INDIAN TRADITIONS. 43 



History of New York," in 1824; "Flint's Recollections of the Mississippi Valley" 

 in 1826; and "Macauley's History of New York," in 1829, are often referred to. 

 In the two histories of New York above named, the subject of American antiquities 

 is treated of at considerable length. In the American Journal of Science and Arts, 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 37) is an account of a fortification on the Arkansas River, 320 miles 

 from its mouth, inclosing about twenty-five acres, with a wall eight feet high, and 

 a ditch twenty-five feet wide ; and having in the centre two mounds about eighty 

 feet in height. 1 



Although the general sentiment was in favor of attributing the ancient monuments 

 of the United States to a race or races entirely distinct from our Indian tribes, there 

 were those who, with unusual means and opportunities of forming an enlightened 

 judgment, adopted a different opinion, and upon grounds entirely aside from those 

 philological and physiological considerations that will presently be adverted to. 



A prominent argument opposed to the descent of the Indians from the mound- 

 builders, had been the absence of traditions among the savages, pointing to such a 

 connection, and their entire ignorance of the purposes for which the structures were 

 designed. Yet it is not true that real or pretended traditions are entirely wanting. 

 The Senecas related to the missionary Kirkland, that the fortifications in their 

 territory were raised by their ancestors in their wars with the western Indians, 

 three, four, or five hundred years before — they having no very definite idea of the 

 time; 2 and Indian Legends have been more common than faith in the sincerity of 

 the narrators. 



The most particular and pertinent traditions referring to ancient fortifications, 

 are those collected from the Delaware Indians (Lenni Lenape) by Rev. John 

 Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary. 3 



According to these, the ancestors of the Delawares resided many hundred years 

 ago far away in the western part of the American continent. For some reason, 

 they determined on migrating to the eastward, and set out together in a body. 

 After a long journey, they came to the Mississippi, where they fell in with the 

 Mengwe or Iroquois, who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and were 

 also proceeding eastward until tke'y should find a land that pleased them. The 

 spies sent forward by the Delawares had already discovered that the region east of 

 the Mississippi was inhabited by a powerful nation having many large towns built 

 on the rivers flowing through their land. These people called themselves Tallegewi 

 or Allegewi. They were remarkably tall and stout, and had regular fortifications 

 or entrenchments. 



The Delawares sent a message to the Allegewi, asking permission to settle in 

 their neighborhood. This was refused, but leave was given them to pass through 

 the country in search of a residence beyond. But when they began to cross the 

 river the Allegewi, alarmed at their numbers, attacked them with great fury, and 

 threatened them with destruction if they persisted in their attempt. 



1 Letter from L. Bringier, Esq., to Rev. Elias Cornelius. 



3 Mass. Hist. Coll., 1st se., IV., 106. See also Cusic's "Ancient Hist, of the Six Nations." 

 3 "Account of the History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who once inhabited Penn- 

 sylvania and the Neighboring States," in Trans, of Hist, and Lit. Committee of the Am. Phil. Soc'y, 

 I., 1819. 



