Bonds. — Resolution adopted expelling Ster- lino- Price and others from the Convention. — ^Mr. Breckinridge's Emancipa- tion Ordinance Laid on the Table. — Congressional Districts Remodelled. — Oath of IjOjalty for Voters, Officials, Jurymen and Attorneys Adopted. — The Yeas' and Nays. — Cominittee on Emancipation Elected. — They Report an Ordinance for the Emancipation of Slaves, which is Adopted. — The Yeas and Nays. — Convention Adjourns Sine Die 322 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV. CHAPTER XXVIir. Page. 1861. — Our Civil War. — Difficulties in Arriving- at tlie Truths of its History. — In- auguration of the War. — Secession of Soutli Carolina. — Firing ontlie''Star of the West," and Fort Sumter.— The First Gun of the Kebellion. — Presi- dent Lincoln Calls for 75,000 Troops. — Governor C. F. Jackson's Kesponse. — Imminence of the Crisis. — Hopes of the Conservative Masses. — General Mili- tary Order (No. 7) of Governor Jacksonto Organize Camps for Drill. — Camp Jackson. — Gen. D. M. Frost's Letter to Capt. ISTath'l Lyon, Connnandant of the St. Louis Arsenal. — Capt. Lyon's Letter to Gen. Frost Demanding the Surrender of Camp Jackson. — It Surrenders. — Particulars of the Event. — Fearful Excitement. — Gen. Frost's Letter of January 24tli, 1S61, to. Gov. Jackson. — Gen W. S.Harney's Proclamation.— The Harney-Price Agreement. It is Disapproved at Washington, and Gen. Harney Removed. — Gen. Lyon succeeds to the Command of the Department. — Conference between Gen. Lyon, Col. Blair, Gov. Jackson and Gen. Price. — What Each Party Demanded. — The Conference a Failure. — Jackson and Price return to the Capital, Burning the Bridges behind them. — Col. Thomas L. Snead's Sketch of Lyon. — Gov. Jackson's Proclamation calling for 50,000 men. — Gen. Lj^on marches to Jefferson City. — Jackson and Price desert the Capital and Establish them- selves at Boonville. — Lyon and Blair occupy the Capital. — The Boonville Fight. — Tlie State Troops Eepulsed. — Lyon occupies Boonville and issues a Proclamation. — The Battle of Carthage. — Col. Sigel's Retreat 344 CHAPTER XXIX. 1861. — Creation of the Western Department. — John C. Fremont Appointed to its Command. — He Returns from Europe to New York; thence Goes to St. Louis and Establishes his Headquarters. — He Fortifies St. Louis. — ^A Dilemma. — Shall he Save Bird's Point or Reinforce Lyon. — He elects to do the former. — Proclamations of Gov. C. F. Jackson, Lieut. Governor Thomas C. Reynolds and Gens. Gideon J. Pillow and Jeff. Thompson, at New Madrid. — Thomp- son's " Cattle on Ten Thousand Hills." — Fremont's Fleet sails from St. Louis to Bird's Point and back again. — Lyon's March from Boonville to Springfield. — Price's March from Cow Skin Prairie towards Wilson's Creek. — The Battle of Dug Springs. — Rains Defeated. — Lyon Returns to Springfield. — Massing of Con- federate Forces on Crane Creek, in Stone County. — Disagreement between Price and McCulloch. — The Battle at Wilson's Creek ; one of the Most Bloody of the War. — Death of Gen. Lyon. — Defeat of the Union Army.— Its Retreat to Rolla. — Reports of the Battle made by Major Sturgis and Gens. Sigel, McCul- loch, Price and Clark.— Forty-two thousand Militia called for by Gov. Gamble. — Gen. Fremont Declares Martial Law. — Provost Marshal McKinstry's '• Per- mit " Order. — President Lincoln Disapproves Fremont's Proclamation. — " The Swamp Fox " again Proclaims. — He will '• Hang, Draw, and Quarter." 369 CHAPTER XXX. Battle at Athens.— McCullocb's Proelannition of August 12th, 1861.— Price's Proc- lamation. — Skirmish at Drywood.— Battle of Lexington. — Heroic Defense of Mulligan and his final Surrender. — Gen. Fremont again Severely Criticised. — XVr. TABLE OF CONTENTS. He resolves to take the Field in Person. — Musters an army of 20,000 Men and starts for Springfield. — Price Abandons Lexington. — Maj. White's Bold Dash into tlie Town. — Fremont's Army across the Osage. — The Magnitude of His Plans. — ^Zagonyi's Brilliant Charge into Springfield. — Errors in regard to it Cor- rected. — Justice done the " Prairie Scouts." — Very expressive, if not elegant, remark of " Old Pap," — Battle at Belmont. — Heroism of a Lad. — Fremont Su- perseded by Gen. Hunter, and he by Gen. Halleck. — The Union Army returns from Springfield to St. Louis.— Geni Price's 50,000 Men and #200,000,000 Proclamation. — A Kemarkable Paper.— Gen. John Pope. — Gen. Halleck as- sumes Command of the Department. — Martial Law. — Stringent Orders against Kailroad Destroyers. — Campaign Summary 393 CHAPTER XXXI. 1862-1863-1864-1865. — Missouri Eiver as a Kampart. — Gen. Curtis Moves upon Springfield, and Gen. Price Ketreats to Cross Hollows, Ark. — Battle of .Pea Kidge. — Provost Marshal General Farrar's Order about Newspapers. — New St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. — Gen. Halleck's Order to the Officers of the Mercantile Library Association, and Officers of the State University. — Courts Martial at Palmyra and Columbia. — Prisoners Condemned and Shot. Sen- tences Commuted. — The Boone County •' Standard " Confiscated. — Gen. J. M. Schofield Succeeds Gen. Halleck.— Col. H. S. Lipscomb's Fight with Col. Porter's Forces, at Cherry Grove. — Maj. John Y. Clopper at Pierce's Mill. Porter's Flight to Moore's Mill, Callaway County. — Fight at Moore's Mill. Fight at Kirksville.— Col. Guitar's Pursuit of Porter in the Chariton Valley. Fights at Compton's Ferry and Yellow Creek.— Battle at Independence. Death of Gen. John T. Hughes.- Battles at Lone Jack and Newtonia.— Mili- tary Executions at Macon and Palmyra. — Cane Hill and Prairie Grove Battles at Springfield and Cape Girardeau.— Capture of Jeff. Thompson— Gen. Ewing's Order No. 11.— Gen. SchofiekVs Letter, and Gen. Bino-ham's Reply.— President Lincoln's Proposed Pardon of Gen. Price.— Col. Shelby's Raid upon Boonville.— Gen. Eosecrans Assumes Command of the Depart- ment.— A large Confederate Force Invades the State and Threatens St. Louis and the Capital.— Shelby and Clark Capture Glasgow.— Rev. Wm. G. Caples Killed.— Brutal treatment of Maj. Wm B. Lewis by Bill Anderson.— Price's Forces driven out of the State into Arkansas.— The Centralia Massacre.— De- feat and Horrible Butchery of Maj. Johnson by Bill Anderson's Guerrillas.— Execution in St. Louis of James M. Utz.— Lee's Surrender,— Lincoln's Assas- sination. — Jeff". Davis' Capture. --'Close of the War 4q«- CHAPTER XXXH. 1862 to ] 870 —Missouri's Experience with the First Test Oath for Voters.— Twenty- second General Assembly.— Election for Judges of the Supreme Court in November, 1863.— Nucleus of Political Parties formed.— The "Radicals " and " Conservatives."— Radical State Convention.— Its Platform.— Committee of Seventy, C, D. Drake, Chairman, visit President Lincoln.— His Reply to their Addresses.— Death of Gov. Gamble.— Canvass of 1861'.- State Constitutional Convention of 1865.- Charles D. Drake its Master Spirit.— Its Proceedino-s.— Slavery in Missouri Abolished.—" Iron Clad Oath " for Voters, Ministers I - , ' I' > (XVHI. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I PART III -PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. CHAPTER 1. Page. Geology ^ 499 CHAPTER 11. Mines and Useful Minerals 519 CHAPTER HI. The Waters of Missouri 525 CHAPTER IV. Prairie and Timber 528 CHAPTER V. Soils 530 PART IV -Material WEALTH. CHAPTER I. " '^'- 416 Preliniinary Observations.'" — General Description of the State. — Bounda- ries, Distances, etc. — Table of Counties, their Population, etc. — Area and \opography. — Kivers, Caves, Quarries and Natural Curiosities 539 / CHAPTER II. ( ' * V\l Kesources . — The Coal Measures. — Iron, Lead, Zinc, Granite Quarries, etc. 555 1 CHAPTER HI. — ±5iOgiUi....-- / > TABLE OF CONTENTS. XVIJj ■Pagti Lawyers and Teachers. — Aj^es and Noes. — The Words " White Male.'* — The j " Drake " Constitution Adopted. — Ousting Ordinance. — Registry' Law. — Twentj'-foui-th General Asseniblj^ — Negro Suftrage Amendment proposed to the Constitution. — The People reject it. — Burning of the Lindell Hotel. — Im- peachment of Walter King. — Another Registry Law. — Tlie Great St. Louis iiridge -. 4^4 CHAPTER XXXIII. 1870 to 1877.— Election Returns.— Adjourned Session of XXVth General Assem- bly. — Ratification of XVth Constitutional Amendment. — Ayes and Noes. — Six Amendments to the State Constitution Proposed. — What they were and the vote on each. — Agricultural College Located at Columbia.— The Republi- can Party in 1870 rent by discords. — The Democrats adopt tlie " Passive Pol- icy " and Nominate no State Ticket.— Two Republican State Conventions and two State Tickets.— The "Radicals'' and "Liberals."— B. Gratz Brown (Liberal) Elected Governor.— The Test-oath Abrogated and the Republicans Remanded from Power.— F. P. Blair Elected United States Senator.— The XXVIth General Assembly.— Two more Amendments to the Constitution Proposed and Ratified.— The Gun City, Cass County, Massacre.— In 1872 the Democrats and Liberals jointly nominate a State Ticket.— Silas Woodson elected Governor.— The XXVIIth General Assembly.— Louis V. Bogy chosen United States Senator.— Vote of the People authorized on a call for a Consti- tutional Convention.— Opening of the great St. Louis Bridge.— Canvass of 1874.— Charles H. Hardin the Democratic Nominee for Governor.— The "Peo- ple's" Party.— William Gentry.— Hardin Elected.— Constitutional Conven- tion of 1875 called.— Its Proceedings.— Constitution Adopted.— Whiskey Frauds.— Canvass of 1876.— J. S. Phelps the Democratic and G. A. Finkeln- burg the Republican Candidate for Governor.— Phelps Elected.— The XXIXth General Assembly.— Burning of the Southern Hotel, St. Louis 465 APPENDIX. Old Duels —Duel between Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas.— Between Thomas C. Rector and Joseph Barton.— Between Tliomas Biddle and Spencer Pettis.— Discovery of Marquette's Remains.— A Speech by D. R. Atchison.— Tables of Population.— Table showing date of Organization of Counties..".. 481 \ ■ { / f feiaver> 1.- -- -.7 / ^ . TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xli CHAPTER IV. Page. Agriculture. —Comparative Value of the Mineral and Agricultural Products of Missouri. — Acreage and Value of Farms.— Classification of Soils. — Timber and Prairies. — Staple Products, etc 579 / CHAPTER V. Kailroads 603 PART V.-EDUCATIONAL. Education in tire State of Missouri.— The Influence for Toleration.— The Influence for Conservatism.- The Growth of Cities and the " Urban " phase of Civili- zation consequent thereon ; The School Education Demanded by it. — Present Conditions of Schools and other Educational Institutions in the Mississippi Valley. — Educational Institutions and Libraries in Missouri 619 PART VL-THE GREAT CITIES AND TOWNS OF MISSOURI. St. Louis. — Early^ History. — Auguste Chouteau and Laclede Liguest.— Appear- ance of the town-site when first occupied. — Land Grants. — Prominent Names of the Early Day. — Spanish Occupation. — " Common Fields." — Transfer of the country to the United States.— French Merchants.— Directory of 1821.— Incorporation in 1822.— The Great Fire of 1849.— List of Chairmen of Trustees and Mayors of the City. — Description of the City as it now is. — Changes wrought by the Great Bridge.— The Parks.— Carondelet Iron Works.— Bio- graphical Sketches 6-13 Kansas City. — Its Location. — Early History.— Familiar Names of the Early Day, — Daniel Boone Jr., — Louis Grandlouis. — Marie Berenice Chouteau. — Immi- gration in 1815-20. — " Kansasmouth." — Famous Mexican Tradei-s. — The Story of Chaviez Perez.— F.- X. Aubrey; his Famous Kide of Eight Hundred Miles in Four Days. — His Tragic Death. — The Flood of 1844. — Incorporation as a Town. — Sales of Lots. — The Cholera. — Chartered as a City. — Visit from Thomas H. Benton. — Prophetic Words. — The War. — Arrival of the Missouri Pacific Kailroad.— The Public Schools.— The Board of Trade.— Stock Yards. V —Biographical Sketches , "'"' I. TABLE OF CONTENTS. St. JoSEPH.^Location. — Joseph Kobidonx. — The Town Laid Out iu 1843. — Price of Lots. — Visit from Audubon. — First Store and Scliool-house. — Incorporation as a Village. — Prominent names of Early History. — The California Fever of 1849. — Chartered as a Citj^. — Advantages of the City's Location.— Railroad Facilities. — Tlie Bridge over the Missouri.— Manufacturing Interests. — Public Buildings. — The Public School System. — Biographical Sketches 780 Sedalia. — Its Beautiful Location. — Origin of the Name. — Railroads, Gas and Water-Avorks, Newspapers and Churches. — Biographical Sketches 809 Cape Oirardeau. — A Brief Notice 824 St. Charles. — Brief Notice 824 Columbia. — Its Education.d Advantages. — The State University. — Other Colleges. — Churches, Newspapers and Manufactories. — Biographical Sketches 825- Hannibal. — Historical Reminiscences. — Steamboat and Railroad Facilities. — Its Promising Future. — Biographical Sketches 852: Warrensburg. — A Brief Notice.— The State Normal School.— Biographical Sketches : 861 Lexington. — Its Commanding Location. — Elucational Advantages.— -Biograph- ical Sketches 868 Springfield.— Location.— Origin of the Name.— The Town in 1835.— Eflfect of the War. — Railroad Connections. — Manufactories, Schools, etc 873. BoONViLLE. — Its Picturesque Site. — Railroad Accommodations, Manufactories, Schools, etc 874 PART VII.-THE XXIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY. SENATE. Page. Page. Abney, S. S 889 Parsons, J. S 892 Ake, Peter 889 Paxton, William Q 893 Ballingal, Geo. F 889 Pemberton, W. T 898 Biggs, George R 889 Perkins, Ed. F 893 Burkeholder, Abrahani Hudson 889 Phelan, M. H 893 Claiborn(i, James] R 890 Pope, William S 893 Coleman, R. G 890 Read, Henry 894 Edwards, A. H 890 Ruby, Web. M .894 Edwards, E. M. 890 Seay, Ed. A ". 895 Flood, John A 891 Shelby, Reuben 895 Hudson, Nathaniel Carlos 891 Terry, John H 895 Lakenan, Robert F.. 892 Thompson, William B 896 Major, Sam. C, Jr 892 Wear, John G 897 Morrison, T. J. O 892 Wallace, Washington 1 896 Mosby, W. W 892 Wilson, R. P. C 897 Murray, E. C 892 Wight, Sheldon A 897 Newberry, John B 892 Young, Waller 897 ^ * '- --iC]iainas_H^---»»,-.i . 892 / TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXI. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Page. ,..898 ..899 ..899 ..899 ...899 ...899 ..899 ..899 ..900 ..900 ..900 ..900 ..900 ..901 Anderson, Wm. K Anderson, W. Anthonj'^ Ai-nold, Marshall Atterbury, G. B Berry, William Blakey, Marcus D Bollman, John C Brawly, Elijah D Brookhert, J. F Brower, James B Brown, Joseph J. Brown, Warner E Buler Edward Burks, Jasper Newton Byrnes, Samuel 901 Cahill, Eobinson 901 Cameron, Eobert A , 901 Campbell, Eobert A 901 Carter, Jesse 901 Chapman, Thomas C 901 Chilton, Geo. F 902 Christy, Ambrose Dudley 902 Coleman, Francis M 902 Connaway,- Dennis H 902 Cope, M. L 902 Cottey, L. F 903 Craig, Henry H 903 Dacus, Joseph A 903 Darnall, Henry, M 903 Davis, Daniel E 904 Davis, George W 904 Davis, L. H 904 Davis, Samuel 904 Deal,H. J 904 Dobbs, Abram 904 Donelan, Edmund A 905 Draper, Mosby C 905 Dryden, L. J 905 Dryden, Thomas A 905 Easley, George W 906 Eitzen, Charles D 906 Evans, T. E 906 Ewing, Ashley W 906 Ewing, Charles L 906 Fant, Charles F 907 Farris, James E 907 Fox, Horace 907 Gannaway, David C 907 Gardner, William 907 Garrison, Abner 907 Page. Gheens, Mortimer H .907 Givens, N. F gos GoBF, William 908 Gottschalk, Ferdinand 908 Hall, William 908 Hammond, Charles 908 Hardeman, Glen 909 Harrison, William 909 Haworth, Jordan M 909 Headlee, S. W 909 Henderson, J. A 909 Hickman, Philander A 909 Horn, J. D 910 Hurt, Peyton Y 910 Ireland, Harvey C 910 Jameson, Eobert 910 Johnson, Edward P 910 Johnson, John M 911 Jones, James W 911 Jones, Newton . . 911 King, G. E 911 Lambert, Lewis A 911 Lamson, Justin W 911 Lawson, F. M 911 Lincoln, James E 912 Livingston, A. H 912 Love, Jacob A 912 Love, William A 912 McDaniel, B. F 913 McDonald, James H 913 McHenry, John H 914 Mclntire, Daniel H 914 Mallinckrodt, Conrad T 914 Manistre, Henry 914 Markland, Eichard D 914 Martin, John 1 914 Medley, Lyman F 914 Miller, Alexander P 915 Miller, DeLorma 915 Mitchell, George W. L 915 Mitchell, William B, 915 Moore, William M 915 Morehouse, Albert P 915 Nesbit, Frank C • 916 Newsum, Edward L 916 Nolan, George N 916 O'Neill, John J 916 Patterson, James W. A 916 Payne. E, W. 916 Pehle, Frederick W 916 XXII. TAELE OF CONTENTS. Pickler, S. M 917 Pollock, Charles A 917 Poston, Hemy W 917 Pi-iest Hemy H 917 Proctor Daniel. 917 Eice, David 918 Kichardson, Joseph Stephen 918 Einkler, George W 918 Kogers, Henry S 918 Kussell, W. H. H 918 Eyan, John 919 Seibel, John J 919 Smith, Jared E 919 Smith, G. Pitman 919 Snidow, W. L 919 Snow, Charles V 920 Southard, James 920 Steele, E. C 920 Stepp, Paris C 921 Storts, Charles H 921 SuUens, John H 922 Page. Sutherland, George M 922 Tevis, Charles C 922 Thatcher, J. P 922 Thornton, William T 923 Todd, H. C 923 Tomkins, Benjamin 923 Turner. Luther 923 Twiss, Stephen P 924 Yaughan, Peter L 925 Von Angler, H. S 925 Walker, L. D 925 Wallace, B. F 925 Wells, WiUiam S 925 Wells, William C 926 Wight, James F 926 Wilhite, William E 926 Williams, John F 926 Williams, Theophilus 927 Woodside, J. Posey 927 Woodside, Leigh B 928 Ziegenheim, Hemy 928 LIST OF NOTICES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS AND INSTITUTIONS. Page. Page. Allen, Thomas 661 Helm, John B 853 Allen, DeWitt C . •• 883 Henry, James P 777 Bahlman, W. F 866 Hereford, Hemy F 775 Belch, J. E 885 Hockaday, J. A 881 Benton, Thomas H .740 Holmes, Wm 765 Blau-, Frank P 734 Hull, Joseph C , 804 Blow, Henry T 738 Hundley. JohnB 805 Broadhead, J. O 732 Jaynes, A. D 813 Brokmeyer , H. C 669 Kansas City College of Physicians and BuUene, Thos. B 778 Surgeons 771 Beattie's Banking House, St, Joseph. . .806 King, Willis P 817 Bank of St. Joseph 806 Knight, Chas. F 798 Bishop, Galen E 807 Lakenan, E. F 856 Catlett, George C 989 Lester, Thomas B 77] Chrisman, Wm .767 Lewis, Edward A 727 Cole, Nathan 683 Lewis, Eugene E 775 Comstock, T. G 718 Long, John F 7O8 Conant, A. J 703 Lykens, Martha A 77O Clardy, Martin L 884 Marmaduke, J. S 720 Craig, Wm. B 799 Marvin, Eev. Enoch M 693 Corby, John. 800 McCullagh, J. B 689 Coontz, Benton 858 McLean, J.H 71I Crittenden, Thos. T 862 Mechanacs' Insurance Co., of St. Joseph.806 Campbell, J. J 867 Metcalfe, L. S 686 Carter, William 880 Meyrowitz, Alex 844 Doniphan, John 797 Mills. James E 681 Doniphan, A. W 877 Missouri Eepublican 690 Drane, Eichard 860 Mitchell, E. Y 885 Dulin, Eev. E. S 791 Morgan, Horace Hills 692 Eads, James B 679 Morrison, Wm 870 Evans, Edwin C 817 Napton, Wilham B 880 Ficklin, Joseph 844 Neeley, Edward B 789 First National Bank of St. Joseph 805 Niccolls, Eev. Saml. J 698 Forbes, Isaiah 717 Nickerson, E. A 864 Gilbert, Samuel T 794 Norwood, J. G 845 Gieger, Jacob 799 Norton, Eichard C 866 Gouley, Geo. Frank 701 Norton, E. H ♦ 880 Green, Moses P 859 Osborne, Geo. L 865 Gregory, E. H 720 Owens, S. H 882 Gentry, William 812 Philips, John F 815 Hall. Willard P 794 Porter, David E 774 Harrison, James 715 Eichmond, J. M 799 Harris, Wm. F 666 Eidings, A. W ...863 Hardin, C. H 876 Eiley. C. V 672 Harding, James 885 Eobertson, Eev. Chas. F 699 Heddins, Wm. 1 798 Eogers, J. K 839 XXIV. LIST OF NOTICES OF PEOMINENT CITIZENS AND INSTITUTIONS. Page. Eollins, James S 827 Eoseiiblatt, M. A • .706 Ryan, Rev. P. J 699 Samuel, E. M 713 Samuel, Geo. W 804 Samuel, J. M 836 Samuel, W. M 715 Sawyer. Samuel L 764 Scarritt, Nathan 668 Schurz, Carl 725 Schauffler, E. W 776 Sedalia Savings Bank 823 Seminary of the Sacred Heart, St. Jo- seph... 793 Sexton, H. Clay 707 Sherman, W. H 797 Slavens, J. W. L 763 Smith, Jackson L 883 Smith, George R 819 Soper, A. W 717 South Missouri Normal School 861 Steele, Dudley M 802 Stephens, James L 843 Stevens, Chas. W 719 St. Joseph F. and M. Ins. Co 806 Page. St. Joseph Female College 790 St. Joseph Young Ladies' Institute 793 St. Joseph College 793 St. Joseph Female School 794 St. Joseph Gazette 794 St. Joseph Medical Sociefies 798 St. Louis Globe Democrat 688 St. Louis Shot Tower 712 St. Louis University 746 Swallow, Geo. C 840 Switzler, W. F 837 Todd, Simeon S . . .• 771 Trader, John W 816 Trego, Alfred H 777 Vineyard, Benj. R 797 Wallace, Heury C 871 Wood, Joseph M 771 Washington University 742 Westover, Henry W 799 Woerner, J. G 731 Woodson, Silas 796 Wood, Wm. F 869 Yeaman, Rev. Wm. Pope 695 Young, James 868 Part I. Archeology. THE Jd^our^d^ kqd tl^eif Suildef ^ T[[ACES OF P[[E-H1ST0RIC M^N \\ MISSOUf[I, A. J. CONANT, A.M., OF ST. LOUIS. Man in the A?e of the Mammoth and Great Bear. CHAPTER I. Traces of Vanished Peoples. — Their World-Wide Diffusion. — Russian Earth- works.— Egvptian MoNU.MENTS Ancient at the Date of Oldest Records.— A Troy Still Older than ihe Ancient Troy of Homer. IN all lands, whenever in the ages past the climate has been such as to render it possible for man to subsist, the earth is found thickly planted with the graves of vanished people. Countless generations have come and gone, and left no record of their lives and work, save what is to be found in the few surviving monuments they have erected, or the rude implements and fragmentary remains of their industry, which descended with them to the tomb. The great ocean of humanity, with the energy of its ceasekss flow, has oft-times, no doubt, obliterated the traces of former generations, save here and there a foot- print in the solid rock, or an empty shell which has been left upon the shores of time. We of to-day build, sow and reap, buy and sell, and thus repeat, over and over again, the great drama of life, above the sepulchers of departed millions, long since forgotten. How often the long eons have finished their cycles and the new began — who can compute, or from whence shall the data be drawn upon which such computation may be based? The sacred records furnish no system of the chronology of the race, nor standing ground upon which a trustworthy one can be constructed. The wisest who have essayed the task, from such sources, differ in 4 AKCm^OLOGY. their estimates more than five thousand years. The devout believer in Revelation, therefore, need feel no apprehensions for the foundations of his faith if it shall be proven even that man has been an inhabitant of the earth for a hundred thousand years or more. All that can be gained from history, sacred and profane, supplemented with the hieroglyphic annals of Egypt and the inscribed bricks and cylinders of Assyria, carries us back only about forty-four centuries. Suddenly we come then to the border-land of legendary myths and extravaoant traditions. The thick darkness which enshrouds all beyond, no one, a hundred years ago thought possible to penetrate or dispel. But within the last fifty years a new science has been added to the varied departments of human knowledge and research — the science of Archgeology, pure and proper, — and thousands to-day, including many of the best minds in the most enlightened lands, are devoting to it their serious and earnest labors. The field of exploration is the wide world, whose continents are all equally rich in the monuments of the forgotten past. From the widely- separated quarters of this great field, the laborers gather from time to time, bringing the results of their work:. All these combined are throwing their focal light upon the great questions of the origin and antiquity of the various races of mankind — their peculiar customs and mode of life — investing them with an interest never before awakened, which increases more and more, as the promise brightens of their satisfactory elucidation. The number of the monuments of which we speak, upon our own continent, is legion upon legion. From Nova Scotia to the southern coast of Florida — from Behring's Strait to Mexico and Peru — from the Atlantic to the Pacific — are to be found the sites of ancient cities, or the former seats of a dense population. Europe, as every one knows, is full of them. Not only on the surface of the soil, but far down in the gravels of the drift, are found the remains of man in companionship with the bones of huge mammals, who were buried there, it would seem, long before the "British Channel was scooped out." In Russia, from its western border to the Pacific, from its southernmost limit far north into the inhospitable regions of Siberia, earthworks are found giving evidences of long occupancy, and doubtless a forced migration to the North. There, in the sepulchers of the dead, they deposited the gold and silver ornaments and other treasures of the departed, in which relics the more recent inhabitants have driven a thriving trade. The great steppes of Asia abound with sepulchral TKACES OF VANISHED PEOPLES. 5 mounds. Nor are the deserts of Africa without their witness to the existence of former generations. Hei remorseless sands are the tomb ot many ?in ancient city. Egypt, the oldest nation which has preserved a written history, has also her pre-historic remains. Before the name of Athens was pro- nounced, or Greece was born — when Italy was peopled with savage tribes as wild and barbarous as the red men of America, — Egypt was far advanced in the higher branches of knowledge, the sciences and the nobler arts. Her priests even then dwelt in the palaces of the kings, and issued their mandates, with his, from the throne. Those palaces were colleges of learning, while the priests were the professors, who not only ministered in matters of religion and worship, but devoted themselves to the higher education of the young as well. To-day, as the explorer removes the stones from her ancient structures, he finds here and there one, whose inner surface is carved with curious devices and inscriptions, showing that it once had a place in older and demolished edifices. She had then her libraries also, in which the knowledge of her sages was preserved. Tombs of the librarians have been discovered, dating back at least five hundred years before Homer sang in the cities of Greece, and inscribed "To the chief of books." Long since, the line of the Pharaohs became extinct, and no prince or king — so the prophet said — shall ever sit on her throne again or sway the scepter over the land of the Nile. How old she seems ! . And yet old Egypt was of yesterday, compared with the men of the drift, the reindeer period, or the pre-glacial times of Scandinavia, Scotland, France, England and the Pyrenees. These everywhere ancient monuments of which we speak, men have been wont to regard with unquestioning curiosity, or at most to pass by with a conjecture only, as Homer did, who speaks of the ancient mounds, concerning which, in his day even, there was no history or tradition, and who imagined they might be the tombs of ancient heroes. Job makes more than one allusion to the monuments and "solitary mansions of the dead," which awakened the curiosity of the caravans and travelers of Teman, as they passed along the great thoroughfares of commerce. The wild songs of the most ancient bards are no longer poetic myths, the creations of a fervid imagination ; l)ut their inspiration was drawn from events which actually transpired. "With truth their souls were fired." The poets were the nations' historians as well. Troy, with her strange story, is no longer a doubtful city. Dr. Schlieman has found her ancient (3 ARCHEOLOGY. site and discovered enough, among her long-entombed memorials, to authenticate her history ; and we may write once more '"'Ilium esC for '■'■ Ilium, fuit.'^ And what is most surprising of all, far down beneath the level of the ground once trod by the heroes whose names Homer has given to immortality, the explorer has found the ruins of another city — and he thinks still another below it — concerning which the poet seems to have heard no tradition. Among those deposits of an age so remote, were articles of stone and bronze and precious metals, skillfully wrought, giv- ino- evidence of the existence of a people whose knowledge, attainments, and social condition were far in advance of those of the more ancient periods of stone and bronze — a civilization which could only have been realized by the slow growth of centuries. But not alone upon that glorious land, made immortal by the fiery energy of Homer's matchless songs, has a resurrection morning dawned, nor Egypt and Assyria with their hieroglyphic annals, hoary with age : but other lands, unknown in classic story, and the islands of the sea, are giving- up their long-forgotten dead. The explorers of to-day are breaking down the hitherto impassable barriers of the remoter ages of antiquity ; here and there we catch glimpses of the life and customs, and hold converse with the tribes and peoples of pre-historic times. The fast-accumulating records which have been gathered during the last twenty-five years are continually enriching the libraries of every civilized nation, and he who would master them all will soon find life too short to do more than acquaint himself with the grand results of the multiplied discoveries. The chief difiiculty then, it will be perceived, in the way of the present task, is one of condensation, or in other words, how to select from such vast material only those facts and observations which are necessary for the proper treatment of the subject we are about to consider. On account of the limits prescribed for the archaeological chapters of this work compelling all possible economy of space, and also for the sake of continuity, instead of burdening them with frequent references to the authors consulted, I df sire in the outset to make all due acknowledgment of my indebtedness to those valued records of the labors of the noble army of abler men who have preceded me in like investigations in this department of knowledge. Chief among those which have been freely consulted, are the writings of Garcillasso de la Vega, Prof. Eefinesque, Daniel Willson, LL.D., Alexander W. Bradford, TKACES OF VANISHED PEOPLES. 7 J. W. Foster, Edward L. Clark, Wm. Pidgeon, Prof. G. C. Swal- low, Sir John Lubbock, M. L. Figuier, M. Marlot, John Evans, Lewis C. Beck, H. M. Brackenridge, James Adair, and others. Also, an article upon the Archaeology of Missouri, contributed by m^^self to the last volume of Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science. CHAPTER II. Methods of the Arch^ologist. — The Shell-heaps of the Baltic — The Buried roRESTs op Denmark.— The Sisterhood of Science.— The Five Geologicai> Periods.— The Ages op Stone and Bronze.