TifE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 11 



been done and thought on this interesting subject, but also in indicating 

 definite points of further research. 



The preparation of this article has cost the author no small amount 

 of labor. The information was principally to be found in publications 

 which, in their day, had but a limited circulation ; and now, even, 

 when known to exist, are not easily found. It may be interesting to 

 mention that there have been several periods during which attention 

 has been particularly directed to the aboriginal remains of this country, 

 and between them intervals of time in which they excited compara- 

 tively no interest. Before the war of the revolution, investigations had 

 been commenced, which were of course suspended or terminated by 

 that event. After peace was restored and military stations were 

 estabhshed in the interior, and settlements began to be extended beyond 

 the Ohio, accounts of remarkable works were published in the miscel- 

 laneous periodicals of the day. The officers of the army were the 

 principal explorers ; but two of the most active of these, General Par- 

 son and General Heart, were removed by death ; and as the mounds 

 became more familiar to the settlers, the interest in them comparatively 

 declined. After the war of 1812, they again became the object of 

 inquiry, which resulted in the publication of Mr. Atwater's researches 

 under the auspices of the American Antiquarian Society. Since then, 

 though occasional articles appeared, no important additions were made 

 to our knowledge in regard to them until the publication of the first 

 volume of the Smithsonian Contributions. The reputation acquired by 

 this work has induced a number ot" other laborers to enter the field, 

 which, we trust, will soon be fully explored. Indeed, it is believed 

 that samples of nearly every variety of earth-work to be found within 

 the limits of the territory of the United States, east of the Rocky moun- 

 tains, have been figured in the publications of the Institution. It is 

 intended, however, to continue to collect all the information which may 

 be obtained, and in due time to publish a map of the relative position 

 of all the works which are found to exist, at least within the limits of 

 the United States. 



The Institution from the first has given particular attention to an- 

 tiquities, philology, and other branches of the new and interesting 

 department of knowledge called ethnology, which relates to the natural 

 history of man in his physical, moral, intellectual, and a^sthetical char- 

 acteristics. It is a common ground, in the cultivation of which lovers 

 of literature and science are equally interested. The works we have 

 thus far published on these subjects have ehcited the highest commend- 

 ations, and the Smithsonian Contributions are now generally referred to 

 as containing important materials for their elucidation. 



2. Some years ago an artist of considerable merit and great accuracy, 

 Mr. Sawkins, visited the celebrated remains of ancient architecture at 

 Mitla, in the State of Oajaca, Mexico. Mr. Sawkins made careful 

 drawings of the ruins by means of a camera lacida, and recorded his 

 observations upon the spot. Within a few months these drawings and 

 memoranda have come into the possession of Mr. Brantz Mayer, of 

 Baltimore, whose writings upon Mexico and' its antiquities have been 

 very largely circulated in this country during the last six or seven 

 years. Mr. Mayer considered Mr. Sawkins's sketches and observations 



