ANTIQUITIES. 



Russians worshipped one god, supposed to 

 be the author of thunder; another, that 

 resembled the Pan of the undents; others, 

 answering to the Sun, Hercules, Mars, 

 Venus, and Cupid. They had also god- 

 desses, corresponding with Ceres, Diana, 

 and Pomona,and their nymphs of the woods 

 and waters. They worshipped Znitch or 

 Vesta in the form of fire, and venerated 

 waters, the Bog being as highly regarded 

 by the ancient Russians as the Ganges 

 among the Indians : the Don and the Da- 

 nube were also considered as holy streams; 

 and there was a sacred lake, environed 

 with a thick forest, in the isle of Rugen, 

 which was adored by the Slavonic tribes. 



Antiquities in the Valley of t fie Mississi{>l>i. 



" Considerable curiosity has been ex- 

 cited by appearances on the Mississippi 

 and its tributary waters, supposed to prove 

 a more ancient population, than the state 

 of the country, or the character of the 

 tribes inhabiting it, when first visited by 

 Europeans, would seem to indicate. 



" The American bottom is a tract of rich 

 alluvian land, extending on the Mississippi, 

 from the Kaskaskia to the Cahokia river, 

 about eighty miles in length and five in 

 breadth ; several handsome streams mean- 

 der through it ; the soil of the richest kind, 

 and but little subject to the effects of the 

 Mississippi floods. If any vestige of an- 

 cient population were to be found, this 

 would be the place to look for it. Ac- 

 cordingly, this tract, as also the bank of 

 the river on the western side, exhibit 

 proofs of an immense population. If the 

 city of Philadelphia* and its environs 

 were deserted, there would not be more 

 numerous traces of human existence. 

 The great number of mounds, and the 

 astonishingqur.ntity of human bones, every 

 day dug up, or found on the surface of the 

 ground, with a thousand other appear- 

 ances, announce that this valley was at 

 one period filled with habitations and vil- 

 lages. The whole face of the bluff, or hill, 

 which abounds to the east, appears to 

 have been a continued burial ground. 



"But the most remarkable appearances 

 are, two groups of mounds or pyramids, 

 the one about ten miles above Cahokia, 

 the other nearly the same distance below 

 it, which, in all, exceed one hundred and 

 fifty, of various sizes. A more minute de- 

 scription of those above Cahokia will give 

 a tolerable idea of them all. They are 



mostly of a circular shape, and at a dis- 

 tance resemble enormous haystacks scat- 

 tered through a meadow. One of the 

 largest is about two hundred paces in cir- 

 cumference at the bottom, the form near- 

 ly square. The top level, with an area 

 sufficient to contain several hundred men. 



" At the distance of three miles along 

 the bank of the Cahokial here isthe largest 

 assemblage the principal one of which 

 is a stupendous pile of a mass of earth, that 

 must have required years, and the labour 

 of thousands, to accomplish. Were it not 

 for the regularity and design which it 

 manifests, the circumstances of its being 

 on alluvia! ground, and the other mounds 

 scattered around, it could scarcely be be- 

 lieved to be the work of human hands. 

 The shape is that of a parallelogram, 

 standing from north to south ; on the south 

 side there is a broad apron, or step, about 

 half way down, and from this, another 

 projection into the plain, about fifteen 

 feet wide, which was probably intended 

 as an ascent to the mound. The circum- 

 ference at the base is at least eight hun- 

 dred yards, and the height of the pyramid 

 about ninety feet. 



" Several of these mounds are almost 

 conical, and at regular distances from each 

 other; about which are scattered pieces 

 of flint, and fragments of earthen vessels. 



"A curious discovery, made a few years 

 ago in the state of Tennessee, proves, be- 

 yond a doubt, that at some remote period 

 the valley of the Mississippi had been in- 

 habited by a much more civilized people 

 than when first known to us. Two hu- 

 man bodies were found in a copperas cave, 

 in a surprizing state of preservation. 

 They were first wrapped up in a kind of 

 blanket, supposed to have been manufac- 

 tured of the lint of nettles, afterwards with 

 dressed skins, and then a mat of nearly 

 sixty yards in length. They were clad in 

 a beautiful cloth, interwoven with fea- 

 thers, such as was manufactured by the 

 Mexicans. They had been here, perhaps, 

 for centuries, and certainly were of a dif- 

 ferent race from the modern Indians. 

 They might have belonged to the Olmec, 

 who overran Mexico about the seventh 

 century ; to the Toultec, who came centu- 

 ries afterwards ; or to the Aztecs, who 

 founded the great city of Mexico about 

 the thirteenth century. 



" In tracing the origin of institutions or 

 inventions amongst men, we are apt to 

 forget, that nations, however diversified 



* "The Saline, below St. Genevieve, cleared out sometime po, and deepened, was found to contain 

 waggon loads of earthen-ware, some fragments bespeaking veeh at large as a barrel, and proving tha 

 (he Salines bad been worked before they were known to the whites." 