— Iron in common use three thousand years ago. As before remarked, in almost every land upon the surface of the globe, are to be found countless monuments and memorials of vanished races ; sometimes structures of imposing magnitude, but oftener imple- ments of war and the chase, of domestic use and personal adornment. From such remains, more or less rude and defaced, it has been found possible to reconstruct a pre-historic history of man's life in the most remote ages of his existence ; and by their careful study we are able to scrutinize his manner of life ; to look in upon his domestic scenes ; to witness his ceaseless struggles for existence — his mode of burial ; and to learn something of his notions of another life. Only one important thing is forever lost — his language. For "we can never hear him speak." Yet the history we may recover is as true and touching as any which the poets sing. Nor need all this be thought incredible, for these results are obtained by the simple processes of reasoning and induction which we apply to the affairs of every-day life. When the traveler upon our western plains stumbles by chance upon the ashes and debris of a former habitation, if he finds there the fragments of a hoe and sickle, he at once infers that the former occupant was a tiller of the soil ; should his eye light upon a cast-off shoe of infantile propor- tions, he naturally concludes that once it was the home of childhood. In addition to this, should he discover charred bits of bread and other articles of food, carbonized grain and fruits, along with culinary articles, showing the action of fire, these fticts would show what crops o AUCH^OLOGY. were grown, the kind of food upon which the family subsisted, and also that the dwelling was destroyed by fire. The presence of the fragments of a crucifix would point to the religious belief of the former occupant. Such is the methcjd of the archaeologist. When he examines the huge heaps of shells along the shores of the numerous arms of the Baltic sea, composed of individuals of large size, select and full-grown, of several species, commingled vi^ith rude implements of stone and bone, with also the bones of the codfish, and compares them with the diminutive specimens he is able to procure from the same waters now, it is an inference most reasonable, that when these heaps were piled up around the miserable huts of the ancient fishermen, the waters of the Baltic were not so fresh as now. Tiie presence of the bones of the codfish gives some evidence of skill in navigation, for they must be caught in the open sea. When the peat-bogs of this same country are examined, they present a record reaching far back of the historic period. These depressions in the natural surface of the earth — sometimes to the depth of thirty feet, disclose three distinct periods of arborescent vegetation. At the bottom are the stately trunks of the pine tree; above these the oak, which once grew upon the sides of the pits, and when their full maturity was reached, fell inward. The oak was succeeded by the beech ani birch which now flourish — and have flourished during all the period of history—throughout the land. The pine and oak have never been known during the historic period in the native forests of Denmark. Ill these bogs, beneath the layers of pine, are found the rude implements of the ancient inhabitants. Man lived, then, when the pine forests were in their glory, and at that time also piled up the shell heaps along the shore ; for in these are found in great abundance the bones of a bird- Avhose food is derived from the pine. Again: when the student of Archeeology discovers — as is frequently the case — the bones of extinct mammals, in situ, each bone lying by its follow in its relative position as when in life, he knows there can have been no disturbance of the remains since the death of the animal. If he finds also, in companionship with them, the relics of man's industry, he believes that these mammals and man were contemporaneous. Should he find, further, huge bones split longitudinally, and showing marks and scratches of flint knives, which could only have been made while the bones were soft, he naturally concludes that man hunted these animals for food and split the bones to obtain the marrow. But the generalizations of the archaeologist are not based upon the study of such relics alone. Geology, TRACES OF VANISHED PEOPLES. Paleontology and Archaeology go hand in hand, and have well been called "three sister sciences." Each of these three related departments of human knowledge is throwing its focal light with increasing luster upon the great question of man's first appearance upon the earth. By the light of their combined disclosures, the steps of our groping feet are illumined as we travel slowly along the pathway which leads us irresistibly to the night of the unknown ages, "and the mind recoils dismayed when it undertakes the computation of the thousands of years which have elapsed since the creation of man." The five geological periods into which the crust of the earth has been divided, are commonly named in the rel- ative order of their age : the primitive rocks, the tran- sition rocks, the secondary rocks, the tertiary rocks, and quaternary rocks. All of these are anterior to the pres- ent geological period. The long succession of animals and plants peculiar to each, is found generally to have died out during the time of its continuance. Judging; from the present order of things, each period must a solitary Cave Oweller. lijive been of long duration ; for the animals and plants with which we are familiar show scarcely any alteration since their first appearance, though they have existed forthousands of years. Now it is considered certain by the best informed, that man existed in Europe at the commencement of the quaternary period. We are not left in d(mbt as to the climatic conditions of that country in those remote times, which must have been similar to the polar regions of the North to-day. There was no Iceland, Scotland, or Sc'andinavia then. The whole continent was shrouded in a windins^ sheet of snow. Her now beautiful valleys were the bottom of the sea. Enormous ice-fields stretched away from mountain to mountain, and only the highest elevations of the Pyrenees and Apennines were visible above the vast expanse of eternal snow and ice. Yet there, during that awful winter, for 10 AKCH^OLOGY. which there was no promise of a coming spring, man and cotemporaneoas animals contrived to exist. But what a life ! To us, it would seem utterly hopeless and dreary ; but for its maintenance he found abundant employment for all his activities, in providing means for his daily sustenance, and in his contests with the wild beasts around him for the possession of the shelters of the caves and overhanging rocks. How long this period continued we cannot know ; but the centuries rolled on, and slowly the glacial period comes to an end — the ice-fields melt away, the glaciers retreat to the north, and the submerged continent arises from the ocean. The sunshine and the genial air of a new sprhig morning dissipate the tears from the face of Nature, and she hastens to put on her robes of green. With this dawn of another life a new The Elephas Primogeneus. generation of animals now makes its appearance on the earth, and very different too, from those which perished during the glacial period. Among them the huge mammoth ( Elephas primigeneus) with his woolly covering and lion-like, shaggy mane ; the Siberian Rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros tichorinus, with curious horns ) and clothing of fur, so soft and warm; several species of the Hippopotamus; the Cave Bear, of prodigious size, ( Ursus spelmus') ; the Cave Lion (^Felis spelea) ; various kinds of Hyenas, the Bison, the Urus, (Bos primigeiius ), and the gigantic Irish Elk, with enormous wide-spreading antlers, and many others which need not now be mentioned. TKACES OF VANISHED PEOPLES. 11 These huge monsters rapidlj^ multiply and roam m countless multi- tudes over the continent, as do the buffaloes of our western wilds to-day. Hundreds and thousands gather together in their favorite resorts and from some cause unknown they perish. How man could successfully contend with such formidable adversaries with the rude implements he was able to construct by his infantile skill, is surprising; but his necessities compelled him to be victorious. Nor was he then destitute of aesthetic taste ; for at his leisure he carved in stone or bone the outlines of the beasts he had slain in the chase. At length the long summer ends, and another fearful winter begins. Again the cold is intense ; the glaciers advance through the valleys toward the south. The floods increase, the caves are submerged, and man seeks a home again in tlie mountain ranges. T]ie valleys are filled M ith alluvium for hundreds of feet up the mountain sides. The centu- ries roll on — how long, no one can tell, — and again another subsidence of the floods, or uprising of the continent, takes place, and the glaciers once more recede to the north. Slowly the mountain tops are lifted toward the sky, and the earth is clad again in green. Man now returns to the former abodes of his ancestors. But wh;tt a change has taken place ! Many of the mighty mammals his forefathers hunted on the plains are seen no' more. A few solitary individuals linger on, but soon he witnesses "the extinction and disappearance from the face of the earth of an entire fauna of the larger animals." From this period the Reindeer epoch, — known also as the period of mi- grated animals — begins. A new civilization dawns. Polished implements of stone and bone take the place of rude chips and splinters of silcx. Pottery is manufactured and ornamented with curious devices ; and all that man does displays the awakening exercise of his sense for beauty. From this time the race proceeds with slow but steady advancement. How long the Neolithic, or polished stone period lasted, we have no means of judging, nor when men learned to smelt the more yielding ores, and to make bronze by the alloy of copper with tin. But when that great discovery was made by which he supplied himself with a material so much better fitted by its superior hardness to copper for cutting implements and other uses, he entered that pathway, Avhich em Is only in all the glorious possibilities of the future. With this discovei-y, the nge of Bronze was ushered in. Speedily its use spread over the greater part of Europe. With the age of bronze the arts and sciences may be said to have had their birth. Of the time of its continuance, which seems to have been long, we know but little more than we do of 12 ARCHEOLOGY. the age of stone. But at length it seems to have been brought to a sudden termination by that mightiest physical event in the history of the development of mankind — the discovery of Iron. As to the time when this great transition took place, history is silent ; for it vsras long before history began. The poems of Homer and Hesiod prove that iron was known and in i\se at least three thousand years ago. CHAPTER HI. No "Age of Bronze"' in America.— Traditions Regarding the Mounds.— Tuscarora Chronology.— The Animal Mounds of the Upper Mississippi Region.— Ancient Fish Traps.— Burial, Sacrificial and Historical Mounds. The facts, and the conclusions they suggest, presented in the fore- going chapter, are gathered mostly from the continent of Europe. Each of the great geographical divisions of the globe seems to possess an archseological record more or less peculiar to itself. Our own continent has had no age of bronze. At the time of its discovery, however, implements of copper, beaten out usually, but sometimes smelted and cast in a mold, from the native ore, were to some extent taking the place of those of stone and bone. And although the copper regions of Lake Superior, for the distance of more than one hundred and fifty miles along it southern shore, give evidence of long-continued mining operations upon a stupendous scale, still we must believe that this metal was too costly to be to any great extent the property of the masses : while, even in our own times the remnants of some savage tribes may bo found who still point their spears and arrows with stone. The presence of the relics of such material therefore, it hardly need be said, is of no value in questions of antiquity, only so far as they are found in compan- ionship with the remains of extinct animals, or their age is demonstrated by geological or some other irrefragable proofs. But now, leaving all other facts and considerations bearing upon the general subject of archaeology, which might be interesting and appropriate in this connection, it is proper to proceed to the examination of the monu- ments of our own land, among which those found in Missouri are peculiarly instructive, not only as forming no inconspicuous part of the one great whole, and calculated to shed much light upon the question of TKADITIONS EEGAEDING THE MOUNDS. 13 the homogeneity of the vast population which once swarmed upon this continent, but also — if not their origin — at least the direction of their disappearance. In view of the magnitude of the subject, the ethnological questions involved, and the evident relation of these remains to all which are found in both Nt)rth and South America, it has seemed to me impossible to examine them in the most profitable manner, if our examination shall be circumscribed by the imaginary boundaries of. the State. For the reason mentioned, I have also presented, as briefly as possible, the preceding statement of the results achieved by the labors of the archaeologists of Europe. I will now proceed to speak of some of the more important monuments of this country, with such description as suits my present purpose. The statement has been often repeated by writers upon this subject, that the Indians have no traditions concerning the authors or the design of these monuments. This is undoubtedly true as far as the degenerate remnants of the tribes of the present day are concerned. But when the country was first discovered, and long after, here and there a solitary individual was found who claimed to be a prophet, and to have descended from a long priestly line, and also from a race superior to the Indians by whom their forefathers had been conquered and enslaved. Concerning the traditions handed down from father to son, they were very reticent, except under peculiar circumstances and with those who stained their hio-hest confidence and esteem. The sacred treasures of their history, of which they were the preservers and guardians, were not for the common masses of their own people ; much less would they communicate them to strangers and foes. And when, as it sometimes happened, their frigid reserve would be conquered, and a narration of their legendary history elicited, it was considered more wild and untrustworthy than the long lists of Manetho and Berosus, of Egyptian and Assyrian dynasties, and not worth preserving. From this cause many valuable facts have been irrecoverably lost. A few only have escaped oblivion, of which the briefest possible mention can now be made. The traditions of the Wyandot Indians, according to the account of Mr. Wm. Walker, for some tirne Indian Agent for the Government, published in 1823, are not devoid of interest. They were in substance as follows : • Many centuries ago, the inhabitants of America, who were the authors of the great works in the Mississippi Valley, were driven to the south 14 AKOIL^OLOGY. by an army of savage warriors from the North. After many hundred years, a messenger returned from the exiled tribes, with the alarming news, that a terrible beast had landed on their shores, who was carrying desolation wherever he went, with thunder and fire. Nothing could stay his progess, and no doubt he would travel all over the land in his fury. It is conjectured that this beast of thunder and fire referred to the Spanish invasion of Mexico. The Tuscaroras, according to the account published by Mr. David Cusick in 1827 — quoted by Prof. Eafinesqiie — had a well-arranged system of chronology, dating back nearly three thousand years. Their traditions locate their original home north of the great lakes. In process of time, some of their people migrated to the river Kanawag ( the St. Lawrence ) . After many years, a foreign people came by the sea and settled south of the lakes. Then follow long accounts of wars, and fierce invasions by nations from the north, led by confederate kings and a renowned hero named Yatatan. Many years again elapse, and the king of the confederacy pays a visit to a mighty potentate whose seat of empire is called the Golden City, situated south of the lakes ; and so on, down to the year 1143, when the traditions end. In these records appear accounts of wars with various tribes, given with great particularity ; migrations southward and west to the Mississippi, ( called Ouauweoka ) ; the names of the ruling monarchs, and the order of their succession. There appear to have been several dynasties of longer or shorter duration. Thus, the name Tarenyawagou is borne by three successive monarchs, and Atotaro is continued to the ninth. Only a few items are here given, to indicate their character. No one can examine these traditions without beino- convinced that thev have some great historic facts for their basis, however incredulous he may be as to the correctness of their dates, or their pretentions to so high antiquity. The limits prescribed for this essay admit of but one more notice of traditions in this connection. A class of works, frequently noticed by explorers, is found on the upper Mississippi, chiefly in Wisconsin, — a few in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa — known as animal mounds, on account of their striking resemblance to the forms of various animals, such as the Bufitilo, Bear, Elk, and the like, and some to the human form. These works have elicited much discussion and conjecture as to their origin and purpose, in which no two writers agree. Some of them are of gigantic proportions, and cannot be ascribed to the present race of Indians, for the same reason which precludes the idea that they were the authors of the stupendous works of the more southern States. THE ANIMAL MOUJSDS. 15 The traditions relating to these animal mounds are very minute, fnll and interesting, and were first published in 1853, by Mr. Wm. Pido-eon, who spent several years in the examination of the various monuments in Virginia, the Valley of the Mississippi and South America as well. He tells us that he began these researches from motives of personal interest merely, and continued them for several years, without any design of publishing the results of his observations. During his travels in the regions of the Upper Mississippi, he met a stranger among the red men, of dignified and venerable appear- ance, who had no fixed abidins; place, but wandered from tribe to tribe, always welcomed and ven- erated wherever he went ; who claimed to have descended from a ^'^- '•-Mastodon Mound. long line of ancient prophets, he the last of the line and the last of his race. He was then nearly ninety years of age. The Indians called him "the Mocking Bird," because he could speak fluently five difi'erent languages. By kindness, his confidence and friendshipwere won, and his companionship secured during the journey of exploration. He seemed perfectly familiar with all the most important works, from the Ohio to the extreme north and the far west, — could draw their outlines from memory, and su^^ply any defect in the drawings of others ; and could generally give a ready and lucid account of their authors and the purposes for which the}' were constructed. Unlike many who have written upon the pre-historic people of America, the author seems to have had no pet theory to maintain — as that they were the ten lost tribes of Israel, and the like, — but to have been a thoroughly conscientious and careful observer, faithfully noting what he saw and heard. From the seventy engravings — and accompanying descriptions — with which the work of Mr. Pidgeon is illustrated, I select two or three, and leave the reader to judge whether these traditions are reasonable and trustworthy or not. Many years ago, in the bed of Paint Creek, in Ross County, Ohio, several deep cavities or wells were discovered, which gave rise to much speculation as to their origin and purpose. I believe they have since been found in many other localities. Mr. Pidgeon states that he dis- covered four similar ones in the bed of a small tributary of the St. Peters river, varying in depth from eight to twelve feet, from five to six feet in 16 aechJeology. diameter at the bottom and from three to five feet at the top. These excavations were made in the soft slate rock which formed the bed of the stream. To the level top, or rim of the well, a thin flat rock was fitted, with a round or square hole in the center, about twelve inches in diameter. This opening could be closed at will, by a stone stopper perforated with small holes. A short distance below the wells he found one of these stoppers which fitted neatly the larger capstone of one of the wells. At the time of their discovery the depth of the stream which flowed over them was ten inches. Mocking-Bird informed him that these were fish traps, and that many such could be found in other streams, were they not so filled with mud and stones as to escape observation ; and also that they were constructed and used anciently for the purpose of securing a supply of fish for the winter. Large quantities of bait being deposited in them in the fall, the fish would gather there in great numbers, when the stopper would be placed over the mouth, which prevented their escape, and then they could be taken out with a small net as desired. While it is no doubt true that the mound-builders were an agricultural people, it is quite reasonable to suppose, from the fact that their most extensive works are found uppn the shores of lakes and banks of rivers, that fish formed no inconsiderable item of their bill of fare.^ As before stated, the historian of these traditions, after the death of Mocking-Bird, proceeded to investigate by careful excavation those earthworks of which he had previously made only a superficial survey, especially those concerning which he had received traditions. The first group thus explored which I notice is represented in Fig. 2. It is described as being located at the junction of Straddle Creek and Plumb river, in Carroll County, Illinois. It is composed of conical mounds; rings and semi-circles, with diameters varying from twelve to twenty-five feet. The rings are about tw^o.feet high, and seem to have been formed by throwing up the earth from within, leaving the interior in the form of a basin. The traditions concerning these works are in substance that they were iSome writers have discredited tlie idea of the artificial origin of these wells or fish- traps, attributing their formation to the disintegration of the rocks in which they occur, owing to the unequal hardness of the strata of which they are composed, etc. But it would seem that vastly more credulity is required to believe that the ordinary operation of nature in various parts of the country would produce such cavities, from eight to twelve feet in depth, with nice fitting covers, preforated at the center, than that they are the workmanship of intelligent beings for some special purpose. BURIAL MOUNDS. 17 constructed by a people who were accustomed to burn their dead, and were only partially occupied. Each family formed a circle sacred to its own use. When a member died, the body was placed in the family circle and burned to ashes ; a thin covering of earth was then sprinkled over the whole. This process was repeated as often as a death occurred, until the inclosure was filled. The ring was then raised about two feet and again was ready for further use. As each additional elevation would of necessity be less in diameter than the preceding, in the end a conical mound would be the result. The "darkest spots in the engraving represent those which are finished ; the rings, those in various stages of occupancy ; and the semi-circles those which were only begun. Similar Fig. 2. — Burial Mounds. • works have been found in the Ohio Valley, in the more northern States, west of the Mississippi and in Michigan. Upon excavating the more finished mounds of the group described, they were found filled with ashes, mingled with charcoal: some of them to the depth of twenty inches below the surrounding surface of the soil. In this group were found two mounds much larger than the others, (one is represented in the engraving), shaped like the body of a tortoise, known as battle mounds, and said to contain the ashes of hundreds slain in battle. Both these mounds were found to be filled with ashes and charcoal like the others, thus confirming their traditional history. About two hundred and fifty yards south of these mounds, another group of finished works was found, where the bodies were deposited in the more usual manner without burning. 2 18 AECIL^OLOGY. These two modes of burial, so widely different and in the same locality, mark either a sudden change of custom or the presence of two distinct races at different periods of time. Tradition asserts that there was such a sudden change of mode of burial in obedience to the command of the prophets, for the reason that, while the people were burning the body of a great and good king, suddenly the sun (their chief deity) refused to shine, although there was not a cloud in the sky. This was taken as a siirn of disapprobation of the custom, which gradually ceased thereafter. "it has been generally supposed that those mounds, which showed the frequent or long-continued action of fire, were used for sacrificial purposes only. It seems however more likely that these cinerulent structures were simply the depositories of the bodies of the dead, and this the traditions affirm. Fig. 3. — A Royal Cemetery. The second group noticed in this connection is more complicated (Fig. 3), and presents a greater variety of forms. It is found (or was in 1840) on the north side of St. Peter's river, about sixty miles above its junction with the Mississippi, in what was then the Territory of Minnesota. It is thus described : The central embankment, in the form of the body of a tortoise, is forty feet in length, twenty-seven in breadth, and twelve in perpendicular height. It is composed in part of yellow clay, BURIAL MOUNDS. 19 brouo-ht from some distant place. The two pointed mounds north and sonth of this are formed of pure red earth, covered with alhivial soil. Each is twenty-seven feet in length and six in height at the largest end, gradually narrowing and sinking at the top until they terminate in a point. The four corner mounds were each twelve feet high and twenty- five in diameter at the base. The two long monnds on the east and west sides of the gronp were sixty feet in length, twelve feet in diameter at the base, and eight feet in height. The two mounds on the immediate right and left of the central effigy, were twelve feet long, four feet high, and six in breadth. These were composed of sand, mixed with small bits of mica to the depth of two feet, covered with white clay, with a thin layer of surfiice soil on the top. The large monnd in the center, south of the effigy, was twelve feet high, twenty-seven in diameter, and composed of a stratum of sand two feet in depth, covered with a mixture of sandy soil and blue clay. The similar work on the north of the tortoise was of like formation, four feet high and twenty- two feet in diameter. Thirteen small mounds whose dimensions are not given, complete the group. Only a glance at this cluster of mounds, twenty-six in number, present- ing such variety of forms and peculiar arrangement, and which must have required so much time and labor for their construction, is needed to con- vince the observer that they were intended to perpetuate some history, fmd that each of the hieroglyphic symbols of which the group is composed had its special significance, which was well understood by the builders and their cotempoi'aries. But what was that history, or what event is recorded here? The works themselves give no answer. Tradition asserts, that this was the royal cemetery of a ruler known as the Black Tortoise, and was designed to commemorate the title and dignity of a great king or potentate. The tortoise-shaped central mound (a) was his tomb. The four corner mounds were called Mourning Mounds. The two larger mounds (66) directly north and south of the effigy were the burial places of chiefs. The number interred in each is recorded in the number of small mounds on each side of them— five in the northern and eight in the southern line. The two long embankments (cc) at the extreme right and left of the works, were known as points of honor, and are said never to occur except in connection with those works which symbolize royalty. The two pointed mounds {dd), and described as twenty-seven feet long, six feet in width at the larger end, tapering down from the top and sides to a vanishing point, are known as mounds of extinction, and tell us that he 20 AECH^OLOGY. was the last of his line. These too are never found alone, but always in connection with larger works. The mounds (ee) on either side of the central effigy are the burial places of prophets. In these it will be remembered small bits of mica were found mingled with the ashes. The presence of this substance in a certain class of mounds, in localities so remote from each other, from Minnesota to the Scioto Yalley — some- times in large circular plates, but oftener in countless smaller fragments, has called forth much speculation as to its use by the ancient inhabitants. It has been suggested that it may have been used for mirrors, or again for ornament, or, on account of its preciousness, as a medium of com- mercial transactions. But when it is remembered that it is never found indiscriminately with other deposits in many mounds of the same group, we may safely conclude that it was set apart for a special use. Tradition says that it was sacred to the prophets, and was deposited in their tombs alone ; — that they had the mysterious power of calling lire from heaven, which was distributed to the minor prophets by whom the sacred fires were kept perpetually burning ; that the fire used at the annual feast in their most holy places was thus received from the sun upon the summit of the sacred altars. This bringing fire from heaven is found in classic stories and in the traditions of many lands, as every school-boy knows. So Zoroaster taught his disciples, that the sacred fire which he committed to their care had been brought direct from heaven. "It is possible that the prophets of the ancient Americans were able in some ^1 maimer to construct lenses from plates of mica, of sufficient pow- er to ignite the fuel upon the sacrificial altars." ^ The Mexi- cans in ancient times called ob- sidian "the shining god," and held it in high estimation. Several works have been ob- served of the form shown in Figure 4. The one here represented is described as located on the lowlands of the Kickapoo Eiver in Wisconsin. The central work, with radiating points, sixty feet in Fig. 4. ' Pidgeon. BURIAL MOUNDS. 