appendix: elephant pipes and INSCRIRED TABLETS. 29I 



W. Henshaw" as the champion of his theory; and this is the method 

 of his introduction : 



"Mr. H. W. Henshaw, skilled as a naturalist, especially as an ornithologist, and 

 familiar by personal experience with a large part of our national territory, was led 

 to examine into the truth of these statements, repeated from author to author with- 

 out question or criticism, and used as data in all discussions on the mounds. The 

 result is the important paper now published. His conclusions, from the evidence 

 adduced, seem to be incontrovertible." * 



And SO the vahant gentleman appointed to disi)lace Squier and 

 Davis is a new-comer in arch;eology, but, nevertheless, is "skilled as a 

 naturalist, especially as an ornithologist;" and, moreover, is "familiar 

 with a large part of our national territory!" With this unique state- 

 ment before us of Mr. Henshaw's qualifications for his great work, 

 comment would be superfiuous. The recoinmendation is itself a con- 

 demnation. The scientific world will scarcely consent to so summary 

 a displacement of its old worthies, at the behest of a newly-fiedged 

 archaeologist, even though he may be "skilled as a naturahstl" With 

 the dethronement of Squier and Davis, it followed, as a logical neces- 

 sity, that, in a more lowly sphere, our Mr. Gasr, must be decapitated. 

 Kach act was an essential factor in the same "general scheme." We 

 have here the full force of Major Powell's significant announcement 

 that Mr. Henshaw's eft'ort was "a successful destructive criticism!" It 

 would, perhaps, have been more i>rudent, before pronouncing it "suc- 

 cessful," to have awaited the verdict of the large company of cultured 

 archaeologists throughout the world of science, who, in the last resort, 

 must pass upon the merits of this controversy. 



We cannot better take our leave of Mr. Henshaw than by quoting 

 from the American Naturalist the following humorous account of his 

 ludicrous production : t 



"Just as in a hurdle race the crowd gathers at the wicket to see the horses make 

 the leaps, so the archaeologists will be anxious to know how Mr. Henshaw gets over 

 some of our archeeological hedges and ditches. Well, the first animal to block the 

 way is the manatee, and all will agree that the leap is effective. The next myth 

 attacked is that relating to the toucan, and what is left of it 'is easy of identifica- 

 tion.' The bird is a common crow, or a raven, and is one of the most happily ex- 

 ecuted of the avian sculptures. The paroquet is treated more kindly, this species 

 having abounded in the Mississippi N'alley; but the particular paroquet of Squier 

 and Davis is made to step aside. Passing over the remarks upon various well-known 

 forms and the skill shown in the carving, we come to Mr. Henshaw's attack upon 



♦Second Annual Report Bureau of Ethnolog-y, iSSo-Si, p. xxxii,, Introductory. 

 t AmeiiciUi Xntiira/is/ for Scptcmher. 1SS4. 



