136 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ancient capital of Indian power in the Ohio valley — evince a state of art superior 

 to the general aboriginal type." (Vol. IV. p. 141.) 



" The birds of prey and reptiles, chiselled chiefly from sandstone, found buried 

 in the small altar-mounds of the Scioto valley, constitute a feature in this forest 

 sculpture which is not at all at variance with other evidences of the sort from the 

 hunter age of America." (Vol. IV. p. 142.) 



Of the animal or emblematical mounds of Wisconsin, he says : " Their connection 

 with the existing Totemic system of the Indians who are yet on the field of action, 

 is too strong to escape attention. By the system of names imposed upon the 

 men composing the Algonkin, Iroquois, Cherokee, and other nations, a fox, a bear, 

 a turtle, &c. is fixed upon as a badge or stem, from which the descendants may 

 trace their parentage. To do this, the figure of an animal is employed as an 

 heraldic sign or surname. This sign is called, in the Algonkin, town-mark, or 

 Totem. A tribe could leave no more permanent trace of an esteemed sachem, or 

 honored individual, than by the erection of one of these monuments. They are 

 clearly sepulchral, and have no other object but to preserve the names of distin- 

 guished actors in their history." (Vol. I. p. 52.) 



" The totemic mounds are the simplest structures of all. Their object seems to 

 be, by raising mounds on the prairies, with a peculiar mineralogic pictography, to 

 create a symbolic record which shall be understood by their countrymen. They 

 constitute a species of symbolic mounds. Nothing could be more characteristic of 

 these people, or within the means and power of being comprehended by the hunter 

 tribes, than those earth-formed pictographs. It is antiquity adding its voice to 

 modern Indian history." (Vol. IV. p. 128. ) l 



The opinion of the editor respecting the uses of the mounds and enclosures of the 

 Ohio valley corresponds very nearly with that of Messrs. Davis and Squier. He 

 connects the sacrificial altars with the religious habits of modern Indians. " That 

 offerings were made by fire by the mound-builders, as well as by the existing race 

 of Indians, is clearly shown. An altar of earth, not very imposing in height or 

 circumference, was made by them from the loose earth. Here the people could 

 freely make their offerings to the officiating jossakeeds, which appeared to have 

 consisted most commonly of the pipe, in which incense had been offered, and which 

 was probably, from its ordinary and extraordinary uses, one of the most cherished 

 objects in the household. It is probable, from the number of these altars in the 

 Scioto valley, that it had a dense population. By long use, the bed of loam or 

 earth composing the altar would become hard, and partake, in some measure, of 

 the character of brick. What circumstance determined its disuse we cannot say. 

 It is certain that, in the end, the fire was covered up, with all its more or less 

 burned and cracked contents, and the earth heaped up so as to bury it most 

 effectually, and constitute a mound." (Vol. I. p. 52.) 



1 Whatever explanation of the object of these mounds may be derived from the native custom above 

 referred to, the inquiry remains, Why are they almost wholly confined to a comparatively limited 

 region ? They might lie expected to exist wherever the totemic custom prevailed. The latest 

 investigations have shown, as stated by Mr. Lapham, that they arc not sepulchral. 



