MR. ATWATER'S CONCLUSIONS. 37 



vessel' hereafter mentioned, it was made of a clay peculiar for its fineness, which 

 is quite abundant in some parts of Kentucky. This idol represents a man in a 

 state of nudity, whose arms have been cut off close to the body, and whose nose 

 and chin have been mutilated ; with a fillet and cake upon his head. In all these 

 respects, as well as in the peculiar manner of plaiting the hair, it is exactly such 

 an idol as Professor Pallas found in his travels in the southern part of the Russian 

 empire. 



"The idol discovered near Nashville, shows from whence its worshippers derived 

 their origin and religious rites. The ' Triune idol, or vessel,' shows, in my opinion, 

 that its authors originated in Hindostan, and the one now under consideration 

 induces a belief that some tribes were from countries adjacent. 



" If the ancestors of our North American Indians were from the northern parts of 

 Tartary, those who worshipped this idol came from a country lying further to the 

 south, where the population was dense, and where the arts had made great progress. 

 While the Tartar of the North was a hunter and a savage, the Hindoos and southern 

 Tartars were well acquainted with most of the useful arts. The former (the Tar- 

 tars of the north), lived in the vicinity of our continent, and probably found their 

 way hither at an early day, while the latter came at a later period, bringing along 

 with them the arts, the idols, and religious rites of Hindostan, China, and the 

 Crimea. The ancestors of our North American Indians were mere hunters ; while 

 the authors of our tumuli were shepherds and husbandmen. The temples, altars, 

 and sacred places of the Hindoos were always situated on the bank of some stream 

 of water. The same observation applies to the temples, altars, and sacred places 

 of those who erected our tumuli. At the consecrated streams of Hindostan devotees 

 assembled from all parts of the empire, to worship their gods, and purify themselves 

 by bathing in the sacred water. In this country, the sacred places were uniformly 

 on the bank of some river ; and who knows but that the Muskingum, the Scioto, 

 the Miami, the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Mississippi, were once deemed as 

 sacred, and their banks as thickly settled, and as well cultivated, as are now the 

 Indus, the Ganges, and the Burrampooter ! 



"Ablution, from the situation of all the works which appear to have been devoted 

 to sacred uses, was a rite as religiously observed by the authors of our idols, as it 

 was neglected by our North American Indians. If the coincidences between the 

 worship of our people and that of the Hindoos and southern Tartars furnish no 

 evidence of a common origin, then I am no judge of the nature and weight of 

 testimony." 



Mr. Atwater assigns a very early period for the migration of these people into 

 the territory now included in Ohio, as indicated by the rude state of many of the 

 arts among them, and the proofs of primitive times seen in their manners and cus- 

 toms. He thinks the numerous cemeteries are evidences of long residence ; and 

 that, while contending against foes from the northeast, they moved gradually down 

 the streams towards the country where they finally settled. 



As this work was the first in which a consideration of North American antiquities 

 was based upon elaborate explorations, and as it was prepared at the instance, and 

 published under the sanction of a scientific association, the conclusions it seemed to 



