THE EARTHWORKS OF INDIAN ORIGIN. 47 



time; and the events to which they refer are often found, on examination, to have 

 occurred since the arrival of the whites. 



Although rejecting the traditions of the Delawares, which ascribe the defensive 

 structures of the west to the Allegewi, Governor Cass is by no means disposed to 

 attribute them to a foreign race, now removed or extinct. His opinion is expressed 

 in the following paragraph from the same article to which we have been referring. 



"The ancient fortifications scattered through the United States, and attributed 

 by Mr. Heckewelder to these Allegewi, have been the fruitful source of abundant 

 speculation. We have no doubt that they were erected by the forefathers of the 

 present Indians, as places of refuge against the incursions of their enemies, and of 

 security for their women and children when they were compelled to leave them for 

 the duties of the chase. And much of the mystery in which this subject has been 

 involved owes its origin to a want of due consideration of the circumstances and 

 condition of the Indians. We do not reflect on their almost infinite division into 

 petty tribes, and on their hereditary and exterminating hostilities. Nor have we 

 reflected that the stone tomahawk is a very inefficient instrument for cutting timber 

 into palisades ; nor that, if fire be adopted as a substitute, the process is tedious 

 and laborious. Their transportation too, must have been a serious objection to 

 their use, and in a few years they required renewal. Even when otherwise proper, 

 they were always liable to be burned by the enemy. These circumstances render 

 it probable that the erection of earthen parapets was the most economical and 

 desirable mode in which the Indians could provide for the security of themselves 

 and those most dear to them. And their migratory habits will sufficiently account 

 for the number of these works, without resorting to the existence of a dense popu- 

 lation utterly irreconcilable with the habits of a people who have not yet passed 

 the hunter state of life." 



This theory is at an opposite extreme from most of those which have thus far 

 been considered. Neither the introduction of arts from other continents, nor the 

 supposition of higher civilization here, nor even the probability of a denser popula- 

 tion and more stationary habits of life, are deemed essential to explain the origin 

 of those numerous and extensive structures. Their erection is held to be entirely 

 consistent with the civil condition, the degree of mechanical skill, the manners and 

 the wants of the savage, as these have been known to us since the settlement of 

 the country. 



A reaction of sentiment respecting the antiquities of the United States naturally 

 followed the excessive credulity of which they were sometimes the subject, and 

 the absurd theories often founded upon them. Other circumstances also materially 

 affected the aspect of archaeological questions, and gave a new direction to scientific 

 inquiry. The most important of these was the progress now making in the ana- 

 lysis and comparison of the words and idioms of American languages. But before 

 proceeding to speak of that branch of investigation, which deserves to be considered 

 by itself, it is proper to notice a very elaborate and highly valuable work that 

 appeared in 1829. 



This was entitled " Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the 

 Aboriginal History of America, By J. II. McCulloh, Jr., M. D." It was the com- 