21 diameter and three feet in height. This is inclosed by five crescent- shaped works, having an elevation of two feet, and all presenting a level surface at the top. It is traditionally represented to have been occupied only during sacrificial festivities consequent upon the off'ering of human sacrifices to the sun, which the central mound was said to represent. Upon excavating, after removing the soil from the top, the central portion, for a space twelve feet in diameter, is found thickly studded with plates of mica set in white sand and blue clay; and, says the observer "had this surface soil been removed with care, and the stratum beneath washed by a few heavy showers of rain, under the sun's rays it would have presented no unapt symbolical representation of that luminary." The sacred Pentagon, Fig. 5, is found in close proximity. ^ As before stated, no class of works has awaked more curiosity, or elicited more unsatisfactory spe- culations, than these animal effi- gies ; and among these the most singular and enigmatical are those representing the larger animals, and the human form on a gigantic scale, and generally with such ac- curacy of delineation as to leave no doubt as to what particular ani- mal was intended to be represented by the figure. Sometimes these huge representations of beasts, birds and men are grouped to- Fig 5. — Sacred Pentagon. gother in such strange and grotesque combinations as to forbid all attempts to discover the design of the builders in their erection. A few of the most common forms are shown in the accompanying engravings. That the mastodon is intended by figure 1 is conceded by all— as far as known— who have described it. I am not aware that it has ever been found outside of Wisconsin. There it frequently occurs, either ' This is represented here because of its intimate relation to the one just described, which is found associated with it. The outer circle is twelve hundred feet in diameter, in the center is the sacrificial altar, upon which human sacrifices were said to have been offered twice a year. In the spring the oldest man of the nation, wiUmgly-so great was the honor-presented himself as the victim. In the autumn a female was sacrificed. If the day was cloudy, the off'ering was left upon the altar of sacrifice until the sun looked down upon it, which was considered a sign that the sacrifice was accepted, llie people then repah-ed to the festival circle with rejoicing, where the feast was celebrated 22 aECH OOLOGY. Fig. 6. Bird and Beast. .'iloiie or in compiinionship with other mounds. As men in all ages, in their first attempts at pictorial art, have been accustomed to delineate only those objects which were most striking and with which they were most familiar, we may well, believe that the ancient Americans were not unacquainted with this Iving of beasts, and that they liv.ed in those days when those gigantic animals roamed over the pUiins in vast numbers, whose skeletons l.ave been so often found in Missouri. The combined figures of bird and beast as repres- ented at Fig. 6 are also of frequent occurrence, parti- culary in Wisconsin. The one here delineated is one hundred and eighty feet in length, and forty-four in its greatest breadth. The whole is composed of reddish clay, but covered to the depth of twelve inches with a black alluvium. It was designed to record the change in title of a sovereign line of rulers. The head of the beast being merged in the body of the bird concedes to the conqueror the right of dominion. The two truncated mounds, one on each side of the beast, record the extent of his humiliation. They are altar mounds, on which were sacrificed his descendants both male and female. The effigy shown in Fig. 7 is unmistakably human. It memorializes a hereditary chief of royal line, but who, according to the record, could not yet have been a sovereign ruler, as no mound of honor indicating that condition is found in connection with it. He was thus memorialized because he fell in battle, and with him his son, whose memory is perpet- uated in the truncated mound between his feet. The amalgamation group (Fig. 8 ) is more complicated and enig- matical, and but for the traditions concerning it would doubtless always remain so. The beast is one hundred and eighty feet in length ; the human efiigy perpendicular to it is one hundred and sixty. On either side of the horizontal figure is a ti'uncated work eighteen feet in diameter and six feet in height. The summits of both are flat. The representations of horns, which are very distinct, are of different dimensions. The main stem of the front horn is eio;hteen feet in length. The one which inclines backward is twelve, the longest antlers are six, and the shortest three feet in length. At the foot of the human effigy is attached an embankment running parallel with the horizontal figure, eighty feet in length, twenty-seven in diameter and six in height. On a line with this is a series of conical mounds, the largest of which is also SACKIFICIAL AND HISTOEICAI. MOUNDS. 23 twenty-seven feet in diameter and six in heisrht. From this the others diminish on either side and terminate in monnds eigh- teen feet in diameter and three in height. The group thus described is represented to have been erected to commemorate an important event in the history of two friendly nations, which were once great and powerful, but now reduced by long- continued wars against a common foe ; and beino; now no lono;er able to maintain a separate national existence, they resolved to unite their forces under one title and sovereio-n. One was known as the Elk nation, the other was the Butfalo. This work was designed as a public record and seal of their amalgamation. This fact is plainly expressed by the union of the head of the Buifalo with that of the human effigy representing the sovereign of the Elk nation, and also by the joining of the hand of the one with the foot of the other. Horns appended to effigies represent warriors; their length and number the relative power of the two nations at the time of their union. The Buffalo was therefore manifestly recorded as the weaker of the two, as his antlers are seen to be smaller and in a de- clining position. The fact is also here re- corded that, when the union was fully consummated the na- tionality of the Buf- falo became extinct. This is shown hy the pi'esence of the Fig. 8. — Amalgamation Group. t ^ , . , . mound ot extinction — ^before described — in connection with the Buffiilo and terminating at his hind feet. The two truncated mounds on either side of the Fig. 7. — Human-Sliaped Mound. 24 AECBL^OLOGY. animal effigy are sacrificial altars upon which appropriate sacrifices were offered, not only at the time of the erection of the works, but annually thereafter ; the fires of which were kept burning until the smoke from both united in one column above the mound. This annual sacrifice symbolized the renewal of the covenant entered into when the compact was made. The seven truncated mounds in a line with the embankment upon which the human figure stands, ( and known as a symbol of nationality ) are matrimonial memorials, and record the international marrias^es of seven chiefs which occurred during the construction of the work, and which were also a further ratification of the national union here perpetuated. Upon excavating the altars, after the alluvial soil was removed, a stratum of burned earth mingled with ashes and charcoal was disclosed, to the depth of fourteen inches. This group was found upon the northern high land of the Wisconsin River, about fifty miles from its junction with the Mississippi. In that part of the work where the heads of the two effigies unite, an oak was standing at the time of its first examination. Upon a second visit it was not there, but the stump showed by its concentric annual rings of growth that it was four hundred and twenty-four years old. Works of this description, which occur so frequently'" in AVisconsin, have also been observed in Northern Illinois. Lance Head. - CHAPTER IV. The Arch^ological Monuments of Missouri.— Their Rapid Destruction.— Sites of Towns and Cities — The Labous op H. M. Brackenridge.— The Big Mound at St. Louis —Col. O'Fallon's Residence Erected on an Ancient Mound.— The Mounds IN Forest Park.— Evidences of a Vast Population.-^New Madrid its Center.— Description of Various Works. The preceding remarks upon the general subject of Archaeology, with the few notices of traditions concen^ing the ancient inhabitants of America, are all that the limits of this article will permit, as well as all which our present purpose demands. Nor has it seemed necessary to describe those extensive and imposing works, which are found scattered through the Central States, from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and especially in the Ohio Valley, consisting of walled towns, embankments enclosing large areas of land, in squares, circles, octagons and the like, associated with mounds of prodigious size; for these have been so often described and delineated that whatever comparison of them with the monuments of Missouri may be thought desirable may be readily accomplished by reference to the works of those authors, who have published so many valuable 'descriptions of these antiquities, and which are to be found in almost every public library. That Missouri was once the home of a vast population composed of tribes who had fixed habitations, dwelt in large towns, practiced agricul- ture on an extended scale, with a good degree of method and skill ; who had also a well-organized system of religious rites and worship, and whose esthetic tastes were far in advance of the savage tribes who ro.imed over her prairies and hill ranges when her great rivers were first navigated by the white men, is, I am confident, no difficult matter to prove. Says Mr. H. M. Brackenridge, who- was an extensive traveler, and a man of excellent judgment, in speaking of the ancient works in the Mississippi Valley : "It is worthy of observation, that all these vestiges Invariably occupy the most eligible situations for towns or settlements ; and on the Ohio and Mississippi they are most numerous and consid- erable. There is not a rising town, or a farm of an eligible situation, in whose vicinity some of them may not be found. I have heard a surveyor of the public lands observe, that wherever any of these remains were met with, he was sure to find an extensive body of fertile land." Although, for more than three-quarters of a century since that time, 26 AUCH^OLOGY. the waves of an advancing civilization and the hand of agriculture have passed over them and utterly destroyed vast numbers, including many of the most remarkable ones, which arrested the attention of every beholder, — still, any one at all familiar with those which now remain would write the same things to-day. The name of the city of St. Louis was once Mound City, called so on account of the number and size of those ancient works which once stood upon her present site. The larger of them are all demolished, while the few which yet remain are so small that they would hardly be noticed save by the eye of a practical observer. The same may be said of nearly all which once crowned the terraces of the Mississippi along her eastern border, and those of the Missouri and her tributaries. Notwithstanding all this widespread demolition and obliteration, there is doubtless now no richer field for archaeological research in the great basin of the Mississippi than is to be found in the State of Missouri. As has been already stated, the most important works are found located in the vicinity of extensive areas of fertile lands, and upon the most eligible sites for towns and cities. The same locations would naturally be the first to be occupied by the pioneer settlements of our own times, and these aboriginal remains would be the first to be oblite- rated. It is not surprising, therefore, that the earlier notices of the ancient monuments of this valley are so meagre and unsatisfactory, especially when we remember the peculiar vicissitudes of a frontier life, which necessitated unceasing toil and eternal vigilance : continually men- aced, as the early settlements generally were, by a wily, savage foe. It should also be remembered that until quite recently the prevailing opinion concerning mounds and embankments was that they were the work of the red men, and to this day they are known among the masses as Indian mounds. Notwithstanding the fact that multitudes have been destroyed, there still remain so many vestiges of an ancient race — not only upon the alluvial plains of our larger rivers, but also in the interior valleys, watered by smaller streams and rivulets, and also upon the sterile slopes and summits even of the Ozarks — that Missouri still presents a most inviting field for the labors of the archaeologist. A proper examina- tion and description of them all would involve no inconsiderable expenditure of time and money, and require a volume for their elucidation. It cannot therefore be expected that we can do more in this article than to describe the different classes of those remains — with their most prominent characteristics — which are best known and AECH^OLOGICAL MONUMENTS OF MISSOURI. 27 which have been the most thoroughly explored. In carrying out this design, it will perhaps best serve our purpose in the way of method and convenience to consider them under the following general divisions : 1st, Sites of towns or cities. 2cl, Burial mounds, caves and artificial caverns. 3d, Sacrificial or temple mounds. 4th, Garden mounds. 5th, Miscellaneous works. 6th, Pottery ; and 7th, Crania. /. — Sites of Towns or Cities.— The early French explorers of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and the territories through which they flow, seem to have taken no notice of the ancient monuments along their course ; or if they did, they doubtless ascribed their origin to the red men, who were found occupying, in some instances works of similar construction. But when permanent settlements had been established along their banks, with the consequent increase of travel, these works ere long attracted the attention of the historian, and awakened an interest which resulted in their more careful examination. The early writers, as they became familiar with the habits and social condition of the Indians, and in view of the magnitude of the structures they so freepiently met with, as well as the skill and herculean labors required for their erection, make frequent mention of their doubts as to the ability of the Indians to erect monuments of such prodigious proportions. And not until St. Louis became an incorporated town, and the capital of that vast extent of territory then known as Upper Louisiana, do we find any descriptive accounts of the ancient works which at that time occupied the terraces upon which this great city now stands. Notwithstanding the meager and unsatisfactory character of the accounts which have been preserved, still, we are thankful for the crumbs of information the early observers have left us, and will endeavor to make the most of them. Mr. H. M. Brackenridge, 1 writing in the yeax 1811, says: "I have The work of this autlior ( " Views of Louisiana " ) seems to have been the perennial fountain from whence many subsequent writers upon American Archajology, both in this country and in Europe, liave drawn much of their inspiration and many of the facts and germinal suggestions which they have elaborated with extended speculations, and frequently without any mention of their obligation to this writer for the facts and suggestions which have been so freely made use of. Mr. Brackenridge, I believe, was the first American author who alludes to the statements of Plato concerning a people who had come from an island in the Atlantic, in great numbers, andoAorran Europe and Asia, and known as the Atlantides, which island was said to have been sunk by an earthquake 9000 years before his time. He notes, also, a similar tradition among the Eomans, and thinks it possible America may have been referred to. 28 ARCHAEOLOGY. frequently examined the mounds at St. Louis. They are situated on the second bank, just above the town, and disposed in a singular manner ; there are nine in all, and form the three sides of a parallelogram, the open side towards the country, being protected, however, by three smaller mounds, placed in a circular manner. The space inclosed is about three hundred yards in length and two hundred in breadth. About six hundred yards above these is a single mound, with a broad stage on the river side ; it is thirty feet in height, and one hundred and fifty in length ; the top is a mere ridge of five or six feet wide. Below the first mounds there is a curious work called the Falling Garden. Advant- age is taken of the second bank, nearly fifty feet in height at this place, and three regular stages or steps are formed by earth brought from a distance. This work is much admired — it suggests the idea of a place of assembly for the purpose of counselling on public occasions." Accompanying the foregoing description is a simple diagram which, as it does not seem to be the result of any actual survey, and therefore of no scientific value, need not be reproduced in this connection. Dr. Beck, who noticed them twelve years afterwards, presents in his work another diagram, which seems to have been the result of more careful observation, although in this, however, one of the nine, and the three smaller mounds described by Mr. Brackenridge as protecting the side of the parallelogram opening towards the country, are wanting. From all the information I can gather, I believe the following plan will present the true relation of the mounds here described : Diagram of St. Louis Mounds. THE BIG MOUND AT ST. LOUIS. 29 One of the above group undoubtedly represents the old landmark known as the Big Mound, ( a representation of which as it appeared at the time of its removal, faces the first page of the opening chapter), which once stood at the corner of Mound street and Broadway, but which was entirely demolished in 1869. This I suppose to have been the terraced mound, represented by Mr. Brackenridge to have been located six hun- dred yards north of the main group. The Big Mound is known to have been beautifully terraced, and nothing of the kind is mentioned in con- nection with those constituting the parallelogram. Nor is the Falling Garden spoken of as a mound, but only as a terraced bank. For these and other reasons which need not be dwelt upon, after much reflection, I am persuaded that the terraced mound, afterwards known as the Big Mound, was the last to disappear before the encroachments of the rapidly-growing city. Be this as it may, this most interesting work will be particularly described under the more appropriate head of Sepulchral Caverns, when I shall be able to speak with more confidence, as I shall give there the result of my own observations. There were formerly many other mounds in the immediate vicinity of St. Louis, rivaling in magnitude and interest those described by the authors just quoted, but which escaped their notice In fact, the second terrace of the Mississippi, upon almost every available commanding point of elevation, was finished with them. Nineteen years ago, in a conversation with the late Col. John O'Fallon, he informed me that his family residence on the Bellefontaine road was erected upon one of those ancient mounds. It must have been very large, although I do not recall the dimensions. He stated, further, that as the summit was being leveled, preparatory to building, human bones by the cart-load were disclosed, along with stone axes and arrow- heads and the like, without number. He then led me to the forest west of his dwelling, and called my attention to the small hillocks which abounded there in prodigious numbers, which he conjectured were the residence sites of former inhabitants, because of their regularity, and from the fact that upon excavating them they disclosed ashes and charcoal. Still farther north, upon the highest points of the second terrace, I have traced the remains of others which must have been quite imposing before they were subjected to the leveling influence of agriculture. In Forest Park, a few miles west of the city, there is a small group of mounds which the park commissioners, 1 am happy to know, have resolved to preserve. It is a pity that none of the larger ones have been spared, to stand hereafter as the memorials of a people whose origin is 30 AKCH^OLOGY. hid in the night of oblivion. But let them remain, such as they are, and Avhen future generations shall throng the green groves and shady walks of that beautiful garden of their great city, these shall recall the fainting echoes of another race, whose homes once clustered, in days long gone, upon the banks of that great river v^^here a statelier — can v^e say happier — city stands to-day. The works thus briefly noticed are only a few of the great group of large circumference, of which that king of mounds, on the fertile plains across the river, known as Monk's Mound, was the radiating center. That high place was a temple mound — the holy mountain for this whole region, doubtless, — and the smoke which ascended from the perpetual fire of its sacred altar could be seen for many miles on every side. . But while our business now is with the ancient people of Missouri, it should be borne in mind that the imaginary lines which divide us into States had no existence in those other times, when a mighty people dwelt upon either side of the Mississippi, outnumbering far, perhaps, the present occupants; who were homogeneous in their commercial pursuits, arts and worship. They traded with the nations who dwelt by the sea, and brought from thence the shells and pearls of the ocean, and left them in their tombs, along with the precious wares of their own handicraft, for our admiration and instruction. But before we leave St. Louis, another work demands a notice, which the following (Fig. 9), will illustrate. This class of works appears frequently in Iowa, but was formerly found in greatest numbers in Mis- souri. The one figured here was located on Root River, about twenty miles west of the Mississippi. The central mound is repre- sented as being thirty-six feet in diameter, and twelve feet in height. The circle inclosins: it was nearly obliterated. The long embankments which form the sides of the triangle were each one hundred and forty- four feet in length, and respectively three, four and five feet in Fig. 9. — Historical Mound. EVIDENCES OF A VAST POPULATION. 31 heiijht, and twelve feet in diameter; and what is singular, the sum of the heights of the embankments equals the vertical height of the central mound, and these two amounts multiplied together, give the exact length of the embankments. Sometimes works of this description are built in the form of a square, with four embankments ; but of Avhatever form, it is stated that the same relation of the sum of the heights of all the embankments to the height of the central mound is always presented, and the product of these gives the length of the embankments. A group precisely similar to the one just described, and of large dimensions, once stood near the village of St. Louis. Its precise location cannot be learned, as it was demolished somewhere between the years 1835-40. This class of mounds will be further noticed under the head of Miscellaneous Works. The evidences of a dense pre-historic population in Missouri are no- where so abundant as in the southeastern counties of the State. These consist of mounds of various dimensions and forms, sometimes isolated, but oftener in groups of peculiar arrangement ; also embankments and walls of earth inclosing large and small areas, in which may be traced the lines of streets - if such they may be called — of a village or city, and numberless sites of former residences. One of the largest mounds in this region, is about four miles from New Madrid, and, as described in 1811, is twelve hundred feet in circumference, forty feet high and surrounded by a ditch, five feet deep and ten feet in width. New Madrid was unquestionably once the great metropolis of a vast popula- tion, the remains of whose villages are everywhere met/\Yith, upon the banks of the numerous bayous which abound in the several counties in this portion of the State. For the reason before mentioned, one group only can be particularly described. The one selected is situated upon Bayou St. John, about eighteen miles from the town of New Madrid. The bayou at this point is one mile and a half in width ; its whole length may be stated in round ntimbers to be about seventy-five miles. While, in the notices of the earlier travelers, it is described as a lake with a clear, sandy bottom, it is now a sluggish swamp, filled to a great extent with cypress trees. Upon the western bank of the bayou the works to be described are located. They consist of inclosures, large and small conical and truncated mounds in great numbers, and countless residence sites of the ancient inhabitants. From the level of the bayou to the prairie land above, the ascent is by a gradual slope to a vertical height of 32 ' AECH^OLOGY. fifteen feet. Upon this belt of sloping ground, now covered with a heavy growth of timber, the works are most numerous ; while from its edge, westward, the level prairie (that is, the alluvial plain of the Mississippi) has been under cultivation for sixty or seventy years. Here, including forty acres of the cultivated field and ten of the sloping timber belt, is an area of about fifty acres, enclosed by earthen walls which may be distinctly traced for several hundred feet, but gradually disappear on the western side, having been nenrly obliterated by the long cultivation of the field. Where it is best preserved in the timbered land, its height was found to be from three to five feet, and fifteen feet wide at the base. ^ In the centre of the western side of the enclosure and close to the wall, is a mound of oblong shape, three hundred feet in lenofth at the base, and at its northern end one hundred feet wide, and twenty feet high at the present time, as near as could be estimated by careful stepping. The top of it slopes gradually to the south, and although the plow has passed up and down its sides for sixty years, still on its eastern side may be distinctly seen the evidences of a graded way to its summit. Close to its northeastern side, where the mound is widest, is a deep depression in the field, about ten feet in diameter. Mr. Wm. M. Murphy, a farmer who has long resided in the neighbor- hood, told me that when he first saw it he could not get in and out of it without a ladder, and that it had since been nearly filled up by the tillers of the soil with stumps, logs and earth. In the centre of the enclosure stands a circular mound seventy-five feet in diameter, and also twenty feet high, which upon examination disclosed nothing but broken potteuy. It belongs to that class usually termed residence mounds. The view from its summit towards the west and south commands a prospect several miles in extent ; on the north the view is cut off by a heavy growth of timber, and on the east by the cypress swamp. In a direct line with the tvvo mounds thus described, partly upon the edge of the cultivated field and partly upon the declivity which descends toward the swamp, in the midst of a group of smaller works, stands a large burial mound, twelve to fifteen feet in height, and one hundred feet in diameter. Its original height could only be conjectured, as it has long been occupied as a residence site by the present inhabitants. The ruins of a log house are still standing upon its summit. It has been the sepulchre of many hundreds, perhaps a 1 It will readily be perceived that absolute accuracy of measurement would be impossible, where the ground has been so much disturbed by cultivation. Small vessels of Pottery, Stone Pipe, Stone Implements and discoidal Stone from New Madrid, Mo. 34 ARC'S JEO'LOGY. thousand individuals. The manner of interment, as far as my own observations extended, was to place the corpse upon the ])ack, with the head towards the centre of the mound ; the vacant space between each deposit beino; generally two or three feet. When the inner circle was full, another would be formed outside of it. In two burial mounds in this region, which were only from three to tive feet in height, and fifty or sixty feet in diameter, I found this process of burial continued far beyond the circumference of the mound ; in which cases the graves had been dug in the natural bed of the plain, upon which the mound was erected, and were generally from three to four feet in depth. The kind of pottery found in these is precisely similar to that taken from the centre of the mound, and was always in the same relative position to the skeleton. Three vessels were usually found with each individual. Two were water jugs, and placed on each side of the head; the other, a receptacle for food, rested upon the side of the chest, and was kept in place by the angle of the arms, which were folded across the breast. These vessels will be more particularly described hereafter. Within the enclosure, before described, beginning near the margin of the bayou, extending up the side of the declivity, around the burial mound, and continuing quite a distance into the inclosure, are great numbers of depressions, or shallow pits in the soil, from one to three feet in depth and from fifteen to thirty in diameter ; sometimes in par- allel rows, and usually about thirty feet from centre to centre. In many of these, forest trees of large size are still growing, and others equally large are lying upon the ground in various stages of decay. Upon digging into them, almost every shovelful of earth disclosed pieces of broken pottery ; many of these fragments indicated vessels of large size which must have had a capacity of from ten to fifteen gallons. Upon joining the fragments together, the mouths or openings were found to vary from three to twelve inches in diameter. They were doubtless stationary receptacles of food or water, as they were so thin that it would hardly seem possible they could be moved, when filled, without bi-eaking. In many of these depressions were observed large rough masses of burnt clay, of the color of common brick, full of irregular and transverse holes, which seem to indicate, that, before it was burned, the desired form of a chimney, or oven, had been rudely made out, by intertwining sticks, twigs and grass, and the whole plastered inside and out with moist clay, to the thickness of several inches, and then burned until it became red and nearly as hard as the bricks now in use. At the depth of about two feet, at the bottom of all which were examined, what THE NEW MADKID MOTJNDS. 