PREFACE. xxxix 



religious, and sepulchral monuments found in the valley of the Ohio, and the 

 more imposing, if not more regular remains which abound in the Southern 

 States. The work of investigation has been just commenced ; its future pro- 

 gress may, and no doubt will, result in new and perhaps more important disclo- 

 sures than any hitherto made. 



The importance of a complete and speedy examination of the whole field, cannot 

 be over-estimated. The operations of the elements, the shifting channels of 

 the streams, the levelling hand of public improvement, and most efficient of 

 all, the slow but constant encroachments of agriculture, are fast destroying these 

 monuments of ancient labor, breaking in upon their symmetry and obliterating 

 their outlines. Thousands have already disappeared, or retain but slight and 

 doubtful traces of their former proportions. Such an examination is, however, too 

 great an undertaking for private enterprise to attempt. It must be left to local 

 explorers, to learned associations, or to the Government. And if this memoir 

 shall succeed in directing that attention to the subject which it merits, and thereby 

 in some manner secure the thorough investigation of these monuments, that result 

 will prove an ample recompense for labors performed in a field of absorbing 

 interest, and one which holds out abundant attractions to the Antiquary and 

 Archaeologist. 



Chillicothe, Ohio, June, 1847. 



