vii THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF MAN 427 



mounds exist in vast numbers, and their partial exploration 

 has yielded a quantity of articles and works of art which 

 throw some further light on the peculiarities of this mysteri- 

 ous people. Most of these mounds contain a large concave 

 hearth or basin of burnt clay, of perfectly symmetrical form, 

 on which are found deposited more or less abundant relics, 

 all bearing traces of the action of fire. We are therefore only 

 acquainted with such articles as are practically fire-proof, or 

 have accidentally escaped combustion. These consist of bone 

 and copper implements and ornaments, disks and tubes ; 

 pearl, shell, and silver beads, more or less injured by the fire ; 

 ornaments cut in mica; ornamental pottery; and numbers 

 of elaborate carvings in stone, mostly forming pipes for 

 smoking. l The metallic articles are all formed by hammer- 

 ing, but the execution is very good; plates of mica are 

 found cut into scrolls and circles ; the pottery, of which 

 very few remains have been found, is far superior to that 

 of any of the Indian tribes, since Dr. Wilson is of opinion 

 that it must have been formed on a wheel, as it is often of 

 uniform thickness throughout (sometimes not more than one- 

 sixth of an inch), polished, and ornamented with scrolls and 

 figures of birds and flowers in delicate relief. But the most 

 instructive objects are the sculptured stone pipes, representing 

 not only various easily recognisable animals, but also human 

 heads, so well executed that they appear to be portraits. 

 Among the animals, not only are such native forms as the 

 panther, bear, otter, wolf, beaver, raccoon, heron, crow, turtle, 

 frog, rattlesnake, and many others well represented, but also 

 the manatee, which perhaps then ascended the Mississippi as 

 it now does the Amazon, and the toucan, which could hardly 

 have been obtained nearer than Mexico. ^ The sculptured 

 heads are especially remarkable, because they present to us 

 the features of an intellectual and civilised people. The nose 

 in some is perfectly straight, and neither prominent nor 

 dilated ; the mouth is small, and the lips thin ; the chin and 

 upper lip are short, contrasting with the ponderous jaw of 

 the modern Indian, while the cheek-bones present no marked 



1 Woven cloth, apparently of flax or hemp, as well as gauges supposed to 

 have been used to regulate the thickness of the thread, have also been found 

 in several of the mounds of Ohio (Foster's Prehistoric Races of the United 

 States, 1873, pp. 225-229). 