35 seemed to have been a fire-place was disclosed. The earth was also burued, so as to present the color and hardness of the fragments of brick, to the depth of several inches. Along with the broken pottery were found, quite often, fragments of sandstone of various sizes, the larijer pieces with concave surfaces, and all showing that they had been used for polishing or sharpening purposes, especially the smaller ones, which are covered with small grooves one-eighth of an inch deep across the whoL length and width, and at various angles with each other, as thouo-h the- had long been used for sharpening some small metallic instrument or oraver's tool. Water Jugs and Food Vessels Another interesting and suggestive feature of these works is worthy of notice. Along the shore of the bayou, in front of the enclosure, small tongues of land have been carried out into the water, from fifteen to thirty feet in length by ten to fifteen in width, with open spaces between, which small as they are, forcibly remind one of the wharves of a sea- port town. The cypress trees grow very thickly in all the little bays thus formed, and the irregular, yet methodical, outline of the forest, winding in and out, close to the shore of these tongues of land, is so marked as to remove all doubt as to their artificial orio;in. Althousfh the channel of the Mississippi is now from fifteen to eighteen miles east of this point, there is no question that this long bayou was one of its aneien; beds. It is well known that at New Madrid the river has receded at th< rate of one mile in seventy years. With the supposition that its recession has been uniform, at this rate nearly a thousand years must have passed since the Mississippi deserted the banks upon which these works are located. But this, could it be proven, would give us no positive testis mouy concerning their age. When the river changed its course, a lake 36 AECH^OLOGY. Large Water Vessel. took its place. The change therefore must have been somewhat sudden, for according to its prevailing habits, while it wears away the shore upon one side it leaves a corresponding deposit of alluvium upon the other. The numerous miniature wharves would suggest that the inhabitants were fishermen and had plenty of boats of some sort, which being so, ^hese waters must have been navigable and not filled up as now with an jilmost impenetrable cypress forest. While it is true that the most im- portant works are all situated upon the hio:h oround, fifteen feet above the water level, some of the smaller ones are located upon the intermediate declivity, and near the shore of the bayou, as also ^iS some of the residence sites. If we assume their occupancy to have I been contemporaneous with the presence ■ of the river, they would be subject to overflow by the annual floods, and the wharves would be swept away. It seem i^obable therefore that the time when they were occupied was long r jhisequent to the change in the course of the river. The idea of the great ■ itiquity of these works, entertained when I made the report of their lamination, to the St. Louis Academy of Science, I confess has since been ' mewhat shaken, the reasons for which may appear as we proceed. I am , vininded however that, for the work of which these are the initial ' japters, a picturesque and, so to speak, a topographical description ;j the ancient monuments of Missouri is desired, rather than a dry vi. {tail of facts with extended generalizations. Considerations therefore ^ iiich might otherwise be appropriate in this connection will be reserved ; i" a more fitting opportunity. One mile south of the remains under consideration, and about three hundred feet from the margin of the bayou, is a peculiar work, in the form of an oval or egg-shaped excavation, one hundred and fifty feet long in its largest diameter and seventy-five feet wide and about six feet deej). It is surrounded by an embank- ment about eight feet in height around its northern curve: on the southern end the wall is not over five feet, in which is a narrow opening, and extending from it is a curved, elevated way to the swamp, in which the earth taken from the excavation Small Drinking Vessel, and Stopper. THE NEW MADEID MOUXDS. 37 seems to have been deposited, until a circular mound or wharf was raised about twenty feet in diameter and five feet high in the centre. The same opening and elevated way is seen at the northern end, extending to the water. It is doubtless an unfinished work, but its purpose cannot be conjectured. About eight miles, in a southeasterly direction, from the works upon Bayou St. John, upon what is known as West Lake, is another exten- sive group almost identical with those described above, differing chiefly in this, that they are covered throughout with a heavy growth of timber; and the residence sites are found covering a much larger space, and in prodigious numbers ; w^hile in the center of the group is an open space of several acres which seems to have been made perfectly level, contain- ing no elevations or depressions whatever save what may have been produced by the uprooting of timber. The aboriginal remains thus briefly described are only small groups of the multitudinous works with which this whole region abounds, and in many instances are still covered with the primeval forests. They seem to increase in number and size as we approach the town of New Madrid, where they appear in structures of much greater magni- tude, one of which has been already noticed. Their character at this place would seem to indicate that here was the seat of government and commercial metropolis of a dense population, which occupied a large extent of territory, embracing not only New Madrid county, but also the counties of Mississippi, Scott, Perry, Butler, Pemiscot, Scotland, Madison, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau, all of which contain the same class of works, and whose authors were the same people. Further explorations, I have no doubt, will disclose their presence in other counties adjoining. CHAPTER y. One People the Builders of these Mounds.— Cremation and Burial Mounds.— The Big Mound at St. Louis.— Mistaken Views.— Minute Description op the Work.— Stone Mounds.— Stone Sepulchers in St. Louis and Perry Counties. Notwithstanding the variety of form presented in the multitudinous structures throuohout the continent of North America, the comparison of many of their most prominent characteristics makes it reasonably certain that one people were the authors of them all. While many of them in the order of their age belong to periods more or less remote, reaching back many hnndreds and perhaps thousands of years, many others are comparatively recent. Taken as a whole, the thoughtful observer will see,' in this diversity of configuration and grouping, that natural order of growth which might be looked for in the slow develop- ment of a national life, whether generated among the people themselves or helped forward by occasional and accidental impulses from without. It seems highly probable that there were two slowly-moving streams of migration from the north ; the most important one on the east of the Mississippi, the other through the territories lying west of the river. This southward movement of a vast people seems to have been arrested in the valley of the Ohio for a long period of time. Otherwise the fact can hardly be accounted for that here occur the most stupendous monu- ments of their industry and skill, and also the most striking evidences of the stability and repose of their national life. Here the mound- builders reached the highest stage of civilization they ever attained this side of Central America and Mexico. The movement upon the western side of the river, while it had its source in the one great fountain-head at the north, does not seem to have been so well defined in all its characteristics, notwithstanding the fact that the population in Mis- souri at one time was as great, and, we have reason to think, greaier than in Oliio. The cause may have been that they never enjoyed a season of repose and exemption from war to such a degree as to render it possible for them to devote the time and C(mcentrate their energies upon their internal affairs to the extent which resulted in the more advanced civilization of the eastern tribes. There seems to have been one prevail- ing system of religion among them all, which was based upon the worship of the heavenly bodies. This remark applies not only to people of North America, but to the ancient inhabitants of the southern CKEMATION AND BUKIAI. MOimDS. 39 continent as well. The temple mounds in both, though built of different materials, are the same in form and purpose. While the oneness of their forms of worship of itself proves nothing as to the unity of their origin, still, when taken in connection with the fact of their constant intercourse, and the identity of so many rites and customs among them all, it is believed no extended argument is needed, as before stated, to prove that, whatever may be the relative age of the groups of works found in diffei'ent localities, they were all built by one people. In view of the foregoing it ought not to be surprising if, as we trace the history of their development as recorded in their remains, we find here and there traces of a radical change in some of their customs. The one we have now to consider is a most important and significant one, which relates to the disposition of their dead. This has already been noticed (see p. 17, fig. 2), as illustrated in the two cemeteries in Carroll County, Illinois, with traditional reasons for the substitution of mound burial for cremation. Many able writers upon American antiquities have given much attention to the numerous class of works which have usually been denominated sacrificial mounds. These are described as presenting upon excavation a basin-shaped cavity of varying dimensions : frequently paved with stones, and con- taining ashes and charcoal, which are sometimes mingled with various implements and ornaments, all showing the action of fire. To my own mind the evidences are almost conclusive that these should be denom- inated Cremation Mounds ; and that up to a certain period this was the usual, and perhaps, universiil, method of disposing of the remains oi departed friends. The size of the mound would then indicate the rank of him whose body was thus consumed therein. Upon no other hypothe- sis can we account for the earth being heaped upon the so-called altars while the fires were yet burning, leaving some portions of the wood yet unconsumed. At length this practice ceased and mound burial took its place. The latter custom seems to have been the one universally practiced by the mound-builders of Missouri. While cremation mounds occur in Iowa and Wisconsin, if any exist in Missouri they are yet to be discovered. But here even the mode oi burial was not uniform throughout the State, nor always in the same locality even. One class, in the bayou St. John group, has already been described. It is to be remembered that in these no implements what- ever were found with the interments — nothing save the earthen -vessels for food and drink. Occasionally a flint spear and arrowhead would be disclosed, but in such relations that I have no doubt their presence was 40 AECH^OLO&Y. accidental. These mounds I believe to have been the ordinary burial places of the jaeople. In others, as was the case with the one upon which the O' Fallon mansion stands, great numbers of stone axes, arrow- points, and the like abound. In the one case, only those domestic utensils were deposited which minister to the comfort of their domestic life ; in the other, those which served them in war and manly activities. Nor does this seem strange, when we remember the belief, so common among mankind in certain stages of civilization, that those pursuits to which the individual was devoted in this life are continued iu the life beyond the grave ; conse- quently, if he had been a great hunter or mighty in war, it would be most natural to deposit with him, in the tomb, his arms. But if the nation were at peace, and unused to the arts of war, his friends would think only of a necessary supply of food and drink ; hence vessels of pottery would be the sole accompaniments of his journey. Should the idea here advanced be substantiated by future investigation, that cremation was once the prevailing custom and that at some period it was discontinued and mound-burial adopted in its place, then it would seem altogether probable that Southeast Missouri was peopled at some time subsequent to that event, and therefore the works so abundant there are more recent than those of the Ohio Valley. Another class of sepulchral mounds, whose occurrence is somewhat rare, has been observed more particularly in the Western Central States. Generally they are of large dimensions and contain a chamber or vault, which is sometimes rudely finished with stone. The floor is usually on a level with the naturar surface of the soil, upon which the dead were placed, in a reclining posture. The most conspicuous example of this class is the one known as the Big Mound, which once stood at the corner of Mound street and Broadway in St. Louis, but which, as before stated, was removed in 1869. A representation of it, as it appeared, is given on page 4. Of all sepulchral mounds thus far examined, this was the king. If its magnitude, or rather the size of the vault within it has any signifi- cance, it would seem to have been the tomb of the most holy prophets or of the royal race. The statements concerning its dimensions are widely different. According to one observer, it was four hundred feet in length, two hundred feet wide at the base and over fifty feet high. According to Mr. Brackenridge, it was one hundred and fifty feet in length and thirty in height. 'The latter figures are probably not far from the truth. THE BIG MOUND AT ST. LOUIS. ^1 These discrepancies are not difficult of explanation when it is remem- bered that in its construction, advantage was taken of the highest point of the terrace, and when the streets were cut through it, on its northern and southern ends, the grade was nearly twenty feet lower than the top of the terrace upon which it was erected. A casual observer, therefore, would be likely to take the whole as artificial, whereas more than one- half, as it then appeared, was of fluviatile origin. The dividing line between the natural ground and the mound proper is shown in the eno-ravino-. It is about midway between the level of the street and the top of the monnd. The demolition of this ancient landmark was an event which awakened much interest among the citizens, who gathered in crowds, from day to day during the many weeks occupied by its removal. Numerous and conflicting accounts were published at the time concerning it, with any amount of speculation and hasty conclusions. Some of them have been perpetuated in one recent work, at least, upon the pre-historic races of America ; on which account I think it proper to say that the statements which follow are based upon personal and careful examination of the work during the process of its removal, until its destruction was accomplished. This mound, as is well known, was used by the Indians as a burial place, and only about sixty years since, it was visited by a small band, who disinterred and carried away the bones of their chief who had been buried there. But their interments here, as was their unvarying custom, were near the surface. 1 have observed the same in other localities, sometimes not more than eighteen inches from the top of the mound,— as was the case with some I examined in Washington County, on the banks of the Missouri. On account of this it is not difficult to distinguish the Indian burials from those of the Mound-builders. Had this fiTct been better understood, we would have been spared many erro- neous statements, as well as hasty generalizati(ms upon articles taken from the mounds, which were attributed to their builders, but which, in fact, were deposited by the Indians; and many of them even, subse- quent to their first acquaintance with our own race. A strikuig example of this occurred during the removal of the "Big Mound." Near the northern end, and about three feet from the surface, two skeletons were discovered very near each other, one evidently that of a male, the other a female With the larger of the two were found the spiral spines ot two conch shells, much decayed, nine ivory beads of an average size, as I can recollect, one inch in length and nearly one-half m near as 42 AKCH^OLOGY. diameter, an ivory spool with short shaft but very wide flanges, which were much broken around the edges, and two curious articles of copper, about three inches in length and about half as wide, resembling some- what in shape the common smoothing iron of the laundry. The under side, which was concave, showed the marks of the mould in which they were cast. The upper side, which was much corroded, showed traces of an elaborate finish in the way of engraving. From the center of the finished upper side an arm projected at a right angle, about five-eighths of an inch in continu(ms width and two-eighths in thickness at its junc- ture, which tapered to a thin edge. Embedded in the verdigris with which they were encrusted were plainly visible the marks of a twisted string just like ordinary wrapping twine, wliich had been clumsily tied about them, and upon which the beads had been strung. All the above articles were about the head and neck of the skeleton, and had evidently been interred with the possessor just as he wore them in life. I have been thus particular in the account of this "big Indian" and his treasures — for such he undoubtedly was— because these articles of copper, and the ivory spool, which must have been turned in a lathe, (and I must include also the pieces of cloth found with them, which however I did not see) have been taken as the exponents of the state of the arts among the Mound-builders, and have been made the subject of the most extravagant statements. Although I was not present when these articles were taken out, they were placed in my hands a short time afterward, by the person who unearthed them, who also kindly gave me portions of the skull, the larger bones of the legs, and a loch of hair! from the head of both the sachem and his squaw, which are still in my possession. But the most interesting feature of this truly great structure is the sepulchral chaml)er which it once contained. By what means the ponderous mass of earth which formed its roof was sustained, the mound itself furnished no clue, for it had long ago fallen in and crushed almost to atoms the already decayed bones of the skeletons lying upon the floor. The original length of the chamber could only be conjectured, as portions of the mound had been removed when the street was cut through upon the southern end, as seen in the engraving. It could be traced, however, for seventy-two feet. For this distance the sides were perfectly smooth and straight, and sloped outwardly a few degrees from the perpendicular, and the marks of the tool by which the walls were plastered could be plainly seen. One circumstance, which was very ■puzzling for a while, was the curious appearance of the surface of the THE BIG MOUND AT ST. LOUIS. 43 Walls. They were covered with a complete network of black lines, interlacing and crossing each other with all sorts of beautiful and fanciful complications, resembling more than anything else the delicate tracery of a frosted window pane. Upon careful examination, these proved to be the remains of rootlets from the trees which once grew upon the surface above ; which, finding easy ingress along the face of the wall, had thus covered its surface, but were now completely carbonized. The manner of its construction seems to have been thus : The surface of the ground was first made perfectly level and haid ; then the walls were raised with an outward inclination, which were also made perfectly compact and solid, and plastered over with moist clay. Over these a roof was formed of heavy timbers, and above all the mound was raised of the desired dimensions.^ The bodies had all been placed in a direct lin«, upon the floor of the vault, a few feet apart, and equidistant from each other, with their feet towards the west. These were disclosed, several at a time, as the laborers detached long, vertical sections of earth by the simultaneous use of crowbars inserted at the top. Mingled with the black deposit which enveloped the bones, were beads and shells in prodigious numbers, though in no instance were both deposited with the same individual. The beads, so called, are the sq,me as are found in the mounds of Ohio, and evidently cut, as Dr. Foster thinks, from the Busycon, from the Gulf of Mexico. They are small discs perforated in the center by drill- ing. From the many specimens in my possession in various stages (;f their manufacture, the conclusion is warranted that the hole was first drilled and the edges rounded afterwards. Many of these seem to have been cut from the common mussel-shells which are abundant in this region. The small sea shells {Marginella apicina), were only found with a few skeletons, possibly five or six at the southern end of the vault, and w^ith each one from four to six quarts, all of which were pierced with small holes near the head, by w^hich they were undoubtedly strung together. With the majority, however, only the perforated buttons were found, but in such numbers that the body from the thighs to the head must have been covered with them. Being very desirous of securing, if possible, a perfect skull, or at 'least the fragments from which one miijht be reconstructed, and as ail ^ Although not a vestige of wood was discovered when it was removed, in a work "across the river, more recently destroyed, whicli contained a similar vault, were found -sticks of red cedar, much decayed, but in such positions as showed that they had been the supports of the superincumbent earth. 44 ARCHEOLOGY. which were thrown out by the excavators were in small pieces which crumbled at the touch, I began a careful excavation with a common kitchen knife near the feet of a skeleton, following the spinal column to the head. My work was soon interrupted however by the crowd of eager boys from the neighboring schools, who scrambled for the beads which were thrown out with every handful of earth, with such energy that I was lifted from my feet and borne away. By the aid of a burly policeman, however, I was able to finish my excavation, but without beino- able to secure what was so much desired. The bones were so much decayed, when the roof fell in, that all the larger bones were crushed, and only small fragments of the skull could be obtained, and of course no cavity corresponding to its shape remained from which a plaster cast might have been taken. The last visit to the mound was most interesting of all. The night before, the workmen had made a vertical cut directly across the northern end of the small portion of the work which yet remained. Cross-Section of the Big Mound at St. Louis. What was there revejiled is well repr<'sented in the engraving. The sloping walls were of compuct yellow clay, the intermediate space filled with blue clay in a much looser condition, in perfect agreement Avith the idea of its having fallen in from above by the decay of its support. Here too, at the northern end, I conjectured, was the entrance to the sepul- STONE Momros. 45 cher, for the reason that here the walls were about eight feet in height, from six feet to eight feet apart, whereas the first measurements at the top, when the walls were discovered, showed a diameter of eighteen feet. Here, then, was an artificial sepulchral tomb, whose dimensions we may safely state to have been from eight to twelve feet wide, seventy- five feet long, and from eight to ten feet in height, in which from twenty- to thirty burials had taken place. If any other deposit had "been made with the dead, save the before-mentioned beads and shells, the tomb must have been desecrated by some savage who had no regard for its sacred character, for not a vestige of anything else was disclosed at the time of its demolition. Another evidence of a large aboriginal population is furnished by the stone mounds which are very numerous in certain localities, particularly in those counties through which flow the Osage and the Gasconade rivers. Not being so conspicuous as the others already noticed, they would not be likely to attract the attention of ordinary travelers, and may therefore be found covering a much larger area than is at present known. These are simple heaps of stones, of such size as could be conveniently carried from the ravines where they are found to the highest elevations — the spots usually chosen for their erection. I have seen them in groups on a con- tinuous line running back from the very brow of a precipitous escarpment two hundred and fifty feet above the Gasconade, which swept majestically below. In fact, those commanding elevations, no matter how difiicult of access, from whence the view of the surrounding landscape was most extended and lovely, seem to have been the ones most preferred. The Ozark Hills, clothed with the primeval forests, are full of them. They are generally considered more recent than the earthen tumuli. In all that I have opened nothing was discovered which shed any light upon their history, save a few human teeth and the smallest bits of the larger bones, which proved them to be burial mounds. It is stated by Adair that soijie of the nomadic tribes of Indians thus disposed of their dead, and as they passed and re-passed those graves, from j^ear to year each man of the tribe was accustomed to add another stone to the heap which had been raised above them. In agroup of seven, I observed one which showed some skill in masonry; one of the walls was built up with a smooth face about three feet in height, in which the joints were beautifully broken, althouo;h there was no evidence of mortar having been used. In this connection should be noticed still another class ; the most note- worthy examples of which, were discovered about the year 1818, in tlie town of Fenton, about fifteen miles from St. Louis. These were stone 46 ABCH^OLOGY. oraves or cists, each inclosino; a siiio;le skeleton, or the dust of one — as all were in a crumbling condition tliere. Not one of the many examined exceeded fifty inches in length. Tliey were built of six flat stones, single slabs forming the bottom, top, sides, and ends. According to Dr. Beck, of Gazetteer fame, much discussion was elicited at the lime and many communications appeared in the newspapers. The chief point upon which it all centered was the shortness of the graves. As was the case in Tennessee, a few years since, it was considered as proving the former existence of a race of pigmies. But the fact that in some of them the leg bones were observed lying parallel with and along- side of the bones of the thigh, accounted for the shortness of the graves ; and this, taken along with the well-known custom practiced by some tribes, of suspending their dead in the branches of trees until the bones were denuded of flesh and afterwards depositing them in their common burying place, was regarded as a sufficient answer to all the pigmy spec- ulations. About one hundred yards from the ancient b'r hig ground at Fenton were once a number of mounds, and remains of an extensive fortification, Avhich also attracted the attention of the curious in those early days. And if files of the old Missouri Gazette of sixty years ago could be found, no doubt many interesting facts would be recovered which are now forgotten. Similar stone graves are found in Perry County, seventy- five miles from St. Louis. CHAPTER VI. "The Cave-Dwellers." — Tales of Discoveries in Kentucky, etc. — The Caves op THE Ozark Mountains. — Proofs of Long Occupancy. — Skeletons and other Kelics Found. — The Cave-Dwellers a Different Race from the Mound- Builders. To the general student of Ethnology and Archseology, no one depart- ment of antiquarian research has yielded grander or more satisfactory results than those which have rewarded the explorers of the caves and rock-shelters of some of the mountain chains of the old world. Concern- ing the relative age of the earthen structures of the vast alluvial plains of America there may be much ditference of opinion. But in his occupancy of the caves of Europe, primeval man has so inscribed the records of his early life and presence, during those geologic changes which he witnessed, in the succession of the glacial and diluvial epochs, that they are somelir is as sharply delineated and legible as are those of the various orders of animal life in the stratified rocks By these faithful chronographs of the childhood of the race, we are carried back irresistibly to a period so remote, that the cave-dwellers from Mount Hor, who joined the confederate kings, and were so signally overthrown by Abram in the plains of Sodom, were but of yesterday. In America, this field is compai-atively unexplored, or perhaps we had better say, is undiscovered. Indeed, it may be that we have nothing here which shall be found to correspond to or compare with the drift period and bone-caves of Europe. It is true we find, in the early tales of border life in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, accounts which must contain some elements of truth, of caverns filled with human bones ; others whose walls are pictured and sculptured with strange devices, of animals, known and unknown; and representations of the heavenly bodies ; and others still, containing mummied corpses, embalmed and wonderfully preserved, clad in robes of feather-work like those of Peru- vian fabric which so filled the Spanish conquerors with admiration. But alas ! these were long since destroyed. Then, they had little or no scientific value, consequently there was no motive for their serious examination, or preservation. Still, however, we may indulge the not unreasonable hope that others may yet be discovered, whose disclosures shall be equally precious. In this hope we are the more encouraged by the fact that the few which have been noticed and described, furnish indubitable proof that they 48 ARCHEOLOGY. were once the favorite resorts, for burial purposes, of some pre-historic race. Wlien tlie stones shall be rolled away from the doors of the sep- ulchral caverns in the limestone hills of Missonri, the long-forgotten dead may again come forth re-vivified, rehabilitated, and the Ozark Mountains may yet disclose materials for a chapter in the life of her primitive people, which shall equal in interest the records of the mounds. The Ozarks, thanks to their sterile slopes, have preserved their sacred Among the Ozarks. treasures well. They are honeycombed with caves, some of unknown extent. Their openings maybe seen in the precipitous bluffs along the Gasconade River, in great numbers, on either side, or the majestic arches of their openings span the divides where the smaller hill ranges meet. Do these numerous caves and channels evidence an ancient system of drainage, in operation long before the Gasconade had asserted its "right of way " and scooped for itself a course through the rocks by its cease- less flow? ^ In these caves the ancient dead were buried and the funeral feasts were celebrated. The deep deposit of rich nitrogenous earth in the 1 See Sir Charles Lyell's remarks upon the Valley of the Meuse, " Antiquity of Man," p. 73. THE CAVE DWELLEES. 