NOETH AMERICAN AECH^OLOGY. 325 



rectangular, and tlie embankment or ridge is not straight." " The ridge form- 

 ing the enclosure is G31 feet long at the north end, 1,419 feet long on the west 

 side, and 700 feet on the south side ; making a total length of wall of 2,750 

 feet. The ridge or wall is about 22 feet wide, and from one foot to five in 

 height. The wall of earth is enlarged on the outside, at nearly regular dis- 

 tances, by mounds of the same material. They are called buttresses, or 

 bastions ; but it is quite clear that they Avere never intended for either" the 

 one or the other. They vary from sixty-one to ninety-five feet apart, the 

 mean distance being eighty-two feet. Near the southwest angle are two out- 

 works, constructed in the same way as the main embankment. 



In many places the earth forming the walls appears to have been burnt 

 " Irregular masses of hard reddish clay, full of cavities, bear distinct impi-es- 

 sions of straw, or rather wild hay, with which they had been mixed before 

 burning." "This is the only foundation for calling these 'brick Avails.' The 

 'bricks' were never made into any regular form, and it is even doubtful whether 

 the burning did not take place in the wall after it was built." Some of the 

 mounds, or buttresses, though forming part of an enclosure, were also used for 

 sepulchral purposes, as was proved by their containing skeletons in a sitting 

 posture, with fragments of pottery. The highest point inside the enclosure is 

 at the southwest corner, and is " occupied by a square truncated moitnd, which 

 * * *^ presents the appearance of a pyramid, rising by successive steps like the 

 gigantic structures of Slexico." "At the northwest angle of the enclosure is 

 another rectangular, truncated, pyramidal elevation, of sixty-five feet level area 

 at the top, Avith remains of its graded way, or sloping ascent, at the southwest 

 corner, leading also toAvards a ridge that extends in the direction of the river." 



Within the enclosure are some ridges about two feet high, and connected 

 with them are several rings, or circles, Avhich are supposed to be the remains of 

 mud houses. " Nearly the whole interior of the enclosure appears to have been 

 cither excavated or thrown up into mounds and ridges ; the pits and irregular 

 excavations being quite numerous over much of the space not occupied by 

 mounds." In these excavations and ridges, also, we should be inclined to see 

 the ruins of houses. Some years ago a skeleton was found in one of the 

 mounds wrapped apparently in cloth of open texture, " like the coarsest linen 

 fabric;" but the threads were so entirely rotten, as to make it quite imcertain 

 of Avhat material they were made. 



The last Indian occupants of this interesting locality had no tradition as to 

 the history or the purpose of these earthAvorks. 



Among the northern tribes of existing Indians there do not appear to be any 

 earthworks corresponding to these so-called sacred enclosures. "No sooner, 

 however, do we pass to the soutliAvard, and an-ive among the Creeks, Natchez, 

 and affiliated Floridiau tribes, than we discover traces of structures which, if 

 they do not entirely correspond with the regular earthworks of the west, never- 

 theless seem to be somewhat analogous to them."* These tribes, indeed, ap- 

 pear to have been more civilized than those to the north, since they were 

 agricidtural in their habits, lived in considerable towns, and had a systematized 

 religion, so that, in fact, they must have occupied a position, as Avell economically 

 as geographically, intermediate between the powerful monarchies of Central 

 America and the hunting tribes of the north. The " structures" to which Mr. 

 Squier alludes are described by him both in his " Second Memoir," and also in 

 the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi valley," (p. 120.) The " Chunk 

 Yards," now or lately in use among the Creeks, and which have only recently 

 been abandoned among the Oherokees, are rectangular areas, generally occupy- 

 ing the centre of the town, closed at the sides, but with an opening at each end. 

 They are sometimes from six to nine hundred feet^n length, being largest in the 



Squier, 1. c, p. 136. 



