DELAFIELD AND BOTURLM. HI 



The next year a fac simile of one of the pictorial records referred to by General 

 Harrison was published in connection with an essay on American Antiquities, by 

 Mr. Delafield, of Cincinnati. 1 About the year 1780, the Chevalier Boturini, an 

 Italian, visited Mexico for the purpose of obtaining information concerning the 

 ancient inhabitants of America. He there received the polite attentions of the 

 government, and every facility was afforded him of becoming acquainted with the 

 history and customs of the country. He was highly successful in amassing valua- 

 ble information, and in collecting hieroglyphic paintings, maps, drawings of the 

 temples, idols, &c. From some unknown cause, before he was quite ready to return 

 to Europe, he incurred the displeasure of the government, and was thrown into 

 prison. There the unfortunate gentleman died, and his collections and manuscripts 

 were taken from him and scattered. 



Subsequently, Mr. Bullock, of London, went to Mexico with nearly the same 

 views as those of Boturini. He also succeeded in obtaining many articles of 



Ohio present precisely the same appearance as the circumjacent forest. Tou find on them all that 

 beautiful variety of trees, which gives such unrivalled richness to our forests. This is particularly the 

 case on the fifteen acres included within the walls of the work at the mouth of the Great Miami, and 

 the relative proportions of the different kinds of timber are about the same. The first growth, on the 

 same kind of land, once cleared and then abandoned to nature, on the contrary, is more homogeneous — 

 often stinted to one or two, or at most three kinds of timber. If the ground had been cultivated, 

 yellow locust, in many places, will spring up as thick as garden peas. If it has not been cultivated, 

 the black and white walnut will be the prevailing growth. The rapidity with which these trees grow 

 for a time, smothers the attempt of other kinds to vegetate and grow in their shade. The more thrifty 

 individuals soon overtop the weaker of their own kind, which sicken and die. In this way there is 

 soon only as many left as the earth will well support to maturity. All this time the squirrels may plant 

 the seeds of those trees which serve them for food, and by neglect suffer them to remain — it will be in 

 vain ; the birds may drop the kernels, the external pulp of which has contributed to their nourishment, 

 and divested of which they are in the best state for germinating, still it will be of no avail; the winds 

 of heaven may waft the winged seeds of the sycamore, cotton-wood, and maple, and a friendly shower 

 may bury them to the necessary depth in the loose and fertile soil — but still without success. The roots 

 below rob them of moisture, and the canopy of limbs and leaves above, intercepts the rays of the'sun 

 and the dews of heaven ; the young giants in possession, like another kind of aristocracy, absorb the 

 whole means of subsistence, and leave the mass to perish at their feet. This state of things will not, 

 however, always continue. If the process of nature is slow and circuitous, in putting down usurpation 

 and establishing the equality which she loves, and which is the great characteristic of her principles, it 

 is sure and effectual. The preference of the soil for the first growth, ceases with its maturity. It 

 admits of no succession, upon the principles of legitimacy. The long undisputed masters of the forest 

 may be thinned by the lightning, the tempest, or by diseases peculiar to themselves ; and whenever this 

 is the case, one of the oft rejected of another family will find between its decaying roots shelter and 

 appropriate food ; and, springing into vigorous growth, will soon push its green foliage to the skies, 

 through the decayed and withering limbs of its blasted and dying adversary, the soil itself yielding 

 it a more liberal support than to any scion from the former occupant. It will easily be conceived what 

 a length of time it will require for a denuded tract of land, by a process so slow, again to clothe itself 

 with the amazing variety of foliage which is the characteristic of the forests of this region. Of what 

 immense age, then, must be those works, so often referred to, covered, as has been supposed by those 

 who have the best opportunity of examining them, with the second growth, after the ancient forest 

 state had been regained :" pp. 30, 31. 



1 An Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America. By John Delafield, Jr. : New York, 

 London, and Paris, 1839. 