49 larger chambers, and the bones of various animals, birds, and mussel shells — -the refuse of the funeral feasts, — the alternate layers of ashes and charcoal mingled with earthy matter, containing human bones in different degrees of preservation, tell of oft-repeated visits and recurrence of the funeral rites. What little we have learned from the few thus far explored makes us only the more eager to examine still further the records they contain. A description of one must serve our present purpose. The one selected is in Pulaski County, and is one of the many famous saltpetre caves so often mentioned in the early annals of the State, with which the country of the Gasconade abounds. The opening is in the face of a perpen- dicular limestone bluff which extends along the river for many miles. While the scenery of this whole region is very beautiful, the view from the mouth of some of the caves is enchanting. Standing in the shadow of one of their lofty arches, the eye is charmed with the peculiar beauty of the landscape spread out before it. The Gasconade flowing far below, the stately trees which fringe its banks and mark the course of its long graceful curves, until it loses itself in the dim outlines of the Ozarks, which swell and roll away until their opalescent hues melt into the mel- low light of the autumn sky, — all conspire to awaken the liveliest feelings of respect and admiration for a people whose aesthetic taste was so refined and tender as to lead them to select a place so charming for the long repose of their loved ones. But poetry and science have but little in common : one must end where the other begins. So turning my back upon the beautiful scene, and repressing all compunctious for the sacrilege we are about to commit, the impatient workmen are directed to begin the labor of cutting a trench one hundred and seventy-five feet long, through the deposit at the bottom of the cave. At the end of this distance the perpetual gloom begins. Here the torches are brought into requisition, by whose dim light, as the laborers proceed with their work, the sectional notes and measurements are taken. The whole surface of the deposit seems to have been much disturbed, to the depth of from eighteen inches to two feet. It is composed of earth and ashes, mingled profusely with broken potterj^ frjigmeuts of human bones and flint-chips. Below this, the deposit is hard and compact. Selecting a point about midway from either end of the trench, we proceed to make more critical examination. Continuing the excav- ation to the depth of six feet, the natural deposit at the bottom is reached, composed of a tough reddish clay, which contained nothing but decayed mussel shells. All above this showed the continual 50 , AECH^OLOGY. occupancy of the cave during its deposition. A vertical section at tlie point above named, disclosed the following strata : Alluvium, mingled with ashes, bits of pottery, etc 18 inches. Stratum of different colored ashes 2 " Clay and dark Alluvium 2^^ " Ashes ■ yi " Alluvium • 3 " Mixture of Ashes and Clay 3 " Pure Ashes >^ " Alluvium • • 3>^ " Pure Ashes, mingled with Charcoal 4 " Alluvium, " " " 7 " Ashes 3 " Alluvium, mingled with Charcoal 20 " At the depth of about two feet, the first skeleton was reached, lying npon its back, with head towards the east. All the small bones were thoroughly decayed. About six feet north of this, another skeleton was disclosed, evidently bnried in a sitting posture. This was so much decomposed that only a few of the thicker portions of the skull could be secured. Near this was also found the skeleton of a very aged female, the skull in a better state of preservation. In companionship with these was a flint spear-head of the rudest pattern, as were all the implements of stone — which were not numerous — which the deposit contained. With the exception of the rude spear-head, their presence seemed to have been accidental, and this also may have been so. Among the most interesting relics, were articles of bone, such as awls, scrapers, and the like, and occasionally one made from the inner surface of a shell, with a sharp edge. What was most surprising was the prodigious number of mussel shells which were continuous through the whole deposit, decreasing in size and more decayed as we descended, until their whole substance was a chalky paste. These are still abundant in the river below. Inter- mingled with the alluvium and ashes, as far as the excavation extended, Avere skulls and bones of fishes, deer, bear, mud-turtle and wild turkey. The skulls were always broken, no doubt to obtain the brains, which have always been esteemed a great delicacy among the civilized and savage as well. While, for purposes of ethnological study, a more detailed description of the crania contained in this cave would be instructive, and other particulars here suggested might be properly enlarged upon, still, enough has been stated to indicate the desirable- ness of a more thorough exploration of this comparatively new class THE CAYE DWELLERS. 51 of antiquities. But keeping in mind that we have more to do in these chapters with the traces of the aboriginal inhabitants of Missouri than with lengthy generalizations upon the facts they disclose, we can only hint at one or two conclusions. Bone Implements. Here was the burial place of a people who w^ere not insensible to those beauties wn'th which nature around them was glorified, and who sought those places with the most lovely surroundings in which to deposit the remains of their friends. Here were laid to rest from time to time the old and young, the aged matron, and the child, the fragments of whose thin, paper-like skulls suggested many thoughts of maternal love and tears of sorrow. The vast numbers of shells, and bones of beasts and birds, bear witness to the oft-repeated funeral feasts beside the new- made graves of the departed, and point to a belief in a life continued in another world. Who they were, or when they lived, it is not our province now to try to answer. The Indians, it is well known, regarded these gloomy caverns Avith superstitious fear, for in them they believed 52 AUCH^OLOGY. the great Manitoii dwelt. In view of this fact, so well attested by early writers, the idea that they were the occupants becomes a matter of grave doubt. The skulls thus far examined, are also wanting in those peculiar and generally very marked characteristics which are so evident in the crania of the mounds. With this allusion to a question so interesting, we must leave its discussion to a future occasion, when we may reason- ably hope to be able to continue it in the light of more extended information. CHAPTEE VII. Temple Mounds.— Growth op Ancient Religious Systems.— Characteristics op this Class of Monuments.— The Great Mound at Cahokia, its best representative IN North America.— Brack rnridge's Description of it in 1811.— How it came to BE called " Monks' Mound."— The Ceremonies of the Sun-Worshippers.— Other Temple Mounds.— The Indi vns not descended prom the Mound-Builders. Althotio-h the propriety of some of the monnd-classifications of the earlier writers has sometimes been questioned, no doubts are entertained as to tlie purpose of those which have been denominated Temple Mounds. In treating of this class, we enter at once upon a field almost as vast as the two continents of America. For, whatever may have been the material used in their construction, whether stone, or earth alone, or both combined, they present such uniform characteristics, so identical in evident purpose and design, that they link together by one prevailing system of religious worship, of which they are the striking exponents, unnumbered tribes and peoples, scattered up and down the two continents from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Keason as we may, the more they are studied, and considered in their relation to other groups and classes with which they are found associated, we can hardly escape the conviction that they point to one common origin. Before yielding a hasty assent to a general conclusion, a proper caution would suggest the possibility of accounting for this uniformity of struc- ture by other and natural considerations. It is well known that barbaric tribes in all lands and times have manufactured their first implements of war and the chase from stone and bone, and have learned, by means of some hint which Nature, perhaps, afi'orded, to fashion rude vessels of clay for domestic use. It is also true that their petitions and adorations have been addressed to the same class of imaginary beings, or objects and active forces whose effects they were accustomed to behold around them; among which the heavenly bodies appear to have occupied a conspicuous place, particularly during some stages of their progress from barbarism to a higher life. Possessed of the same faculties, appetites and passions, inheriting the same necessities, meeting always the same difiSlculties in their struggles for existence, it is not surprising that rude nations have ever followed the same paths in all the activities of their wild, infantile life. Indeed, it would be surprising if they had not. From these and similar considera- tions it may be thought that the identity of form, structure and relation. 54 AUCH^OLOGY. and also apparent oneness of purpose which characterize the Temple Mounds, demonstrate only the operation of a universal law, in the progress of a people from a state of barbarism through the slow stages of its developement towards a higher civilization. The sun and moon have been worshiped in ages and countries widely separated, and by nations between which there could never have occurred any possible communication. Man never has attained by intuition or philosophy that knowledge of the unity and perfections of the Supreme Being which Eevelation presents : and wanting that knowledge, he naturally worships those visil)le objects which are mosi conspicuous and which most inspire his reverence, especially those which, he conceives, exei-t the greatest influence upon his life and destiny. But when each nation starts out for itself in the path of a progressive civilization, the prevailing forms of worship, being subjected to the same influences which mould the national polity, must necessarily, under the new impulse, become also materially changed, or as has sometimes happened, dis^Dlaced altogether, by a system entirely new. From this point, the forms of Nature-worship would cease to be identical, and each resultant system become thereafter more and more divero-ent ; and long periods of time must necessarily be required for the working out of a complicated and well arranged sj^stem of popular relio^ion which should be able to enforce the ready obedience and subjec- tion of a vast people to its mandates, and enlist the energies of the nation in the erection of their most imposing structures, for no other purpose than the observance of their religious rites and ceremonies. Such structures, among the memorials of an ancient people, are very inter- estino- and instructive, from the fact that religion has ever exerted such controUinp" influence in the establishment and perpetuity or decline of countless nations, whose history has been preserved. They are the records, therefore, of more than the religious faith and practice of a particular people ; but, because of the leavening influence of relio^ious ideas when crystallized into systematic forms, they become the interpreters of many things which otherwise would never be understood. It will readily be seen, therefore, in the light of the foregoing, that the Temple Mounds of America are invested with an interest and importance outside of their purely religious character; and which is greatly enhanced by the fact that wherever they are found, along with them invariably occur the most striking evidences of the former presence of a numerous population, whose civil and social condition was separated by a wide gtdf from that of the red race who occupied their ancient seats TEMPLE MOUNDS. 55 when America was discovered ; and whose government was so well established and enduring, as to render it possible for vast numliers to be employed for a series of years in their erection. Temple Mounds, according to Sqnier and Davis, "are distinguished by their great regularity of form and general large dimensions. They oonsist chiefly of pyramidal structures, truncated, and generally htive graded avenues to their tops. In some instances they are terraced or have successive stages. But whatever their form, whether round, oval, octangular, square or oblong, they have invariably flat or level tops." ^ "The summits of these structures were probably crowned with temples, but having been constructed of perishable materials, all traces of their existence have disappeared. The truncated pyramidal form, which often rises to no great height, was obviously the foundation for such structures. In the works at Aztalan, Wisconsin, we trace the out- lines of this form of mounds at the angles of the bastions, and this may be said to be their northern limit. They are not recognized on the' southern slope of Lake Erie, and are seen at only three points in Southern Ohio, viz: Marietta, Newark and Chillicolhe. "The stupendous mound at Cahokia in Illinois, with its graded way, its terrace and level summit, was the best representative of this class. ^ In Kentucky they are not rare ; the great mound near Florence is of this character, and that near Claiborne — fifty feet in height — has a level summit with a gradual slope on the east, and a succession of ten terraces on the west. In this class, too, must be included the great mound at Seltzertown, Mississippi, and most of those in the Gulf States. 1 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, p. 173. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. " When he wrote this, Dr. Foster was under the impression that this great work was destroyed. While he was mistaken, it is understood to be for sale, and may soon be reckoned among the things that wei-e, provided some railway shall be constructed near enough to render its huge mass — containing over twenty million cubic yards of earth- desirable to elevate its grade. What a graceful thing it would be for the State, or National Government to purchase it and decree its perpetual preservation! Men of science all over the world and in all future time would be so thankful for such an act. Thus the Government of Denmark has done with her antiquities. Whether either of our great political parties could be persuaded to assume such a tremendous responsibility is very doubtful. Our legislators are so conscientious and so intent upon " retrenchment and reform, "that the expenditure of a few hundred dollars for the preservation of the stupendous work which must have occupied the ceaseless labor of thousands of men through a life-time to erect, would be a precedent too dangerous to think of — such an act might shake the foundations of the Kepublic. No partizan would dare favor such a proposition, lest it should be followed by his speedy consignment to a political grave from which there could be no resurrection. 56 AKCILffiOLOGY. "In Mexico and Central America, we see the culmination of this form in the Teocallis, which were faced with flights of steps and surmounted b}' temples of stone." ^ The identification of some of the mounds in their enumeration as Temple Mounds, by the authors above named, I cannot but regard as lacking confirmation. Indeed the evidences derived from my own obser- vations are conclusive that some of them belong to quite another class. Those of the " truncated pyramidal form which often rise to no great height," were doubtless crowned with the residences of the chiefs and rulers. These are often found in groups. I have counted seven or eight very near each other, a few feet in height, with flat or level tops : the central one generally larger than those around it, which tradition affirms was occupied by the dwelling of the chief. The others of the group were erected from time to time for residence sites for his sons, as they came to man's estate and had families of their own. In all which I have excavated, nothing was disclosed but fragments of pottery. The only structures which can with certainty be identified as Temple Mounds are those whose perfect model is seen in the Teocallis of Mexico and South America. In whatever group they are found, they are the most imposing. Generally oblong, with one or more stages, and ascended by graded avenues. Such was one of the large mounds at St. Louis, and I am disposed to believe that the beautiful Falling Garden was an unfinished work of this class, whose three stages, about fifteen feet each in height, were finished, but the elevated work which was to crown the whole was wanting. The great Cahokia Mound is the best representative of this class to be found in North America. This was examined by Mr. Brackenridge in 1811-12. His interesting description of it, along with the numerous works of smaller dimensions with which the American Bottom is filled, — or was in his day — may well be quoted entire in this connection : "To form a more correct idea of these, it will be necessary to give the reader some view of the tract of country in which they are situated. The American Bottom is a tract of rich alluvial land, extending on the Mississippi, from Kaskaskia to the Cahokia River, about eighty miles in length and five in breadth ; several handsome streams meander through it ; the soil is of the richest kind, and but little subject to the effects of the Mississippi floods. A number of lakes are interspersed through it, with ' Foster's Pre-Historic Races, etc., p. 186. THE GEE AT MOUND AT CAHOKIA. 57 fine high banks ; these abound in fish, and in autumn are visited by millions of wild fowl. "There is perhaps no spot in the western country, capable of being more highly cultivated, or of giving support to a more numerous population, than this valley. If any vestige of ancient population were to bo found, this would be the place to search for it ; accordingly this tract, as also the bank of the river on the western side, exhibits proofs of an immense population. If the city of Philadelphia and its environs weie deserted, there would not be more numerous traces of human existence. "The great number of mounds, and the astonishing quantity of human bones everywhere dug up, or found on the surface of the ground with a thousand other appearances, announce that this valley was at one period filled with habitations and villages. The whole face of the bluff, or hill which bounds it on the east, appears to have been a continued burying ground. But the most remarkable appearances are two groups of mounds or pyramids, the one about ten miles above Cahokia, and the other nearly the same distance below it, which in all exceed one hundred and fifty of various sizes. The western side also contains a considerable number. "A more minute description of those above Cahokia, which I visited in the fall of 1811, will give a tolerable idea of them all. I crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis, and after passing through the wood which borders the river, about a half a mile in width, entered on an extensive plain. "In fifteen minutes I found myself in the midst of a group of mounds, mostly of a circular shape and at a distance, resembling enormous haystacks scattered through a meadow: one of the largest, which I ascended, was about two hundred paces in circumference at the bottom, the form nearly square, though it had evidently undergone considerable alteration from the washing of rains ; the top was level, with an area sufiicient to contain several hundred men. The prospect from this mound was very beautiful ; looking towards the bluffs, which are dimly seen at the distance of^six or eight miles, the bottom at this place being very wide, I had a level plain before me, bound by islets of wood, and a few solitary trees : to the right the prairie is bounded by the horizon ; to the left, the course of the Cahokia may be distinguished by the margin of wood upon its banks, and crossing the valley diagonally S. S. W. Around me, I counted forty-five mounds or pjnramids, besides a great number of small artificial elevations : these mounds form something more than a semi- circle, about a mile in extent, the open space on the river. 58 AECH^OLOGY. "Pursuing my Aval k along the bank of tlie Ctiliokia, I passed eight others in the distance of three miles, before I arrived at the largest assemblage. When I reached the foot of the principnl mound, I was struck with a degree of astonishment not unlike that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian Pyramids. AVhat a stupendous pile of earth ! To heap up such a mass must have required years, and the labor of thousands. It stands immediately on the bank of the Cahokia, and on the side next it, is covered with lofty trees. Were it not for the regularity and design which it manifests, the circumstances of its being on alluvial ground, and the other mounds scattered around it, we would scarcely believe it the work of human hands. "The shape is that of a parallelogram standing from north to south ; on the south side there is a broad apron or step, about halfway down, and from this another projection into the plain, about fifteen feet wide, which was probably intended as an ascent to the mound. By stepping around the base I computed the circumference to be at least eight hundred yards, and the height of the mound about ninety feet. The step or apron has been used as a kitchen-garden by the monks of La Trappe, settled near this, and the top is sowed with wheat. Nearly west there is another of a smaller size, and forty others scattered through the plain. Two are also seen on the bluff at the distance of three miles. Several of these mounds are almost conical. As the sward had been burnt, the earth was perfectly naked, and I could trace with ease any unevenness of surface, so as to discover whether it was artificial or accidental. "I everywhere observed a great number of small elevations of earth to the height of a few feet, at regular distances from each other, and which appeared to observe some order ; near them I also observed pieces of flint and fragments of earthen vessels. I concluded that a populous town had once existed here, similar to those of Mexico described by the first conquerors. The mounds were sites of temples or monuments to gTeat men. "It is evident this could never have been the work of thinly-scattered tribes. If the human species had at any time been permitted in this country to have increasecl freely, and there is every probability of the fact, it must, as in Mexico, have become astonishingly numerous. The same space of ground would have sufficed to maintain fifty times the number of the present inhabitants, with ease, their agriculture having no other object than mere sustenance. Among a numerous population, the power of the chief must necessarily be more absolute, and where there CEKEMONIES OF THE Sim-WOESHIPPEES. 59 are no .laws, degenerates into despotism. This was the case in Mexico, and in the nations of South America, A great number of individuals were at the disposal of the chief, who treated them little better than slaves. The smaller the society, the greater the consequence of each individual. Hence, there would not be wanting a sufficient number of hands to erect mounds or pyramids." The largest mound of the Cahokia group, thus described by Bracken- ridge, is now known as Monks' Mound, on account of its having* been occupied in early days by a colony of monks of the order of La Trappe. This prodigious temple site, as before remarked, is the best represent- ative of its class in the United States, not only on account of its vast size, but also because it is the most finished model of all similar works which can with any degree of certainty be determined as temple mounds. The Teocallis of Mexico and the regions further south, though finished with stone, are of the same form, with graded ascents, or flights of steps, leading to the broad stage, or level top, at one end of which rose another elevation, upon which stood the most holy temple and sacred altars. Upon these burned the perpetual fire, to be extinguished only at the close of the year, and rekindled by the sun himself, as his rising beams were concentrated by the high pries^ts, when the new year began. This event was always observed with the greatest solemnity. When the sacred flame expii-ecl upon the altars, with the dying year, the whole land was filled with gloom, and the fire upon every domestic hearth must be extingui^^hed also. Then the people satr down in awful suspense to watch for the morning. Possibly their father, the sun, might be angry with his children, and veil his glory behind the clouds at the coming dawn. Then as they thought of their sins and bewailed their transgressions, their fears were expressed in loud hmientations. But as the expected dawn — the momentous time — approaches, all eyes are turned towards the holy mount where the now fireless altars stand. At length the eastern sky begins to glow with a golden light Avhich tells them that their god is near, and, while they watch, he rolls in splendor from behind the eastern hills, and darts his fiery beams upon the sacred place where holy men are waiting to ignite anew the sacriticial fires. Nor do they wait in vain, for soon the curling smoke and the signal flames are seen by the breathless multitude which fill the plains below, and then one Ions;, o-Jad shout is heard, and songs of jov salute the bright new year. Swift-footed messengers receive the new-lit tire from 60 . AECH^OLOGY. the hands of the priests, quickly it is distributed to the waiting throng and carried exiiltingly to their several homes, when all begin the joyful celebration of the feast of the Sun. The peaceful tribes who once dwelt in this region of the Mississippi Viilley, upon either shore, found no quarries of stone of easy cleavage, or which could be wrought with their simple tools for the erection of their edifices. Doubtless wood was the only material at their command', or possibly smi-di-ied brick. The dust of their temples is gone with that of their builders ; their altars are crumbled — the sacred fire is extin- guished, which the sun shall nevermore rekindle. But the proud monu- ment of their national solemnities still rears aloft its majestic form in the midst of a vast alluvial plain of exhaustless fertility — a grand memorial of days more ancient than the last migration of the Aztec race to the plains of Anahuac, who found there the very same structures, which they appropriated and by which they perpetuated the worship of the land of their fathers as well as that of the people whom they subjugated. It is not unreasonable to suppose that when, from its elevated summit, the smoke of the yearly sacrifice ascended in one vast column heaven- ward, from the great work above described, that it was the signal for simultaneous sacrifices from lesser altars throughout the whole length of the great plain, in the centre of which it stands, and that the people upon the Missouri shore responded with answering fires from those high places which once stood upon the western bank of the river, but are now destroj'ed. Here, we may well believe was the holy city, to which the tribes made annual pilgrimages to celebrate the national feasts and sacrifices. But not here alone ; for this vast homogeneous race, one in arts and worship, had the same high and holy places, though of less imposing magnitude, in the valley of the Ohio, in Alabama, and Mississippi. In south-east Missouri, at New Madrid, is a similar work, surrounded by a ditch ten feet in width and five in depth. It is twelve hundred feet in circumference and forty feet in height. Among the ruins of almost every ancient town lying back from the river, upon bayous and smaller streams, may be found the oblong Temple-mound, which is always the highest work of the group, and commands a view of the whole. There are some who profess to believe that the Indians are the degen- erate sons of the authors of these extensive and complicated works. But when it is remembered that their languages, which are divided into many groups, present very few affinities which are common to all, and the dialects into which these groups are further divided are, many of them, THE MOUND-BUILDEES. 61 SO distantly related as to show that the various tribes must have been separated from the parent stock in times very remote ; and when we take into the account also, the wonderful unity of the race of the mounds, as displayed in their works and worship, and the vast extent of territory they occupied, it will be seen that such a supposition involves an antiquity of the red race, which its most ardent defenders will find difficult to harmonize with the recognized facts. To my own mind the evidence is clear that the two peoples were as distinct as the Greeks and Romans. That the exodus of the mound- builders occupied long periods of time, is altogether probable, and com- prised several distinct migrations, to the south and southwest, which were brought about by the continued encroachments of the more warlike and savage hordes from the north and northwest. Here and there, no doubt, small bands were enslaved or absorbed by their conquerors, who adopted some of the customs of the subjugated race, particularly those pertaining to their worship, the traces of which are often well defined, — the practice of which was continued by a few Indian tribes as late as the beginning of the present century. If the views here presented are correct, it will be apparent that the Temple-mounds are invested with an interest peculiar to themselves, in as much as they give us an insight to the social and political condition of the ancient inhabitants of the State of Missouri and the Mississippi Valley, which can be gained from no other class of works. It will also be perceived that we have barely entered upon a most interesting field of research, which will well repay a careful and thorough examination. CHAPTEE Vm. Garden Mounds. — The Food of the Pke-historic Eaces. — Fish Probably one op their Main Resources. — The Use of the Ditches within their City Walls.