5 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



researches of the Bureau of Ethnology also show that many of these 

 mounds were constructed after the arrival of the white man on this 

 continent, as works of art in iron, silver, rolled copper, &c., are 

 found. Glass beads are also found, and many other articles mani- 

 festly manufactured during the last few centuries, these usually be- 

 ing such articles as are exchanged by traders to the Indians for their 

 peltries. 



Mr. Henshaw, also of the Bureau of Ethnology, has made an in- 

 teresting investigation of a subject which throws light upon this ques- 

 tion. The early writers claimed that the stone carvings found in 

 the mounds were often representations of birds, mammals, and other 

 animals not now existing in the regions where these mounds were 

 found, and that the mound-builders were thus shown to be familiar 

 with the fauna of a tropical country. And they have even gone so 

 far as to claim that they were familiar with the fauna of Asia, as it 

 has been claimed that elephant carvings have been found. Now 

 these carvings have all been carefully studied by Mr. Henshaw, and he 

 discovers that it is only by the wildest imagination that they can be 

 supposed to represent extra-limital animals ; that, in fact, they are all 

 rude carvings of birds, such as eagles and hawks, or of mammals, 

 such as beavers and otters ; and he has made new drawings of these 

 various carvings, and will, in a publication which has gone to press, 

 present them, together with the drawings originally published; and 

 he makes a thorough discussion of the subject, being qualified 

 thereto from the fact that he is himself a trained naturalist, familiar 

 with these various forms by many years of field study. 



It will thus be seen that many lines of research are converging 

 in the conclusion that the mound-builders of this country were, 

 at least to a large extent, the Indian tribes found inhabiting this 

 country on the advent of the white man, and that in none of the 

 mounds do we discover works of art in any way superior to those of 

 the North American Indians. 



I congratulate Mr. Holmes upon the skill with which he has 

 prosecuted this work, and thank him for the clear exposition which 

 he has given us this evening. 



Prof. Mason stated that from the organization of the Society he 

 had been more and more confirmed in the idea that the only way 

 in which the truths of anthropology could be brought oiit was by 

 specialists, artists, physicians, patent examiners, etc. The paper 

 just read is an excellent illustration of this opinion. 



