356 ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



this tenflt'iicy in a marked degree, and their predecessors, whose history 

 is shrouded in darkness, seem to have been moved by similar impulses. 

 Thus the common ore of lead, or galena, was much prized by the for- 

 mer inhabitants of North America, though there is, thus far, no conclu- 

 sive evidence of their having understood how to render it serviceable 

 by melting. Quite considerable quantities of this shining mineral 

 have been met in the mounds of Ohio. On the hearth of one of the 

 sacrificial mounds of that State, Messrs. Squier and Davis discovered a 

 deposit of galena, in pieces weighing from two ounces to three pounds, 

 the whole quantity amounting perhaps to thirty j)ounds. The sacrificial 

 fire had not been strong enough to convert the ore into x>ure metal, 

 though some of the pieces showed the beginning of fusion.* As 

 stated before, there is no definite proof that the aborigines were ac- 

 quainted with the process of reducing lead from its ore ; for as yet no 

 leaden implements or ornaments have been discovered that can be as- 

 Bcribed with certainty to the former population. The peculiarly shaped 

 object of pure lead figured on page 209 of the "Ancient Monuments," 

 which came to light while a well was sunk within the ditch of the earth- 

 work at Circleville, Ohio, was perhaps nuule by whites, or by Indians 

 at a period when they already had acquired from the former the know- 

 ledge of casting lead. This curious relic is in possession of Dr. Davis, 

 and I have often examined it. The archsEological collection of tlie 

 Smithsonian Institute contains not a single Indian article of lead, but 

 quantities of galena, which were taken from various mounds. Yet, 

 supposing the Indians had known the fusibility of galena, the lead ex- 

 tracted therefrom could not have afforded them great advantages, con- 

 sidering that its very nature hardly admitted of any useful ai)plication. 

 ''Too soft for axes or knives, too fusible for vessels, and too soon tar- 

 nished to be valuable for ornament, there was little inducement for its 

 manufacture." — (vSquier and Davis.) However, in making net-sinkers, it 

 would have been preferable to the iiat pebbles notched on two opi)osite 

 sides, which the natives used as weights for their nets. Pebbles of this 

 description abound in the valley of the Susquehanna and in various 

 other places of the United States, especially in the neighborhood of 

 rivers. 



The frequent occurrence of galena on the altars of tjie sacrificial 

 mounds proves, at any rate, that the ancient inhabitants attHbuted a 

 peculiar value to it, deeming it worthy to be offered as a sacrificial 

 gift. The pieces of galena found in Ohio were, in all probability, ob- 

 tained in Illinois or Missouri, from which regions they were transferred 

 by way of barter, as we may presume, to the Ohio valley. No original 

 deposits of galena are known in greater proximity that could have 

 furnished pieces equal to those taken from the mounds of Ohio. 



"AucicDt MonuDieuts, pp. 149 aud 209. 