— Domestic Animals.— Agriculture.— Religious Systems.— Dissimilarity between Northern AND Southern Tribes of Indians.— Traces of Aztec Culture among the Latter. — Vast Numbers of the Garden Mounds.— Proofs of their Purpose.— The Utah Mounds.— Interesting Discoveries. — Anew Variety of Wheat grown from Ker- nels found Therein.— An Opening for Further Researches. The foregoing evidences of an ancient people swarming in prodigious numbers throughout the vast territory in which these works abound, and who had their permanent dwellings in towns and cities which were well arranged and constructed with no mean skill, suggest the most interest- ing question, How did they subsist? The importance of this question is realized when we remember that it lies at the foundation of their whole social fabric ; and in fact, once determined, the answer becomes one of the chief exponents of their physical condition, intellectual capacity and, in a good degree, of their moral status as well. Many of the staple arti- cles of food upon which all civilized nations depend for subsistence are only to be procured by intelligent labor, guided by a plan and forethought which are the result of a more or less extended observation of nature's la w.>= . Here were large cities ; then here also must have been trade and com- merce of some sort. Merchandise may not have been bartered for gold and silver, but more likely — as was the case with the Peruvians — the products of the field, the fold, or the chase, were exchanged for those of the workshop and domestic handicraft. Again : their means of sup- port must have been so certain and reliable, and withal so abundant, that large numbers of the people could be emploj^ed continuously upon those monuments of their industry which they have left behind for our admira- tion. The probability that fish formed no inconsiderable item of their food supply has already been suggested. The name of our great river, which it is thought has come down to us from their time— JVemesi-sipu, which means Eiver of Fish — if it be true, bears Avitness to this. The prodigious shell heaps along the southern coast, from Florida to the mouth of the Mississippi, may also be noticed as evidence of the fact that they were not unskillfid fishermen. These accumulations of the refuse of their kitchens have often proved peculiarly interesting and instructive, inasmuch as they abound in numerous relics which, TOWNS OF PKE-HISTOKIC AMERICANS. 63 under other circumstances would have been destroyed. The shell heaps of the Baltic coast are complete zoological museums of the fauna of the period when they were formed, containing, as they do, the bones of many animals long since extinct in those regions, and pre- sentino; also the bones of the few domestic animals which were the com- panions of man in that remote period. The most important sites of the toAvns of the pre-historic Americans are found upon the shores of lakes or banks of rivers, and generally — though not always — contiguous to, or upon extensive areas of fertile land. We are not compelled to suppose, however, that they were always inflnenced by agricultural considerations in the location of their permanent homes, for the ruins of some towns have been observed upon the sandy beaches of lakes, and where, too, there was no fertile land near, which was suitable for agricultural purposes. It is, therefore, natural to sup- pose that the inhabitants of towns so situated were fishermen. The wide, deep ditches on the inside walls of some of their enclosures have called forth much speculation as to their purpose. It has generally been assumed that the walls which enclosed their towns, were erected for defensive purposes. But the puzzle has been about the location of the ditch along the base of the wall within the enclosures. According to all our notions of warfare, the ditch — to serve any defensive purpose — should have been outside the walls. Moreover, many of the walled towns were so situated in valleys, which were overlooked by the near hills which surrounded them, as to be totally incapable of defense in any kind of known warfare. The theory, therefore, that this inside ditch was one of their means of defense, seems hardly satisfactory. I have somewhere met with the statement that there Avas a tradition to the effect that the ditches were receptacles for water, or rather, artificial channels for water conducted from the natural streams near which the towns were located, thereby furnishing the inhabitants with a constant and flowing supply. Without stopping to discuss the question, it may be remarked that the idea seems altogether probable, and their construction for such a purpose a very natural thing to do, while the control of the stream, by gates and locks, would require no greater en- gineering skill than they have displayed in their more durable works. They would also have been specially adapted to the culture of fish, or they may have been the receptacles for their winter's supply. Speculative as the above may appear, it is certainly as rational as the notion that the inside ditch contributed in any way to their defense against the attacks of their foes. 64 AKCH^OLOGY. What sort of domestic animals, if any, were reared by the ancient inhabitants of Missouri, we have no knowledge; but there can be very little doubt that game was abundant and that they were successful in the chase. There is satisfactory evidence that the huge Mastodon was their cotemporary whose bones are so abundant in our alhivial plains ; and also that he was conquered and slain by their seemingly feeble weapons. I have myself exhumed from the ruins of one of those towns fragments of the vertebral column of the buffalo. ; However all this may have been, concerning their agricultural skill, we are not left to conjecture ; and we may confidently assert that their main dependence for subsistence was upon the labors of the husbandman. They worshipped the sun, and invoked his benign influence upon the occurrence of the great annual festival when their crops were sown in the spring; and when these were gathered, in the autumn they offered up the first fruits to him as lord of the harvest. That this was their custom we may with confidence assume ; nor is it, indeed, mere assumption. The largest of these structures — the Temple Mounds — are found to be precisely similar in form and character to those of Mexico ; and the Spanish historians have given the fullest accounts of the manner in which their religious exercises were performed upon their summits, or in the temples which crowned the Teocallis. And as the be- lief prevails that the builders of these were of the same race as the Mound- builders, and probably their descendants, it becomes almost certain that structures of the same form in both countries were erected for the same uses and ceremonies. If it be true, as we believe, that when the great majority of the race of the Mound-builders had been destroyed, or driven from their habitations in the Mississippi Valley, some of whom are known to have migrated to the southwest — some remnants of the tribes re- mained, and were absorbed by their conquering successors, then we might expect to find some of the customs of their fathers still practiced by those who were left behind ; and more particularly, those pertaining to their religious rites and manner of providing for their subsistence. The student of the history of the red men cannot fail to notice the^ fact that a few of the southern tribes possessed traits and customs peculiar to themselves, and in which they differed widely from those of the north and east. The former had a complicated and well-arranged system of religious worship, with the perpetual fire of the altars ; also a line of priests or prophets, who enjoined seasons of rigorous fasting, and con- ducted the exercises upon the occasions of their festivities. The former can scarcely be said to have had any religious system or belief. Mr. ANCIENT METHODS OF AGEICULTUEE. 65 Adair has given a detailed account of the religious rites aud ceremonies which were once practiced by a few southern tribes among whom he re- sided for many years ; and so impressed was he with their imposing and multifarious ceremonials that he believed they must have derived their system from the Jews. The dissimilarity between the tribes of the south and those of other lo- calities was equally striking in their manner of house-building, sports and games. The former had fixed habitations, in towns with streets aud public squares, and a love of home, with various other characteristics which belong to a higher civilization than the nomadic tribes of red men ever possessed. But perhaps in no one thing was the dissimilarity more strongly ex- pressed than in the methods of agriculture. The author quoted above speaks of having seen deserted cornfields seven miles in extent, and we know that they raised quite a variety of crops, and in abundance, chief among which was maize. Among the now numerous and roving tribes we discover only a methodless and scanty agriculture. The ancient garden beds supposed to belong to the Mound-builders, which in some instances are several hundred acres in extent, have fre- quently been noticed in several of the Western States.. These are said to have been laid out in straight parallel rows or drills across the fields ; but as none have been found in Missouri, as far as I am informed, they need not be dwelt upon in this connection. There are evidences of tilling the soil, of quite a novel character, which still exist in prodigious numbers, not only in Missouri but also in other regions west of the Mississippi. I have heard of very few east of that river. These works consist of low circular elevations, generally two or three feet above the level of the natural surface of the soil, with diame- ters varying from ten to sixty feet; all are round, or nearly so, sloping off gently around the edges. All that I have seen among the Ozark hills are composed of black alluvial soil, and disclosed, when excavated, no implement or relic of any sort. Their presence may always be detected in cultivated fields when covered with growing crops, by the more luxuri- ant growth and deeper green of the vegetation. They abound in all the little valleys among the flinty hills of the Ozarks, from Pulaski County, Missouri, to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the Colorado in Texas, and as far north as Iowa. Their size in the hilly regions seems to have been determined by the amount of rich vegetable mold which could be scraped together in a given spot. Eesidence sites they could not have been, or they would have contained some relic of stone or bone, 5 66 AUCH^OLOGY. or fragment of pottery, or at least the ashes of the family fire. To enable the reader to form some idea of their prodigious numbers, I can do no better than give the remarks of Prof. Forshey, as quoted by Dr. Foster, in his "Pre-historic Eaces of the United States," which I take it, refer to the same class. Says Prof. Forshey: "In my geological reconnoisance of Louisiana, in 1841-2, I made a pretty thorough report upon them. I afterwards gave a verbal description of their extent and character before the New Orleans Academy of Sciences. These mounds lack every evidence of artiticial construction, based on other human vestiges. They are nearly all round, none angular, and have an elevation hemispheroidal, of one foot to five feet, and a diameter from thirty feet to one hundred and forty feet. They are numbered by millions. In many places in the pine forests, they are to be seen nearly tangent to each other as far as the eye can reach, thousands being visible from an elevation of a few feet. On the gulf marsh margin, from the Vermillion to the Colorado, they appear barely visible, often flowing into one another, and only elevated a few inches above the common level. A few miles interior they rise to two and even four feet in height. The largest I ever saw were perhaps one hundred and forty feet in diameter and five feet high. These were in Western Louisiana; some had abrupt sides, though they are nearly all of gentle slopes." He further states that he "encount- ered hundreds of these mounds between Galveston and Houston, and between tlie Red river and Ouicita; that they were so numerous as to forbid the supposition of their having been the foundations of human habitations ; that the burrowing animals common to the region piled up no such heaps ; and finally, that the Avinds, while capable of accumulating loose materials, never distribute them in the manner above mentioned." In conclusion he adds : " In utter desperation I cease to trouble myself about their origin and call them inexplicable mounds." ^ Fom all that can be learned about them, I see no reason to doubt that they were erected for agricultural purposes, and have therefore pre- sumed to name them Garden Mounds. It would seem perfectly natural, in a sterile country, and where the in- habitants had few materials for artificial fertilization, to gather into ^ The Professor adds, that " there is ample testhnony that the pine trees of the present forests ante-date these mounds." What the testimony is lie does not say. If they are the work of the Indians, then we must believe them to have been vastly more umerous than any other facts hitherto known would lead us to suppose. GAKDEN MOUNDS. 67 heaps the thui vegetable mold upon the surface, thus increasiug its richness and capacity for retaining moisture. But the question may be asked, why should the same practice be necessary in the prairies and bottom lands, the richness of which is proverbial and inexhaustible. For the answer, we are not left to conjecture. In the rich lowlands of the west, the chief difficulty is too much moia- ture, especially in seasons of unusual rain-fall. This, the corn-raisers in the American bottom know from repeated experience. Hence, acres of corn are often utterly ruined in such seasons, when planted upon low and level fields which have not ample artificial or natural drainage : when, had the earth been raised a few inches even in drills or mounds, such as have been described, a good crop would have been secured. An Intelli- o-ent Iowa planter informed me that he had often seen this demonstrated in corn-fields which were filled with these mounds. The low ground be- tween them, if the season were unusually rainy, would yield no returns, while upon the mounds themselves the crop would be excellent. From these considerations, there can be but little doubt that the garden mounds were raised for the better cultivation of maize, which was doubtless the staple article of ancient husbandry. But w^e are not to suppose, however, that this was the only kind of grain known to the pre-historic Americans ; for evidence is not wanting that, in some sections at le-ast, they cultivated wdieat, and deposited it, along with those articles which were deemed most precious, in the tombs of their loved ones. Thus — thanks to their affectionate care in the disposition of the dead, — it has been preserved for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years ; and, like the few small grains in the hand of the Egyptian mummy, when brought forth to the sunlight and moisture, has germinated and ripened, and furnished us with a variety unknown before. From an interesting account of certain mounds in Utah, communicated by Mr. Amasa Potter to the Eureka Sentinel, of Nevada, as copied by The Western Review of Science and Industry, I make the following extracts : ■ " The mounds are situated on what is known as the Payson Farm, and are six in number, covering about twenty acres of ground. They are from ten to eighteen feet in height, and from 500 to 1,000 feet in circumference." "The explorations divulged no hidden treasure so far, but have proved to us that there once undoubtedly existed here a more enllo'htened race of human beings than that of the Indian who inhabited this country, and whose records have been traced back hundreds of years." " While engaged in excavating one of the larger mounds, we 68 AKCH^OLOGY discovered the feet of a large skeleton, and carefully removing the hard- ened earth in which it was embedded, we succeeded in unearthing a large skeleton without injury. The human framework measured six feet, six inches in length, and from appearances it was undoubtedly that of a male. In the right hand was a large iron or steel weapon, which had been buried with the body, but which crumbled to pieces on handling. Near the skeleton we also fouad pieces of cedar wood, cut in various fantastic shapes, and in a state of perfect preservation ; the carving showing that the people of this unknown race were acquainted with the use of edged tools. We also found a large stone pipe, the stem of which was inserted between the teeth of the skeleton. The bowl of the pipe weighs live ounces, and is made of sandstone ; and the aperture for tobacco had the appearance of having been drilled out." " We found another skeleton near that of the above mentioned, which was not quite as large, and must be that of a woman. There was a neatly carved tombstone near the head of this skeleton. Close by, the floor was covered with a hard cement, to all appearances a part of the solid rock, which, after patient labor and exhaustive work, we succeeded in penetrating, and found it was but the corner of a box, similarly constructed, in which we found about three pints of wheat kernels, most of which was dissolved when brought in contact with the air. A few of the kernels found in the center of the heap looked bright, and retained their freshness on being exposed. These were carefully preserved, and last spring planted and grew nicely. We raised four and a half pounds of heads from these grains. The wheat is unlike any other raised in this country, and pro- duces a large yield. It is the club variet}^ ; the heads are very long and hold very large grains." "We find houses in all the mounds, the rooms of which are as perfect as the day they were built. All the apartments are nicely plastered, some in white, others in red color. Crockery ware, cooking utensils, vases — many of a pattern similar to the present age — are also found. Upon one large stone jug or vase can be traced a per- fect delineation of the mountains near here for a distance of twenty miles. We have found several millstones used for grinding corn, and plenty af charred corn-cobs, with kernels not unlike what we know as yellow dent corn. We judge from our observations that those ancient dwellers of our country followed agriculture for a livelihood, and had many of the arts and sciences known to us, as we found molds made of clay for casting difl'erent implements, needles made of deer-horns, and lasts made of stone, and which were in good shape. We also found many trinkets, such as white stone beads and marbles as good as made THE UTAH MOUNDS. 69 now ; also small squares of polished stones resembling dominoes, but for what nse intended we cannot determine." The above account we see no reason to discredit, and can only wish that the examinations had been more thorough and the account more explicit as to dimensions of rooms and other details. From what is stated, however, we. conclude that the authors of these works could not have belonged to the present Indian race, but were undoubtedly of the mound-building people of the Mississippi Valley. It is, at least, a most interesting discovery, and they may belong to a series of structures which shall yet reveal the history of their migrations. That there were two if not three, distinct and widely separated southward movements, in point of time, of the pre-historic race, has already been suggested ; and the Utah mounds may belong to that class which upon further investiga- tion shall furnish the clue to one of the routes pursued, and lead to its demonstration. Should the conjecture as to their authorship be verified, a new chapter of unusual interest in the history of the Mound-builders will be opened for our perusal ; and we may reasonably hope for much valuable information concerning the character and extent of their agri- culture, their esthetic taste, and their knowledge of the industrial arts ; and we may find that, in most respects, their social condition was in no wise inferior to that of Mexico and Peru. The wood-caiwing, plastered and tinted walls, painted vases, and the presence of that most precious of all cereals, wheat, are new and striking evidences of a higher social state than we have hitherto thought possible, whose luxury and refine- ment were but. the presage of a nobler civilization which found its realization and full development in Central and South America, or bj some dire calamity was overwhelmed and destroyed. CHAPTEE IX Miscellaneous Works— IIistokical or National Festival Mounds.— Stone Struc- tures.— Ruins ON the Gasconade River.— Group near Louisiana, Mo.— Some Indiana Relics.— Cremation Chambers.— Proofs of Architectural Knowledge.— Great Canals Ante-datixg the Erie.— Ancient Counterparts of Modern Achievements. —Our Southern " Bayous " of artificial Origin. The works to be described under the head of Historical, or National Festival Mounds have already been noticed. A representation of one of this class is given on page 30. (Fig. 9.) It consists of three embankments placed in a triangular form, enclosing a central monnd which is also enclosed by a circle of small elevation. The ends of the embankments do not meet, however, but narrow openings are left at the lines of intersection, and in these openings are found small truncated mounds. Sometimes, we are told, the group is composed of two parallel walls, but oftener of three, in triangular position as just described ; while some have been seen which had four embank- ments arranged in the form of a square ; all, however, containing the central mound with its enclosing circle. These groups have generally been thought to be defensive works. As far as known, none have been seen south of Missouri, but it is said they frequently occur in the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, and some in ' Illinois. In the latter two States the usual form is square, while in Iowa and Missouri the triangular arrangement is most frequent. As the walls are generally of no great height, they are among the first to be leveled by the plough. But, of whatever form or size, there seems always to have been observed in their construction a fixed rule in the relative size of the several parts, whose uniformity invests them with an interest peculiar to themselves. The group figured on page 30, though found in Iowa, was selected for description because this form is said to have been of most frequent occurrence in Missouri. It will be remembered that the embankments which form the sides of the triangle were each one hundred and forty-four feet in length, and respectively three, four and five feet in height, and twelve feet in diame- ter. The sum of the heights of the embankments is twelve feet, which is the exact height of the central mound. These multiplied together equal the length of the embankments — one hundred and forty-four feet. In all which have been described, the same relation of the several parts is observed. The embankments are always of equal length, but never HISTOEICAL OR NATIONAL FESTIVAL MOUNDS. . 71 of the same height, while the sum of the heights — whether the «Toup is composed of three or four — always equals the height of the central mound, and the product of both gives the length of the embankments. The tradition concerning them is, that they were erected to perpetuate the union of two or more tribes ; the number forming the compact is recorded by the number of embankments, and their relative power by the height of each. The circle in the center of the enclosure was known as the festival circle, and the small mounds in the angles, or openino-g, were matrimonial mounds. To these works the confederated tribes made annual visits, to celebrate the event of their union with sinaino-, dancing and feasting, and a great variety of festive games, which were performed within the enclosure. The national union thus celebrated was further cemented on these occasions by intermarriages among the mem- bers of the difterent tribes, which took place at the matrimonial mounds. The central mound was known as the union mound, and on festival occa- sions was occupied conjointly by the chiefs and prophets of each nation, who presided during the celebration. Concerning the relative ao-e of this class of works nothing is known, and though the tradition above given may be regarded as having no weight or importance, it is quite clear that all conjecture concerning them is equally valueless. The early Avriters upon the antiquities of Missouri make frequent men- tion of the ruins of buildings which were constructed of unhewn stone, and whose walls were said to have been built up with creditable skill and strength, though without durable mortar, if indeed any were used. Of this kind of structure, the examples are very rare east of the Mis- sissippi. Whether any are now to be found in any good degree of preser- vation is quite doubtful. I will present, therefore, such facts concernino- them as can be gleaned from the most trustworthy accounts of early writers. The first to be noticed are thus described by Mr. Lewis C. Beck, who, after speaking of the pine timber which abounded fifty or sixty years ago along the Gasconade river, and the saw mills erected upon its banks by which the lumber was prepared for the St. Louis market, goes on to state that "near the saw mills, and at a short dis- tance from the road leading from them to St. Louis, are the ruins of an ancient town. It appears to have been regularly laid out, and the dimen- sions of the squares, streets, and some of the houses can yet be discov- ered. Stone walls are found in different parts of the area, which are frequently covered by large heaps of earth. Again, a stone work exists, as I am informed by Gen. Ashley, about ten miles below the mills. It 72* AKCH^OLOGY. is on the west side of the Gasconade, and is about 25 or 30 feet square; and, although at present in a dilapidated condition, appears to have been built with an uncommon degree of regularity. It is situated on a high bald cliff, which commands a fine and extensive view of the country on all sides. From this stone work is a small foot-path running a devious course down the cliff to the entrance of a cave, in which was found a quantity of ashes. The mouth of the cave commands an easterly view. "It would be useless at this time to hazard an opinion with regard to the uses of this work, or the beings who erected it. In connection with those of a similar kind which exist on the Mississippi, it forms an inter- esting subject for speculation. They evidently form a distinct class of ancient works, of which I have, as yet, seen no description." Another group, described by the same author, was located about two miles southwest of the town of Louisiana. " They are built of stone, Avith great regularity, and their site is high and commanding, from which I am led to infer thtit thej^ Avere intended for places of defence. Works of a similar kind are found on Buffalo creek, and on the Osage river. They certainly form a class of antiquities entirely distinct from the walled towns, fortifications, barrows, or mounds. The regularity of their form and structure favors the conclusion that they were the work of a more civilized race than those who erected the former — a race familiar with the rules of architecture, and perhaps with a perfect system of warfare." The description of those Avorks located near Louisiana is accompanied by a ground-plan or diagram made by the Eev. S. Giddings, a former clergyman of St. Louis, of which Fig. 1 is an exact copy. DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DIAGRAM. a, 6, c, d. outer wall, 18 inches in thickness; length, 56 feet; breadth, 22 feet. The walls are built of rough, unhewn stone, and appear to have been constructed with remarkable regularity. J7 is a chamber three feet in width, which was no doubt arched the whole way, as some part of the arch still remains. It is made in the manner represented at 3, and is seldom moi-e than five feet above the surface of the ground: but as iUis filled with rubbish it is impossible to say what was its original height. jp" is a chamber four feet mde, and in some places the remains of a similar arch stiJ remain. G^ is a chamber 12 feet in width, at the extremity of which are the remains of afurna ■■ , II is a large room with two entrances, I and K. It is covered with a thick growf;i ■ ' trees. The walls are at present from two to five feet in height. One of the trees ' work is two feet in diameter. 