ClIAl'TEU VI, 



E A R r H \V K IC S — T 11 E MOUNDS. 



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GROUP II, LUST K ATI NG THE FORMS OF THF. 



SS OU NDS . 



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Ix connection more or less intimute witli the various earthworks already 

 described, are the Tumuli or Mounds. Together, these two classes of remains 

 constitute a single system of works, and are the mormments of the same people- 

 And while the enclosures impress us with the number and power of the nations 

 which built tliem, and enlighten us as to the amount of military knowledge and 

 skill which they possessed, as well as, in some degree, in respect to the nature of 

 their superstitions, — the mounds and their contents, as disclosed by the mattock 

 and the spade, serve to reflect light more particularly ujion their customs and 

 the condition of the arts among them. Within these mounds we must look for 

 the only authentic remains of their build.rs. They are the principal depositories 

 of ancient art; they cover the bones of the distinguished dead of remote ages; 

 and hide from the profane gaze of invadino- races the altars of the ancient people. 



A simple heap of earth or stones seems to luive been the first monument which 

 suggested itself to man ; the pyramid, the arch, and the obelisk are evidences of a 

 more advanced state. But rude as are these primitive memorials, they have been 

 but little impaired by time, while other more imposing structures have sunk into 

 shapeless ruins. When covered with forests, and their surfaces interlaced with 

 the roots of trees and bushes, or when protected by turf, the humble mound bids 

 defiance to the elements which throw down the temple and crunibie the marble 

 into dust. We therefore find them, little changed from their original proportions, 

 side by side with the ruins of those proud edifices which mark the advanced, as the 

 former do the primitive state of the people who built them. They are scattered over 



