64 EXPEDITION TO THE 



formed by the stones, appeared greater than might have 

 been expected from the quantity of materials which were 

 observed. It is, therefore, not impossible that, in some 

 places at least, the wall may have been supported by an 

 earthen parapet. The motive for which these stones were 

 collected will probably ever remain a secret; and we 

 must be contented with surmises, all of which are unsatis- 

 factory, because all are founded upon hypothetical manners, 

 which we ascribe to the authors of these works. When we 

 observe a circular rampart with a fosse, a gateway and a 

 traverse inside of the gateway, we discover a similarity 

 to our modern fortifications, and we immediately consider 

 that this may have been erected for the same purpose; 

 without enquiring into the foundation which we have for 

 assigning to them the same system of fortification which 

 we have adopted. In examining into the character of man, 

 whether civilized or savage, we are, it is true, struck with 

 the powerful influence which two of the most opposite 

 passions, a warlike and religious spirit will exercise over 

 him ; and to one or both of these we may attribute his 

 most astonishing actions, whether good or bad. The ex- 

 perience of every nation proves, that almost all religious 

 faiths have led to the undertaking of vast constructions. 

 Without recurring to the Egyptian and Indian antiquities, 

 we find in the splendid remains of Greece and Rome, in 

 the colossal and magnificent Gothic cathedrals of the middle 

 ages, and even in the more recent edifices of modern times, 

 that religion has at all periods been the principal motive 

 Avhich induced men to exert their genius and expend 

 their labour in constructions. Judging, by the same test, 

 of the nations long since extinct, which at one time covered 

 the banks of our western streams, we will not be surpris- 

 ed if the remains of their finest works bear the character 