2 is a smaller work about W,';ods due east from the former. A and C are two chambers without anj)- apparent commJ nication with JS. 5 is a room nearly circular, with an entrance. In the apartment (?, human bones have been found. Fig. I. — Ancient Works near Louisia 74 AECH^OLOGY. The stone edifices thus described seem to have been peculiar to Mis- souri alone, as I find no notices of existing simihir works in any other locality, unless those described by Mr. Brown in his Western Gazetteer were such. Those were found near the town of Harrisonville, Franklin Co., in the State of Indiana. They were located on the neighboring hills, northeast of the town. The ruins of quite a number were observed, all of which, it is stated, were built of rough, unhewn stone. The wtdls were levelled nearly to the foundations, and covered with soil, brush and full-grown trees. Mr. Brown informs us that " after clearing away the earth, roots and rubbish from one of them, he found it to have been anciently occupied as a dwelling. It was about twelve feet square. At one end of the building was a regular hearth, on which were yet the ashes and coals of the last fire its owners had ever enjoyed, for around the hearth were the decayed skeletons of eight persons, of different ages, from a small child to the head of a family. Their feet were all pointing towards the hearth, which fact suggests the probability that they were, murdered while asleep." The bottom lands in this region are said to have abounded in mounds similar to those described elsewhere, and con-: taining human bones, implements of stone, and a superior article of glazed | pottery. A skull taken from one of them was found pierced with a flint arrow which was still sticking in the wound, and was about six inches long. The stone dwellings described by Mr. Brown were evidently of inferior construction to those of Missouri. The authors of the latter showed no mean skill in architecture ; while the rough and ruder walls of the Indiana structures, their diminutive size, along with the fact of the whole family lying together on the floor, would indicate a social con- dition but little removed from barbarism. Whether their builders belonged to the race of the mounds in the valleys near, is not certain, and the means of deciding the question are doubtless destroyed. Upon a recent visit to the site of the works near Lousiana, Mo., described by Mr. Beck, I found only a confused heap of stones, the walls thrown down and the stones scattered in every direction. The view from the summit of the hill where the building once stood was very extensive and lovely. Mr. Levi Pettibone, now ninety-seven years of age, and Mr. Edwin Draper, — both gentlemen having resided in the neigborhood of the work for nearly half a century — confirmed the account given by Mr. Beck, in every important particular.^ 1 Mr. Stillman, the obliging and gentlemanly proprietor of the Laclede Hotel at Lou- isiana, also gave me much valuable information. He stated that formerly there existed STONE STKUCTUKES. 75 III the February number of the Western lieviev; of the present year, appears quite a lengthy article, by Judge E. P. West, containing an account of the examination of several mounds near the Missouri river which contained "buried chambers, or vaults, built of stone, compactly and regularly laid." The stones, which are undressed on the inside, are laid horizontally, and apparently have been selected with great care, the walls presenting, whpn the earth is removed, a smooth inner face. The chambers were generally of uniform size, being about eight and one half feet square and four feet in height. Each had an opening, or doorway, towards the south, two and a half feet in width. The walls Avere about eighteen inches in width at the top, and five feet at the base. Some are described as containing " a large quantity of burnt human and animal bones, burnt clay, wood ashes and charred wood, all intermingled and extending entirely over the floor, at one point to the depth of eight inches." Judge West seems to favor the opinion that they were used for dwellings, before the dead were interred in them. This was possibly the case; but the commingled mass of burnt bones, charred wood, and burnt clay to the depth of several inches, would point to funeral rites by cremation. A house eight and a half feet square and four feet high would be a very confined habitation for a family of ordinary size. It seems more in consonance with the facts as stated to suppose them to have been furnaces for consuming the dead by burning. The Judge computes their age to be about two thousand years. Other and similar structures have been described to me, and the localities of their sites named, by respectable persons who claimed to have opened them, of much larger dimensions than any above described, and which are stated to have contained large quantities of human bones and implements of stone. One, I was told, contained a vault at least one hundred and fifty feet in length, fifty feet wide and above twelve feet in height. Another, upon his land, at a distance of about half a mile from the work described, a stone heap of quite large dimensions, similar in its appearance to those noticed in a previous chap- ter and conjectured to have been of Indian origin. Having occasion to use the stones for the walls of a cistern, he caused them to be removed. At the bottom of the pile he found a level floor, composed of flat stones of various sizes, but joined together, as he expressed it, as closely and evenly as any mason could do it to-daj^. From these, and similar facts, I am led to believe that possibly many of those which appear- outwardlj'to be simply piles of stones loosely thrown together, and which are to be counted by- thousands upon the hills in various parts of the State, maj^ be the remains of the un- cemented walls of ancient habitations. And this conviction receives additional strength from the fact that recent explorations of manj^ earthen mounds have disclosed a vault, walled and arched with stone, — some of large dimensions, — with contents similar to those of Utah. 76 . AUCH^OLOGY. much smaller, was beautifully arched with stone. At the time the nar- rator saw it, it was cleared of the decayed skeletons and was used as a dairy-house. The two just mentioned were in Missouri, and distant from each other one hundred and fifty miles. Again the question recurs Wlio built them; and whence their architectural skill and knowledge? Says Dr. Foster : " A broad chasm is to be spanned before we can link the Mound Builders to the North American Indians." There are some who attempt to do this, but the difficulties which beset the task are insurmountable to those who have examined, with any degree of thorough- ness, the evidences of the vastly superior civilization of the people who erected the stone structures found in Missouri, to that of the North American Indians, during any known period of their history ; and to such, the belief that they were the authors of the multitudinous monu- ments of the Missouri and Mississippi valleys, becomes altogether improbable. But if all this is inconclusive of the proposition we main- tain, what shall be said of the ancient canals, some of which still remain, the indubitable evidences of an extended inland communication between lakes, rivers and bayous, and also of an industry, enterprise and skill which would be creditabe to the scientific engineers of our own times? In many of the great achievments of this age of ours we are only recov- ering the knowledge and wisdom of the long-forgotten past. When Gov. Clinton, of New York, first proposed the construction of the Erie Canal, the idea was greeted with scorn and derision ; and as the work progressed it was characterized as "Clinton's Ditch," the opposers of the scheme little dreaming that it was to become the great channel for the commerce of the nation; connecting, as it does, the great chain of lakes in the far Northwest with the Atlantic Ocean. And not until a thousand freighted boats began to pour the rich treasures of the prairies into the lap of the East, was the far-seeing wisdom of its projector fully vindicated. Then men began to point to it with boasting congratulation, as an evidence of the rapid and surprising progress which we of the nineteenth century were achieving. But alas for human pride ! we are but slowly learning again what other nations, who lived in the morning of the historic period, knew, and the world had long ago forgotten. Again, when the French began the Suez Canal, "all the world won- dered "at the grandeur of the enterprise. But they soon found that they were only clearing out the sands of three or four thousand years' accumulation from the old pathway of the commerce of the Pharaohs, who had built the canal when Egypt was the storehouse of the nations. These came through the canal to her door, in great ships laden with the- SOUTHEKN "BAYOUS" OF AETIFICIAL OEIGm. 77 riches of the Orient, which they exchanged for corn, and then sailed back from the Nile, and through the Red Sea to their homes again. But at length the scepter departed from the throne of the Pharaohs ; the temple colleges, to which the philosophers of Greece resorted for instruc- tion six hundred years before Christ, were closed, and crnmbled in decay — the desert snnds swept over their rnins ; the canal was filled and forgotten through all the long dark ages. At length commerce revives, and men begin to dig canals again, with vain-glorious pride. It is with nations as with individuals who are taken with some deadly disease, from which they barely escape with their lives. Though their strength returns, their memory is utterly oblivious to all they have ever learned from books, and so they must begin with the alphabet once more. Nations have their deadly maladies from which few recover, and for those which do, how long and unpromising is the tutilage of their second child- hood. History is repeated here. The pre-historic people of Missouri were not only great in populous towns, in their agriculture, in their huge piles of earth and embankments and buildings of stone, but they, too, were canal-builders. With surprising skill they developed a system of internal navigation, so connecting the lakes and bayous of the southern interior of the State, that the products of the soil found a ready outlet to the great river. The remains of these artificial water-courses have been frequently alluded to by travelers who have seen them, but. never thoroughly explored. Dr. G. C. Swallow, while at the head of the Geological Survey, called attention to them, and described one which was "fifty feet wide and twelve feet deep." For the fullest description of this class of works, I am indebted to Geo. W. Carleton, Esq., of Gayoso ; who, in response to a note of enquiry, — in addition to many interesting facts concerning a great number of ancient structures in Pemiscot County, — kindly furnished the following account, which I give in his own words : "Besides our Mounds, we can boast of ancient canals. Col. John H. Walker informed me that before the earthquakes, these canals — we call them bayous now — showed very plainly their artificial origin. Since the country has become settled, the land cleared up, the embankments along those water courses have been considerably leveled dowai. One of these canals is just east of the town of Gayoso. It now connects the flats of Big Lake with the Mississippi river. Before the bank crumbled otf, taking in Pemiscot bayou, it connected this bayou with the waters of Big- Lake. Another stream, thnt Col. Walker contended was artificial, is what we now call Cypress Bend Ba30U. He said that it w:is cut so as to 78 AUCH^OLOGY. connect the waters of Cushion Lake with a bayou running into Big Lake. Cushion Lake lies in the northern part of Pemiscot county. The canal was cut from the flats of the lake on the south side, about three miles into Big Lake bayou. By this chain of canals, lakes and bayous, these ancient mound-builders and canal-diggers could have an inland naviga- tion from the Mississippi river at Gayoso, into and through Big Lake bayou and the canal into Cushion Lake, through Cushion Lake and a bayou into Collins Lake or the open bay, thence north through a lake and bayou some eight miles, where another canal tapped this water course and run east into the Mississippi river again, some five miles below the town of jS'ew Madrid. Col. Walker, in referring to these water-courses, spoke of them only as canals. They show even now a huge bank of earth, such as would be made by an excavation, on the side opposite to the river, so that in case of overflow the water from the river would not wash the excavated dirt back into the canal." Although in the foregoing account the present depth and width are not given, from it and from the reports of others, there can be no doubt that the ancient inhabitants had constructed with a skill which would do no discredit to our own engineers, a system of connecting canals which nuist have been necessitated by an extended internal trade, and which required boats of respectable dimensions. The evidences of work of such magnitude as canals, widen the "broad chasm" which is to be spanned before we can link the Mound-builders to the North American Indians, until it becomes an impassable gulf. CHAPTER X. Pottery.— Superiority of Pre-Historic American Wares over Those of Europe.— Imitations of Living Objects.— The Materials Used.— Eeliquaries.— Skulls En- closed IN Earthen Yessels.— Bowls with Ornamental Heads.— Probabilities OF Higher Art Among the Ancients. The number of vessels of pottery which have been taken from the mounds in Missouri is prodigious, and ahnost endless in variety. In an instance which fell under my own observation, nearly, if not quite, one thousand pieces were obtained from a single burial mound ; and these were of various sizes and great diversity of form and workmanship. Some of the most characteristic ex- amples will be presented as we pro- ceed. The skill displayed by the pre-historic Americans in everything they manufactured from common clay is vastly . superior to that of the ancient civilizations of Europe, to which, in other respects many strik- ing similarities may be traced.. From the fsict that few articles which are the products of human ingenuity and skill are more endurino- than earthen-ware, this class of anti- quities, to the archseologist, is very interesting and instructive. The skill and taste displayed in its various im- itative forms, in outline and deco- ration, give us an insight into some phases of the domestic life, social condition and sesthetic taste of ancient peoples, Avhich can be derived from no other source. Fragments of pottery, to the archaeologist, therefore, are the imperishable leaves of a book, inscribed by the truthful hand of humanity, in legible characters, with the precious records of those feelings and tender sentiments which are recorded nowhere else, and which need no translation. Their value is enhanced so much the more by the fact that we possess specimens of these records from every quarter of the globe, and coeval with the remotest civilizations. Fig. I. 80 AECH^EOLOGY. Fig, 2. The successful attempts of the ancient Americans to imitate the forms of beasts and birds, which they saw every day around them, evince a contemplation, observation and affectionate communion with nature which fills us with surprise. The drinking vessel molded into the form of an owl, a representation of which is given in Fig. 1, seems, by its frequent occurrence in the mounds, to have been a favorite model. The most common form is the universal gourd-shaped water jug (Fig. 2). These are of various sizes, the largest being from eight to ten inches high, and the largest diameter not exceeding eio'ht inches. Sometimes the body of the jug is more ghjbular on the top than this figure shows. Fig. 3 presents a form of water jug which, as far as my own observation extends, is much more rnre than the preceeding. The engraving was made some years ao-o ; I have since seen a sufficient number to prove that the reconstruction of the neck is correct. From the greater size of the neck I am led to believe that it was an ordinary drinking-vessel ; while the form repre- sented in Fig. 2 is more properly that of a water-cooler, which, when filled, was hung up until the water was reduced in temperature by its slow evaporation through the pores of the vessel, after the manner of the in- habitants of the American tropics at the present time. In reference to the superiority of the skill displayed by the Mound-builders in the ce- ramic arts, to the corresponding civilization of ancient Europe, I can not do better than quote the words of Dr. Foster. ^ " In the plastic arts, the Mound-builuers attained a perfection far in advance jf any samples which had been found charac^erisii • of the Stone, and even the Bronze Age of Europe. We can i Jir / Fig. 3. ' Pre-historic Eaces of the United States, p, 236. POTTEKY. 81 conceive that, in the absence of metallic vessels, pottery would be em- ployed as a substitute, and the potter's art would be held in the highest esteem. From making useful forms, it would be natural to advance to the ornamental. Sir John Lubliock remarks that ' few of the British sepulchral urns, belonging to the ante-Roman times, have ui)on them any curved lines. Representations of animals and plants are almost entirely wanting.' They are even absent from all the articles belonging to the Bronze Age in Switzerland, and I might almost say in Western Europe generally, while ornaments of curved and spiral lines are eminently char- acteristic of this period. The ornamental ideas of the Stone Age, on the other hand, are confined, so far as we know, to compositions of straight lines, and the idea of a curve scarcely seems to have occurred to them. The most elegant ornaments on their vases are impressions made by the finger-nail, or by a cord wound round the soft clay." " The commonest forms of the Mound-builders' pottery represent kettles, cups, water-jugs, pipes, vases, etc. Not content with plain surfiices, they frequently ornamented their surftices with curved lines and fret-work. They even went farther, and moulded images of birds, quadrupeds, and of the human form. The clay, except for their ordinary kettles, where coarse gravel is often intermixed, is finely-tempered, so that it did not warp or crack in baking, — the utensils, when completed, having a yellowish or grayish tint." In the group of vessels shown in Fig. 4, while the human fiices and heads of birds are crudely expressed, we find much to admire in the tasteful forms of the birds themselves. The flow of their outline, so to speak, evinces a degree of refinement of feeling which could only result from a culture of the sense for beauty, which must have required a lono- time for its realization. It will be noticed that the mouths or openings were, on all, macle at the back side of the head. This seems to have been the uniform practice, whether the head of the vessel was that of man, beast or bird. Sometimes the vessels with vertical openings, as of h and I, are fitted with covers of the same material, with projectiuo- knobs on the top for handling them. Sometimes, again, the smaller jugs, or bottles as they should be called, have nicely-adjusted stoppers, as shown at ^. These latter bottles are made of much finer material, and Avhile they are generally quite thin, they are so well baked that they seem to be almost as tough and strong as our own ware. On pao-e 23 of the Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum, a representation of two of these stoppers is given ; one of which is the same as shown at i (Fig. 4). They are described as "two articles 6 Fig. 4. — Varieties of Drinking Vessels from Southeast Missouri, a and b Front and Back View of same Vessel, i Small Bottle and Stopper. POTTERY. 83 carved from a hard clay slate and carefully smoothed. Their use is problematical, but they so closely resemble lip ornaments as to siioo-est that they were such." These are now in the " Swallow Collection "' of the museum. In its transportation from Missouri to Massachusetts, the report informs us, many of the articles were so broken as to make their reconstruction impossible. When I had the pleasure of examinino- this collection, some years since, these stoppers were then attached to the bottles with which they were found. The smaller bottle of the two, Professor Swallow informed me, when taken from the mound, contained a red liquid. Some, of the representations of the human figure are executed with a good degree of fidelity to nature, through all the members ; showing that the artist had studied carefully his model, and had evidently labored to tell the truth as he saw it. Some of the human figures have nn ex- pression so striking and individual that we can hardly believe that they are not portraits. This becomes more prob- able when we examine the animal represent- ations, or rather the heads of birds, with which the pottery is very often ornamented ; particularly those of the diiferent varieties of ducks, in which we observe in the shape of the head, line of neck, etc., the nicest distinctions in particular varieties, which are expressed with remarkable skill. This will be apparent when we come to the consider- ation of Food Vessels. In the annexed group (Fig. 5) are four varieties. In one, the head of the horned owl is skillfully joined to the body of the vessel. Another form of jug, which is of less frequent occurrence than the gourd-shape, is, as shown in the cut, supported by four and sometimes three hollow bulbous legs. The two human figures are coarsely executed, except the heads. They usually represent a hump-backed female figure in a sitting position, and the legs, when they are suggested, bent under the body, with arms resting upon the knees. They are simple water-jugs, having the mouth always in the occipital region of the head. Occasionally one is met with which is grossly indelicate. The vessels representing the human figure vary much in size. Some are so small that their capacity is not greater than two fluid ounces. The larger are from four to ten inches in height Fig. 5. 84 AECH^OLOGY. and hold from one to four pints. This is, however, a proximate esti- mate, but can not be fur wrong. Some of the smaller images are, of all that I have seen, altogether the most artistic aud expressive. They have been by some supposed to be idols, but there is no evidence whatever, that I have seen, which favors this supposition. They all have an orifice through which the cavities could be filled, which is constructed precisely like the commonest jugs ; while their relative position in the mounds, in companionship with other ves- sels, is conclusive to my own mind that they were used as receptacles of some precious articles of domestic use ; such as medicines, ointments, and the like. And again, there is very little in all we know concerning this poeple that would favor the idea that they had any idols, unless it may have been symbolic represent- ations of the heavenly bodies, which we know were the chief objects of their worship. In ad- dition to all this, they made images of beasts, as we shall see, which were unquestionably humorous car- icatures. The most elegant and artistic specimens of pottery which have been taken from the mounds in Missouri were quite recently discovered. Some vessels now in the museum of the St. Louis Academy of Science are very suggestive of the pottery of Ancient Egypt, and indeed, in their decorative forms, and coloring of black, red and white figures, are not greatly inferior to Etruscan art.^ The material of these articles is much finer than that of the common ware, which in the larger vessels, having a capacit}'^ of several gallons, is generally mixed with sand, and the medium sizes with pounded shells ; while the finest seems to be composed of a light-colored, very fine- grained, yellowish clay — perhaps mixed with gypsum. The diflferent varieties of ware, the different materials of which they are composed^ and the diversity of tastes displayed in their decoration, would " suggest a division of labor" amons: several classes of skilled artisans and artists. Fig. 6. Two Views. 1 The St. Louis Academy of Science, under the supervision of the Archaeological Section, will soon publish a series of plates of these decorated jugs and vases, drawn on stone and printed in/ac simile colors, with descriptive text by F. F. Hilder. POTTEEY. 85 This was probably the case ; for, as is well known, however common tlie articles manufactui-ed may be as to their uses, in everything which comes from the hand of the skillful there is a finish or refinement (if treatment which is never seen in the work of the unpracticed hand. The annexed engraving (Fig. 7) represents a jug, about nine inches in height, of a light yellowish color, orna- mented around the neck with red and black lines, and around its greatest diameter with curved lines in red, white and black. It is very symmetrical in form, with a bottom sufticiently flat to cause it to stand firmly. I have exhumed one similar in shape and color, but differently ornamented. Around the largest circumfer- ence were six red circles ; close to these, and on the inside, :are white circles. Within these again, is a red circle, and in each of the spaces thus enclosed by the circles, is a white cross with arms of equal Fig. 7. Fig. 8. length. The stripes are ai)Out three-tenths of an inch in width. This combination of color and form has a striking and not unpleasing eff'ect. The knowledge and feeling evinced by the combination and contrast of 86 AKCH^OLOGY. angles niid circles, in colors, is certainly quite remarkable. The colors of the stripes wei-e mixed with some sort of article which preserved them, and gave them a lustrous or varnished appearance, which they still to some dcOTee retain. In the next group (Fig. 8) are presented a few of the endless forms of the more common utensils. They are interesting as showing the constant and active presence of the inclination to beautify whatever vessel they manufactured. There are very few that are not ornamented in some manner. Some have the edges indented or dotted, as with the point of a stick or the finger-nail, while others have the rim slightly enlarged and marked with a spiral line, which gives the edge a beaded appearance. Some of these bowls and pans have a very familiar look as to their form. This class of pottery, as well as the ordi- nary jugs, are usually of dark gray and well baked, the clay, as before stated, having been tempered with pounded shells. In a previous chapter, describing the mode of burial in one of the mounds near West Lake, it was stated that with the skeletons were usually found two or three vessels, one or two jugs near the head, and a food- vessel in the bend of the arms, which were folded across the breast. The forms of food-vessels here presented are those most frequently found in that position. In some of them I have observed a very smal plot, not much laro-er than a hen's eo-o; .- in some instances containing a bone. In others carbonized fruit, resembling wild grapes, has been found ; in others, again, the soft remains of muscle shells, thoroughly decayed. The jugs and bowls which were interred with the corpse, no doubt, con- tained food and drink, for the purpose of sustaining the traveler during the long journey he was supposed to have entered upon. These pots suggest many interesting reflections concerning their Mth and notions of a future life. The forms represented in the preceding group are the simplest of all but not more frequent than those which are much more ornamental. Vessels in the form of the muscle-shell, and holding fully one pint, are by no means unfrequent ; and again a fish or frog will be used as a model. The two presented in Fig. 9 are quite common. Sometimes the legs and feet of the frog are well defined, but folded along the sides of the body. Usually, when a fish is represented, it is done by simply POTTEKY. 87 mouldino- the head, tail and fins upon the side of the dish, but occasion- ally the exact form of the fish is represented, scales and all. lu such cases, the orifice is in the side, and furnished with a tube which projects au inch or two, forconvenience in use as a driuking-vessel. In one in- stance, which came under my notice, the' body of a man lying upon the bacl^ was represented, with legs and arms rudely made out, and the tube projecting from the stomach. Fig. 10. Cooking Vessels. Their imitative feculties, as illustrated in their pottery, were certainly remarkable, and to give an adequate idea of the variety of their work in the subjects which might be chosen for illustration would require more space than is allotted to this essay. We proceed, therefore, to consider their cooking utensils. Some of the more frequent forms are grouped together in Fig. 10. 88 AKCH^OLOGY. While these vessels were doubtless for common, every-clay use, some of them are really quite artistic and graceful. The three larger ones (a, b, c) are particularly so. The forms and ornamentation of the others seem to be more experimental, and perhaps transitional, as though the maker varied a little from his usual manner just to see how they would look. The one at g, however, is a much bolder innovation, and is finished as there shown, with six hemispheroidal projections. It will be observed that all have two or more handles, by which they were probably suspended over the fire by passing through them green twigs , which they covered with moist clay to prevent them from burning. Examples might be multiplied, ad infinitum almost, of this class of vessels, but the above are sufficient to ilkistrate the inventive powers of their authors in this direction, as well as their constant striving to gratify their aesthetic feeling in the manufacture of those frao^ile articles which were designed for the commonest uses. Fig. 11 represents a pot very similar to a, of the preceding group, but entirely unique in this, that it contained the upper portion of a human skull and one vertebra. It was taken from a mound near New Madrid, by Prof. Swallow, who tells us that the vessel must have been moulded around the skull, as it could not be removed without breaking the pot. It is now in the Peabody Museum. The top of the skull is shown in the engraving. This is certainly a curiosity. Nothing like it has been found in any other burial mound here or anywhere else, as far as known. It may be remembered, however, in this connection, as before re- marked, that small pots have frequently been found in the larger pans, and which contained a decayed shell or fragment of bone. These were, very likely, valued relics or charms wdiich were buried with their pos- sessor. In Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Sociology, "^ in the chapter upon Idol-Worship and Fetich-Worship, the following interesting statements occur, which seem quite pertinent in this connection : "Facts, already named, show how sacrifices to the man recently dead Fig. II. 1 Popular Science Monthly for December, 1875, p. 158, POTTERY. 