• S A C R E D E N C L S U R E S . 55 



mound, numbered 7 in the plan, after the fall of the leaves, a full view of every part 

 of the work and of its enclosed mounds is commanded. This mound is seventeen 

 feet high, with a broad base nearly one hundred feet in diameter. The long mound. 

 No. 3, is one hundred and forty feet long, by eighty wide at the base, and ten 

 feet in average height. Broad and deep pits, from which the earth for the construction 

 of the mounds was taken, sun-ound the work. The one occurring at the south- 

 western angle, and of which a h exhibits a vertical section, is at this time eighteen 

 feet deep, by one hundred and twenty feet in width, and over two hundred feet in 

 length. The accumulation of vegetable deposit at the bottom is found, by exca- 

 vation, to be not less than thirty inches, — a fact which may assist in an approximate 

 estimate of the age of this monument. 



The absence of an exterior ditch, as also the fact that the work is commanded 

 from a slightly elevated terrace half a. bow-shot to the left, seems sufficient to 

 establish that it was not designed for defence. The skill, which the illustrations of a 

 previous chapter convince us the mound-builders possessed in selecting and fortifying 

 their military positions, is in no degree displayed in this instance. Taking in view 

 also the character and purposes of the mounds as disclosed by excavation, we 

 are certainly well warranted in classing this as a sacred work. 



The custom of enclosing the Adoratorios or Teocallis, upon which their sacrifices 

 and religious rites generally were practised, was universal among the Mexicans. 

 The open temples of the ancient Britons were embraced within parapets of earth, 

 usually, if not always, circular in form. The " tabooed " grounds or sacred places 

 of the Pacific Islanders, are also surrounded, if not by earthen, by stone walls or 

 by pahsades. 



One fourth of a mile to the north-west of this work is a small circle two hundred 

 and fifty feet in diameter, accompanied by two large mounds. 



About the same distance to the south is another work of somewhat similar 

 outline, but of larger size. It is, moreover, surrounded by a ditch. Its position, 

 in respect to " Mound City," requires that it should be noticed here. The plan 

 and sections will convey a sufficiently accurate idea of its form and construction. 

 Unlike the works obviously of sacred origin, which, if they possess a ditch at all, 

 have it interior to the wall, this has an outer fosse ; a circumstance which would 

 seem to favor the suggestion of a defensive origin. On the other hand, it has a 

 mound, very nearly if not exactly in its centre, which was clearly a place of 

 sacrifice. It was found, upon excavation, to contain an altar singularly constructed 

 of small stones, carefully imbedded in sand, forming a paved concavity, upon which 

 were the usual traces of fire, and the remains of the sacrifice. This mound will 

 be minutely noticed elsewhere. 



