44 A N C I E N T MONUMENTS. 



and the early Spanish writers speak of similar erections, for similar jnirposes, by 

 the Floridian Indians. The New Zealanders compass the same ends by raising a 

 tree, the branches of which have been lopped off within a few inches of the trunk, 

 at some elevated point within their works. 



The almost invariable presence of water within, or in immediate proximity to 

 these enclosm-es, has been the occasion of frequent remark in the foregoing 

 descriptions. In the absence of springs and streams, as also where, from position, 

 access to such supplies of water is impracticable, we find their place supplied by 

 reservoirs ; an evidence of the forethought of the builders, as also an index to the 

 true character of the works in which these features occur. 



The vast amount of labor necessary to the erection of most of these works 

 precludes the notion that they were hastily constructed to check a single or unex- 

 pected invasion. On the contrary, there seems to have existed a Systein of Defences 

 extending from the sources of the Alleghany and Susquehanna in New York, 

 diagonally across the country, through central and northern Ohio, to the Wabash. 

 Within this range, the works which are regarded as defensive are largest and most 

 numerous. If an inference may be drawn from this fact, it is that the pressure of 

 hostilities was from the north-east ; or that, if the tide of migration flowed from 

 the south, it received its final check upon this line. On the other hypothesis, that 

 in this region originated a semi-civilization which subsequently spread southward, 

 constantly developing itself in its progress, until it attained its height in Mexico, we 

 may suppose that from this direction came the hostile savage hordes, before whose 

 incessant attacks the less warlike mound-builders gradually receded, or beneath 

 whose exterminating cruelty those who occupied this frontier entirely disap- 

 peared, leaving these monuments alone to attest their existence, and the extraor- 

 dinary skill with which they* defended their altars and their homes. Upon either 

 assumption, it is clear that the contest was a protracted one, and that the race of 

 the mounds were for a long period constantly exposed to attack.* This conclu- 

 sion finds its support in the fact that, in the vicinity of those localities, where, 

 from the amount of remains, it appears the ancient population was most dense, 

 we almost invariably find one or more works of a defensive character, furnishing 

 ready places of resort in times of danger. We may suppose that a condition of 

 things prevailed somewhat analogous to that which attended the advance of our 

 pioneer population, when every settlement had its little fort, to which the people 

 flocked in case of alarm or attack. 



It may be suggested that there existed among the mound-builders a state of 

 society something like that which prevailed among the Indians ; that each tribe 

 had its separate seat, maintaining, with its own independence, an almost constant 

 warfare against its neighbors, and, as a consequence, possessing its own " castle," 

 as a place of final resort when invaded by a powerful foe. Apart from the fact, 



* "The Ohio fortresses were not erected for defence against a casual invasion. The size of the walls, 

 and the solidity of their construction, show that the danger which they were designed to arrest was of con- 

 stant recurrence." — Harrison a Discourse, Transactions Ohio Historical Hocielij. vol. i p. 263. 