89 pass into sacrifices to his preserved body. We have seen that to the corpse of a Tahitian chief daily offerings were made on an altar by a priest ; and the ancient Central Americans performed kindred rites before bodies dried by artificial heat. That, along with a developed system of embalming, this grew into mummy-worship, Peruvians and Egyptians have furnished proof. " Here the tiling to be observed is that, while believing the ghost of the dead man to have gone away, these peoples had confused notions, either that it was present in the mummy, or that the mummy was itself con- scions. Among the Egyptians, this was clearly implied by the practice of sometimes placing their embalmed dead at table. The Peruvians, who by a parallel custom betraj'ed a like belief, also betrayed it in other ways. By some of them the dried corpse of a parent was carried romid the fields that he might see the state of the crops. "How the ancestor, thus recognized as present, was also recognized as exercising authority, we see in the story given by Santa Cruz. When his second sister refused to marry him, ' Huayna Capac went with pres- ents and oflerings to the body of his father, praying him to give her for his wife, but the dead body gave no answer, while fearful signs appeared in the heavens.' " The primitive idea that any property characterizing an aggregate inheres in all parts of it, implies a corollary from this belief. The soul, present in the body of a dead man preserved entire, is also present in preserved parts of his body. Hence the faith in relics. Ellis tells us that, in the Sandwich Islands, bones of the legs, arms, and sometimes the skulls, of kings and principal chiefs, are carried about by their descendants, under the belief that the spirits exercise guardianship over them. The Crees carry bones and hair of dead persons about for three years. The Caribs, and several Guiana tribes, have their cleaned bones distributed among the relatives after death. The Tasmanians show ' anxiety to possess them- elves of a bone from the skull or the arms of their deceased relatives.' The Adamanese ' widows may be seen with the skulls of their deceased partners suspended from their necks.' This belief in the power of relics leads in some cases to direct worship of them. Erskine tells us that the natives of Lifu, Loyalty Islands, who 'invoked the spirits of their departed chiefs,' also 'preserve relics of their dead, such as a finger nail, a tooth, a tuft of hair, and pay divine homage to it.' Of the New Caledonians, Turner says: 'In cases of sickness, and other calamities, they present ofierings of food to the skulls of the departed.' Moreover we have the evidence furnished by conversation with the relic. Lander 90 AUCIL^OLOGY. says : * In the private fetich hut of the King Adolee at Badagry, the skull of that monarch's father is preserved in a day vessel placed in the earth.' He 'gently rebukes it if his success does not happen to answer his expectations.' C ( Fig. 12. Bowls With Ornamental Heads. " Similary, Catlin describes the Mandans as placing the skulls of their dead in a circle. Each wife knows the skull of her former husband or POTTEKY. 91 child, ' and there seldom passes a day that sue does not visit it, with a dish of the best cooked food. There is scarely an hour in a pleasant day, but more or less of these women may be seen sitting or lying by the skull of their child or husband, talking to it in the most pleasant and endearing language that they can use (as they were wont to do in former days) and seemingly getting an answer back.' "Thus propitiation of the man just dead leads to propitiation of his preserved body or a preserved part of it ; and the ghost is supposed to be present in the part as in the whole." From the foregoing remarks and array of facts presented by Mr. Spencer, there -can be but little doubt that the presence of the skull in the earthen vessel from the New Madrid mound is due to a belief in the presence of the soul in the relics of the departed, and which seems to have been a common belief among many savage and uncivilized nations. In the next group (Fig. 12) are presented a few of the most com- mon varieties of another and quite distinct class of bowls. They are peculiar in this : the bodies of the vessels are entirely devoid of orna- mentation. From the edge of the lip on one side projects a small handle : on the opposite side is moulded the head of some beast or bird, and quite often a human head is represented. The thing to be specially noticed is the diversity of form in the heads of the ducks. So faithfully are the distinctive features of the dilFerent varieties delineated, that those at all familiar with them must believe that the artist, according to the best of his skill, conscientiously copied nature. The beautiful curve of the neck, and its union with the outline of the vessel itself, could not possibly have been accidental. The best which these ancient workmen could do is so far inferior to the art of our own times, Ihat it is not easy for us to appreciate the difficulties they must have overcome, their many failures, the long time necessary for the acquisition of those habits of observation, and the development of the skill of hand sufficient to enable them to express themselves as cred- itably as they have done in all their imitative work. I.i the class of ves- sels under consideration, examples decorated with the human iicad and features are by no means rare. If the credit given them for conscien- tious observaticm of nature, and skill in expression of what they saw, is not an over-estimate, then we may believe that, in their delineation of the human face, they also copied nature with a sufficient degree of accuracy to warrant us in the idea that in their work we have at least character- istic likenesses of themselves. In the examples presented in Fig. 13, there is wanting that refinement of feeling and realistic portraiture which 92 ARCILgEOLOGY. are displayed in the preceding representations of animal heads ; but still sufficient individuality to make them very interesting, and, as before re- marked, to impress us with the belief that they too were copied from life. In the examples thus far given of the pottery of the Missouri Mound- builders, the aim has been to show the leading varieties and mode of decoration. The subject is by no means exhausted ; in fact, almost every mound opened discloses some new variety, and I have seen many other specimens of their ware entirely dif- ferent in form — some of them are beautifully decorated — but which are now scattered among private collections, and therefore not available for illustration here. There is one other curious form of drinking vessel which should be noticed. It has elicited much speculation as to what it was intended to represent. Several of this variety have been found in the Missouri mounds, unmis- takably representing the same animal, but no two alike. The general figure of this "what is it " is shown in the engraving. It has four clumsy- legs, a thick body, the usual drinking neck projecting from the back, and a swinish head. Sometimes they are made of very fine and finely-tempered yellowish clay, — the larger ones of the usual material of the dark gray ware, with a capacity of from one to two pints. The light-colored and finer ones are decorated with scroll-work made out with red and white lines. Some of the larger ones have human faces moulded upon the sides of the body, midway between the legs. In some instances the head proper has the eyes of a human face and the snout turned up to such an extent as to completely obstruct the front line of vision, which, with its half-human expression, make it very grotesque. If the hog were Fig. 13. Bowls With Human Heads. Fig. 14. POTTEKY. 93 indigenous to America, it would at once be pronounced a represen- tation of that animal. The nearest approach to it which is native here, is the peccary, or Mexican hog, but that has no tail, while on one example of this figure a tail was well represented ; and as it would have been too easily broken in the natural position it was curled up on the hip. Some have pronounced it the hippopotamus. To my own eye it is intensely hoggish. But whatever was intended to be represented by it, — hog or hippopotamus, — it introduces a disturbing factor into the question of chronology which may require some time to adjust ; unless we can credit La Veo-a's statement in his Roval Commentaries of Peru, that the ancient Peruvians who dwelt in the mountains had hogs similar to those which the Spaniards introduced. Again, if the model after which these were moulded was the common hog, which was introduced by the first white settlers in this region, why is it that they took no notice of any other animal or bird which the earliest settlers brought with them, or why do Ave not find in companionship in the mounds some other human vestigia of European origin ? For the present we can only state the facts, with the questions wdiich they suggest, and wait for further developments. Writers upon American archaeology have been able to find no evidence that the Mound-builders knew anything about the use of the potter's wheel ; but it is difficult to believe that some of the finest of their work could have been so gracefully and symmetrically moulded by ordinary manipulation, and without some mechanical appliances and adjustments, by which a uniformity of action and pressure would be brought to bear upon the whole mass. Without discussing the question, however, I desire simply to call attention to two discoveries, which at first sight may seem unimportant, but after all may have some value, should they stimulate further and more careful observation in this direction. The first is represented in the engraving. Fig. 15, and was taken from a New Madrid mound by Prof. Swallow. "It is one-half of a rough ball of burnt clay, about 3.5 inches in diameter, and shows the impression of the skin and finger-marks of the hands that moulded it. This mass w^as perforated through the center, as shown in the figure giving a section of it."i It had perhaps been designed to be fashioned into a vessel of some 1 Eighth Annual Eeport of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum. '94 AKCm^OLOGY. Fig. 16. sort, but by some menns burnt before the design Avas carried out. The perforation would suggest that it hiid been attached to a stick or spindle for convenience in handling. The other article is much more suggestive. It belongs to that class of implements usually denominated spindle-whorls. They are found scattered over the whole country, at least wherever the principal works of the Mound-builders are to be seen. This was taken from a mound about eighteen miles from New Madrid. When I attempted to wash it, I discovered that it had not been hardened in the fire, but onl}^ sun-dried, as it fell into fragments under the action of the water. With great care, these were collected and glued together again. It is about 2.5 inches in diameter, and three-fourths of an inch in thickness at the periphery. Both sides are concave. .The most interesting fact about it is this : It has around the outer edge a rudi- mentary groove, as represented in the engraving. Fig. 16. I can only wish the groove had been deeper. But as it was unburnt, I am led to be- lieve that the article was unfinished ; and that had it been, it would have furnished some evidence that the maker was not unacquainted with the use of the pulley, or potter's wheel. The necessity for condensation demands that here our consideration of this part of our sul)ject should end. The variety and beauty of many of the objects of their fictile skill are very suggestive, and furnish much material for extended generalization. But a remark or two must suffice in this connection. To suppose that all this taste and feeling — this close observation of nature and fidelity in delineation, displayed in the potteiy of the Mound-builders, found no expression in any other direction, and was expended upon their domestic utensils alone, is simply incredible. Very dififerent must have been the homes of a people furnished with such tasteful articles, from those miserable huts which the nomadic Indians constructed for their habitations ; and it is quite likely that in their dress as well as their dwellino-s thev evinced the same ideas of taste and convenience which we perceive in their domestic utensils. In some of their human effigies we do find the manner of arrano-ino- the hair dis- tinctly delineated, and we may yet discover those which shall furnish us with correct representations of their mode of dress. Indeed I have seen one vessel with figures of men rudely painted in outline upon its sides, who were clad in a flowing garment, gathered by a belt around the waist, and reaching to the knees. In this connection I may mention the ENGKAYED SHELLS. 95 engraved shells which have frequently been found with skeletons, both in Missouri and Illinois. One of the most interesting is represented in Fig. 17,1 which gives also the natural size. When taken from the njoiind, the shell was quite soft and brittle, and easily cut with thefino-er- Fig. 17. nail. The outer edge was much broken or worn away, as shown in the eno-ravino-. The design was enclosed by six circular lines, portions of which still remain. On one side were two perforations, designed doubtless for the string by which it was suspended from the neck. All similar shells that I have seen are so perforated. It seems quite evident from the picture that it memorializes the victory of the individual represented as standing over an enemy who lies on his face at his feet. The victor, 1 For the photograph of which this is an accurate copj', I am indebted to the late Captain Whitley. 96 ARCHAEOLOGY. it will be observed, holds in his right hand a weapon or symbol of authority, with which he seems to be pressing the prostrate figure to the earth. Many of the accessories are unintelligible. While the whole work is very crude, and the figures out of all proportion, there is here and there an outline which shows earnest endeavor ; as the leg of the standino- fio-ure, for example, in which also the action is so well expressed as to suggest that, by an impetuous onset, he has just felled his antago- nist to the o-round. The artist seems to have had most difficulty with the eye, or rather, has made no attempt at imitating that organ. There is now in the museum of the St. Louis Academy of Science a similar shell, upon which is portrayed, in a creditable manner, the figure of a spider. I have also been shown another by Dr. Eichardson, from a mound in Illinois, almost precisely like it, and difi'ering only in a small symbolic device, which is carved upon the back of each. Engraved shells are generally found upon the breast of the skeleton, or in such a position as shows that they were originally placed there, and also where they were probably worn during life. According to Mr. Pidgeon^ the spider emblem is perpetuated in the mounds far to the north. He describes one which he saw in Minnesota, about sixty miles above the junction of the St. Peters river with the Mississippi, which covered nearly an acre of ground. Upon ascending its highest elevation, he tells us, it was very evident that the spider was intended to be repre- sented by it. I bring these facts together for the benefit of future observers, without speculating as to their significance, further than to venture the remark that they point to a great diffusion of one people, or their migration from the north, southwardly along the Mississippi valley. CHAPTEE X. Crania.— Differences Between the Skulls of the Mound-Boilders and the Indians. —Difficulties of the Subject.— Two Varieties of Crania in the same Mounds.— Principles of Classification.— Influence of Local Customs.— Peruvian Skulls.— Characteristics of Missouri Specimens, etc —The Tools of Ancient Americans. -Proofs op a Knowledge of Iron. To the r mon observer, the unnumbered stars which shine nightly in the finnam nt above utter no voice, and give no sign concerning their physical condition, their individual motions, or relative distance from '^ach other, All seemingly sweep on together with undeviating regular- ' ifferiug only in the intensity of their light. But when the appliances . M v'v ':u science are brought to bear upon the facts within our grasp ' .i-ning them, and their dim rays are gathered up by the spectroscope, ^e feint star becomes a fiery orb and the theatre of the conflict of forces of r>vnr|ifrious powcr. The sun is seen to be a fiery, fluid mass, in whose citui. sphere are aeaseiess storms of flaming elements and tempestuous cyclpues, which burst forth on every side with awful grandeur and incon- ceivable velocity. Alike uninteiiigible to a common observer, in their ethnic relations, would be a collection of skulls brought together from difierent lands, as throw'ing any light upon the long history of the diflerent races of man- kind. Some would appear shorter, rounder or more irregular than others, but the same general features which characterize them all — with the exceptions named — would be about all that would be specially noticed. But when viewed in the resultant light of all the study which has been bestowed upon them, and the cautious inductions of the wisest ethnologists, they become vocal with revelations of transcendant interest. We are not to suppose, however, that there are no great and decided variations in the crania of a particular race, for these are as widely difi'er- ent as the varying expressions of the human face, and yet all the while presenting certain broad distinctions and characteristics by which the particular race to which they belong may generally be determined. Says Dr. Foster: " While the individual variations in the crania of a particular race are so great as to present intermediate gradations from one extreme to another, thus forming a connecting link between widely sepa- rated races, yet, in a large assemblage of skulls derived from a particular race, there is a general conformation, a predominant type ; which appears 7 08 AECHJEOLOGY. io have been constant as far back as human records extend; to have been unaifected by food, climate, or personal pursuits; and which has been regarded among the surest guides in tracing national affinities. Hitherto, our knowledge of the mound-builders' crania has been exceed- ingly scant — restricted to less than a dozen specimens — which, if authen- tic, clearly indicate for the most part the Indian type. The results of my observations have led me to infer that the mound-builders' crania were characterized by a general conformation of parts, which clearly separated them from the existing races of man, and particularly^from the Indians of North America." While the number of authentic skulls from the mounds has been greatly multiplied since the above was written, not much has yet been done in the way of classification, measurement and tabulation,, so as to be available for serious study. But enough has been already determined to show how premature were the broad generalizations of Dr. Morton — and others who accepted his opinions — deduced from the few examples of the crania of the mounds which he was able to add to his large collection of other types from all parts of thew^orld. While questioning some of his conclusions with which he sums up the results of his long-continued labors, no contrary deductions can detract in the slightest degree from the inestimable value of his labors and splendid contributions to ethnological science. While many, in view of more extended observations and discov- eries since his time, will withold their assent to the proposition, "that the American nations, excepting the polar tribes, are of one race an'd one species, but of two great families, which resemble each other in physical, but differ in intellectual character," all will heartily subscribe to the statement of Dr. Daniel Wilson that, "following in the footsteps of the distinguished Blumenbach, Dr. Morton has the rare merit of having labored with patient zeal and untiring energy, to accumulate and publish to the world the accurately observed data which constitute the only true basis of science. His Crania Americana is a noble monument of well- directed industry ; and the high estimation in which it is held, as an ac^^ curate embodiment o£ facts, has naturally tended to give additional weight to his deductions." Nor was this great naturalist less mistaken in his opinion as to the mode of burial practiced by the aborigines of the American continent. He tells us "that from Patagonia to Canada, and from ocean to ocean, and equally in the civilized and uncivilized tribes, a peculiar mode of placing the body in sepulture has been practiced from immemorial time. This peculiarity consists in the sitting posture." That this was not the CEANIA. 99 universal, nor even the most common mode of burial, those who have read the foregoing accounts of explorations in bnrial mounds in various parts of the continent, have already seen. He found some difficulty at first in reconciling the peculiarities of the long and flattened Peruvian skulls with the round-headed type of the red Indian, but finally decided that these were only variations of the same type produced by artificial pressure in infancy. But the evidence is abundant and convincing that there was one race in Peru — probably older than the Incarace — with which this peculiarity was not artificial, but con- genital, and the skull of the adult retained through life the strangely elongated shape with which it entered the world. Dr. Wilson further remarks in this connection : " The comprehensive generalization of the American cranial type, thus set forth on such high authority, has exer- cised an important influence on subsequent investigations relative to the aborigines of the New World. It has, indeed, been accepted with such ready faith as a scientific postulate, that Agassiz, Nott, Meigs, and other physiologists and naturalists adopted it without question, and have rea- soned from it as one of the few well-determined data of ethnological sci- ence. It has no less effectually controlled the deductions of observant travellers." With such examples before us, a becoming modesty should character- ize the conclusions of those laborers in the same great field, who at best may only hope to contribute a page or two to the volume of truth which he has bequeathed to his followers. The caution with which we should proceed in every step of our inves- tigations becomes all the more imperative on account of the difficulties which meet the observer at the very threshold of his enquiries. One of the difficulties has been already suggested, which is the small number of skulls concerning which there can be no doubt whatever, that they be- longed to the race of men who erected the mounds. While it was the custom of the Indian tribes to bury their dead in the mounds which they found ready made, yet their interments may generally be easily distin- guished from those of the race of the mounds themselves by the shallow- ness of the graves, which are usually near the surface. Still, for the want of close !)bservation among cranial collectors, and attention to this fact, much CO jfusion has been the result. Another perplexity is caused by the fact that in i.he same burial mound are sometimes found — at least in Missouri^ — two entirely different classes of skulls, with distinctions al- most as' strongly marked as those which pertain to the Caucasian and Ne- groid types, whose position in the mound and companionship iu the i-ora 100 ABCHJEOLOGY. way of implements and utensils invest neither class with any distinct- ive claim over the other, as being the individuals for whom the memorial was erected. But, not to specify further, it may be remarked that sa great are the perplexities caused by these disturbing elements, in the minds of some, that they have been led to question w^hether we are justified in assuming that we have a predominant cranial type of the Mound-building race, with characteristic conformations so constant as to distinguish them from all others, wherever found, so that they may be relied on as sure guides in our investigations. Assenting, as I do, to the conclusions of such distinguished naturalists as Wilson and Foster, to the effect that we are justified in assunaing that the crania from localities so far asunder as Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri, present a "similarity of type in those crania, apart from the similarity in weapons of warfare, pottery, personal ornaments and earth- works, which would indicate a homogeneous people distributed over a wide area," yet, to present representative specimens of the skulls which have been collected from the mounds which are scattered over such an extended territory, along with the necessary descriptions, measurements and illustrations as would be requisite for scientific accuracy and induc- tion, would extend our investigations far beyond the limits of the pres- ent essay. We must content ourselves, therefore, with such illustrations and considerations as are more general in their character, but sufficiently specific and particular, it is hoped, to make them of some scientific value,- at least in clearing the way somewhat for other observers. For convenience in the study of ethnic relationships, craniologists have recognized three distinct classes of skulls under which all are grouped. The principle upon which this classification is made, is based simply upon the relation of the breadth to the length of the skull. Taking the length of a skull to be one hundred, when the breadth is less than seventy- three to one hundred, it is called Dolicocephalic, or long head; those whose proportions are from seventy-four or seventy-nine to one hundred are termed Orthocephalic, or regularly formed ; those skulls whose pro- portions are from eighty to eighty-nine to one hundred are called Brachy- cephalic, or short heads. It may be remarked with reference to the classification of skulls, that some have been found in Europe presenting such phenomenal characteristics that another class has been proposed, called Scephocephalic. But, as it is quite likely that the peculiar elonga- tion of those classed under this head may have been produced by artificial means, they need not be dwelt upon here. Concerning tne skull known as the "Scioto Mound Skull", which was taken by Squire and Davis from CKAIflA. 101 a mound in the Scioto valley, and figured and described in their grent work, Dr. Morton says it is "perhaps the most admirably formed head of the American race hitherto discovered. It possesses the national ^characteristics in perfection, as seen in the elevated vertex, flattened occiput, great interparietal diameter, ponderous bony structure, salient nose, large jaws and broad face." This skull was I'egarded by the discoverers as the one of all othei'S concerning which there could be no •doubt that it belonged to the race of the mounds ; and other eminent writers have accepted the opinion of the finders. Dr. Foster, however, (because of its decided. Brachycephalic form doubtless), says that ''txnj comparative anatomist will instantly recognize it as of the Indian type."i As far as my own observation goes, I am persuaded that those ethnol- ogists who have taken one specific form as the type, rejecting all others which do not closely resemble it, do not make sufficient account of the wide extent of territory in which they are found, the length of time which must have passed while the civilization of the race was being developed, nor the influence of local habits and customs in modifjdng the estoological conditions of the individual members of communities isolated as they must have been for a long series of years ; nor of the recognized fact that " individual variations in the crania of a particular race are so great as to present intermediate gradations all the way from one extreme to another, thus forming a connecting link between widely separated races." The burial mounds of Missouri present well-defined Brachy- cej)halic specimens, often flattened in the occipital region, as well as the longer and more symmetrical Orthocephalic type ; and sometimes both are observed in one mound. The assumption, therefore, that the one or the other is the exclusive typal form, cannot be maintained ; nor on such a narrow basis can these seemingly wide divergencies in the shape of individual skulls be satisfactorily explained. We may safely conclude, therefore, that the idea that one uniform constant type prevailed during the centuries of the occupancy of the Mound-builders of the vast con- tinent of America, through all its fixed communities, is a sweeping assumption which finds no support from the history of other races of men, nor from the facts which the mounds disclose. The influence of local customs, as exhibited in the difierent manner of flattening the skull by related tribes of Indians, is a case in point. 1 It should be remembered that very manj^ other considerations enter into the account in determining the chiss to which ' certain slvulls belong besides the proportion of breadth to length. This, however, is the first and most important, and the one which I shall chiefly consider 102 AUCH^OLOGY. Included under the general name of Flatheads, are at least twenty different tribes. With some, the head of the child is strapped to the cradle-board until its transverse diameter is enormous, when seen in front or from behind, while the longitudinal diameter is only about half as great. In others the skull is shaped by winding a deer-skin cord around the head, beginning just above the ears and winding in such a manner that a uniform pressure is brought to bear upon the skull, forcing it upward until it assumes a tapering form, almost terminating in a point at the vertex. In others again, the pressure is so applied as to press back the frontal bone to such a degree that the forehead is almost entirely obliterated. Concerning the origin of these diverse customs among affiliated tribes we need not stop to enquire. They are sufficient to prove that peculiar practices, affecting the shape of the skull in contrary ways, do originate in communities dwelling near each other, and are persisted in, notwithstanding their constant famili- arity with the different customs of their neighbors. It is not surprising then, we repeat, that mounds a thousand miles from each other, or the same mounds even, should disclose cranial forms presenting distinct and contrast- ing characteristics. The skull represented in Fig. 1, it Avill be observed, is very globular in shape, with transverse diameter almost equalling the longitudinal, as will be apparent by comparing the front with the side view which is represented in the next engraving, Fig. 2. From the supercilliary ridges, which are prominent, the line of the forehead ascends almost vertically to a great height, and then sweeps in a well-rounded curve tO' the apex, from whence it suddenly slopes off in an almost straight line to the occipital protuberance. The squamosal suture is exceptionally straight. The chief point to be noticed in the shape of this skull, is the evidence of artificial flattening seen in the almost straight line from the occipital protuberance to the top of the skull. With few exceptions, all the crania from the Missouri mounds which I have seen are more or less flattened in the occipital regions. Sometimes the pressure seems to have been applied to the right, or to the left of the occipital protuberance,, and occasionally directly to the back of the head, and so low down that Fig. I, Front View of Sl