92 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



Because the Aztecs and Peruvians were civilized, it does not preclude evidence 

 that their ancestors, or brethren, possessed the same boon to some degree. 



I can agree thus far with Mr. Buckle, that-natural environments aid in civilizing 

 a people. 



We see a great people scattered throughout the territory now embraced within 

 that of the United States, locating the seat of its theocratic government at the 

 confluence of the Ohio and Missouri with the Mississippi. The greater number 

 settled in the Mississippi valley, and along some of the larger tributaries. 



These water-ways furnished easy access to all parts of the empire, and were of 

 vast commercial advantage to the seat of government. 



In building their fortifications upon the hills, or mounds, along the Ohio and 

 Miami rivers, I have noticed that they never neglected to build their walls high at 

 places easy of approach, and lower along the edge of an abrupt precipice. 



These clearly show that they took advantage of circumstances, and in turn were 

 aided in becoming a c immercial and a military people. 



(2) Do we find any evidences that will justify us in stating that the Mound 

 Builder cultivated a desire for means for the support of life? 



(a) The great number of flint arrow-points, spear-heads, knives, scrapers, shell 

 fish-hooks, celts and axes, which they manufactured, must have been used in secur- 

 ing and preparing food. They used their copper needles in sewing, or weaving 

 cloth, while their corn-grinders, water-jugs, and cooking stones, tell us that their 

 makers knew the value of properly prepared food. 



(6) Did they seek a livelihood by commerce and trade? 



Upon this point authors agree, inasmuch as their mounds are most numerous 

 along watercourses, and especially near the confluence of rivers, that these must 

 have been used as the best means for commercial intercourse. 



Nadailac in his "Prehistoric America," says that "in the region around Green- 

 wood, Tenn., they had advanced so far in civilization that their pottery and orna- 

 ments were truly artistic, and that they used copper and shell implements. Seven 

 perforated pearls were found in the grave of a child." 



Since copper had to be obtained from the lake region, and shells and pearls 

 from the sea-shore, there must necessarily have been commercial intercourse be- 

 tween this inland people with those both north and south of them. 



Sir John Lubbock, having observed large numbers of the same kind of imple- 

 ments in certain localities, states "that a division of labor for subsistence must 

 have already begun," and that in the line of manufactures "pipe-carving was no 

 doubt a profession." 



These movements gave a stimulus to the spirit of trade, and in turn increased 

 the means of livelihood. 



(3) Do you find any evidence that the Mound-Builder sought to make a living by 

 following agriculture ? 



Mr. Lapham, as a result of his investigations in Wisconsin, states that he has 

 found traces of an earlier and- more systematic method of cultivation than that em- 

 ployed by the Indians. These traces "consist of low parallel ridges as if the corn 

 had been planted in drills. They average four feet in width, twenty-five of them 

 having been counted in the space of one hundred feet ; and the depth of the walk 

 between them is about six inches. These appearances, which are here denominated 

 ancient garden-beds, indicate an earlier and more perfect system of cultivation than 

 that which now prevails ; for the present Indians do not appear to possess the 

 ideas of taste and order necessary to enable them to arrange objects in consecutive 

 rows. Traces of this kind of cultivation, though not very abundant, are found in 



