CONCLUSION. 155 



to those which are known to be applied elsewhere to that use. The consecrated 

 enclosures, the mounts of adoration or sacrifice, the sacred avenues approaching 

 guarded places of entrance, are recognized as common features of semi-civilized 

 worship, or rather as exemplifications of the manner in which the instinct of reli- 

 gious reverence has everywhere a tendency to display itself. 



The number of works of this character, and the scale on which they are con- 

 structed, suggest irresistibly the idea of an organized multitude fond of spectacles, 

 and habituated to public displays of an imposing nature. 



It is a circumstance of great significancy that the intelligent Spanish and French 

 adventurers and missionaries who first explored (and that pretty thoroughly), the 

 regions where some of the most remarkable of these remains are situated, observed 

 no want of harmony between the social condition of the natives and whatever 

 works of art came to their notice. They evidently regarded the tribes among 

 whom they sojourned as fully capable of producing every form of structure that 

 they saw. It is true they might not have looked with the eyes of antiquaries, or 

 have estimated the age of works overgrown by venerable forests, and therefore 

 their accounts included no archaeological problems. 



If we proceed according to logical propriety, from the known to the unknown, 

 and compare the historical habits, customs, and arts, of the aborigines, with the 

 vestiges of a more ancient era, we shall at least determine what residuum of 

 mystery is left for future solution. 



It has been a common opinion, that articles of ornament and use taken from the 

 mounds manifest a much higher grade of mechanical proficiency than those known 

 to have been made by modern Indians. 'There is, however, reason to believe that 

 the former are the choicest specimens of art belonging to their period ; and because 

 these are found in the tombs of chiefs and upon altars of sacrifice, it does not follow 

 that such were in common use among the people. They do not necessarily indicate 

 any general condition of mechanical or artistic dexterity; but are likely to be the 

 best of their kind, from whatever source they may have been obtained. 



In order to estimate correctly the degree of skill in similar handicrafts possessed 

 by the people who were found in occupation of the soil, we must go back to a time 

 antecedent to the decline in all domestic arts which resulted immediately from 

 intercourse with the whites. So soon as more effective implements, more service- 

 able and durable utensils, and finer ornaments, could be obtained in exchange for 

 the products of the chase, their own laborious and imperfect manufactures were 

 abandoned; and not only their industrial but their military habits underwent 

 essential modifications from the same influence. 



All articles of metal wrought or compounded with the aid of fire, whether iron, 

 copper, or silver, and all enamelled or glass ornaments, are now equally regarded 

 as of extraneous if not of recent origin. The highest archaeological position as- 

 signed to any of them, is that of " intrusive antiquities" which may or may not 

 have preceded European settlements in the country. 



If from the relics of the mounds are separated those finer sculptures in hard 

 materials, representing tropical quadrupeds, birds, fishes, &c, which, with some 

 mineral substances, must have come from a different latitude, the residue might 



