—— 
THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 553 
gathered plentiful harvests, and their cabins overflowed with grain, 
they owed thanks to no one save Toskeha,”* the sun.t 
This completes our brief examination into the religious belief and cus- 
toms of the American Indians living east of the Mississippi and south 
of the Great Lakes. In it we have glanced rapidly at their myths and 
their beliefs, and the rites and ceremonies to which these gave rise, 
and we have found that each line of investigation led to one and the 
same result. In view then of this uniformity, and of the overwheln- 
ing area of direct evidence that has been offered on the point, Ido not 
think it is overstepping the bounds of moderation to claim, with the 
old chronicler, that within the limits named, “the American Indians, 
so far as known, without the exception of a single tribe, worshipped the 
sun.” ¢ 
Ill.—THE INDIANS AS MOUND-BUILDERS. 
Thus far in the course of this investigation my position has been 
rather a negative one. It is true that an effort has been made to show, 
and it is believed with some measure of success, that the red Indian of 
historic times was both an agriculturist and a worshiper of the sun, 
and that hence, even according to the admission of those who hold a 
contrary opinion, there are no reasons, a priori, why he could not have 
erected these works. This is unquestionably a step in the right direc- 
tion; and with this point gained, i might well afford to rest the argu- 
ment. It would not however be by any means decisive of the ques- 
tion as to the origin of these structures, since the fact that an Indian 
might have built them does not justify us in concluding that he ac- 
tually did do so. To fill up as far as possible the gap that separates 
the ability to do a certain piece of work from its actual performance, it 
will be necessary in this case to abandon the seemingly negative post- 
tion hitherto occupied, and to inquire whether there is any evidence 
that the Indian has at any time constructed works of the same charac- 
ter, though perhaps not of the same size as the largest of those found 
in the Ohio Valley. If it can be shown that he has done so it is be- 
lieved that it will justify us in ascribing all these structures to his 
agency, for the reason that these mound centers, with scarcely a single 
* “Ts tiennent aussi que sans Jouskeha leur chaudiere ne pourroit bouillir, - -  - 
a les entendre, ¢’ est louskeha qui leur donne le bled quw’ ils mangent, ec’ est Iny qui le 
fait crostre et le conduit a maturité; s’ ils voyent leurs campagues verdoyantes au 
Printemps, s’ ils recueillent de belles et plantureuses moissons, et si leurs cabanes 
regorgent d’ espics, ils n’en ont Vobligatién qu’a Touskeha:” Relation de la Nou- 
velle France en UV anneé 1636, p. 103: Quebec, 1858. 
+‘‘Mais pour retourner 4 Aataentsic et Jouskeha, ils tiennent que Jouskeha est le 
Soleil, et Aataentsicla Lune, et toute-fois leur cabane est situeé au bout de la terre:” 
Relation, 1636, p. 102: Quebec, 1858. 
t ‘Le Soleil est la Divinité des Peuples de ’ Amerique, sans en excepter aucun de 
ceux qui nous sont connus:” Lafitau, Moewrs des Sauvages Ameriquains, vol. 1, p. 
130: Paris, 1724. 
