]r>4 r>AVF,NI'ORT ACADEMY OF XATlIiAI, SCIKNCES. 



instances show any indications of having been put to any use as 

 tools, or even of having had handles attached. They were probably 

 valued and kept as badges of rank or wealth, and held in high esteem. 



Those people undonbtedly smoked tobacco, not, however, as a re- 

 ctreation or habitually for jjleasure, but as a kind of ceremonial ob- 

 servance. The pipes are often very elaborately and beautifully carv- 

 ed out of a great variety of kinds of stone, generally of a rather soft 

 character, and were apparently held in very high estimation, perhaps 

 almost sacred. They are all, in the Upper Mississippi Valley, of the 

 same general type, having the flat, curved base, which is perforated 

 to serve as a stem and not at all adapted to retain in the mouth for 

 smoking continuously, which fact, with the smallness of the bowl it- 

 self, would indicate that it was to be used by passing from one to 

 another of the persons assembled. 



Thev represent a great variety of animal forms, some difficult to de- 

 termine, but among them are two, well and distinctly representing 

 the elephant, though differing somewhat from each other in form 

 and position. 



These plainly and unmistakably show that the sculjjtors were ac- 

 quainted with the elephants, (the mammoth or mastodon) of which, 

 though long extinct, numerous remains are found throughout this 

 country. 



Strangest of all, and most contrary to the opinion of archa?oIogists 

 hitherto, it now appears that the mound builders had a written lan- 

 guage. Whence derived, or what its origin, is matter of the merest 

 conjecture. What were its affinities, or whether it had any connec- 

 tion with other written languages, ancient or modern, no one has as 

 yet been able to determine, 



The inscribed tablets in our mviseum, the only ones of much sig- 

 nificance or importance perhaps, which have as yet been discovered 

 in the mounds, have attracted much attention both in this country 

 and in Euroi)e, and by all eminent and well informed archteologists, 

 are considereil of the highest importance. They are certain to stim- 

 ulate research, which will doubtless lead to further discoveries, un- 

 til it may well be hoped that the key to the language may ultimate- 

 ly be discovered, and something of a history of this ancient peo})le 

 may be made out as wiitten by themselves. 



Whether the language was understood by all, or only by a more 

 learned few, or whether these tablets were heirlooms and cherished 

 relics, can now be scarcely even guessed. 



