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useful purpose in tlie economy of this strange people. In one very 

 large specimen which I secured, the whorl or column of the shell 

 had been cut away and the edges smootlily ground, forming a scoop- 

 shaped implement about a foot in length. 



These noteworthy remains may but feebly serve us, perchance, 

 in tracing the ethnic relations of the Mound Builders, that riddle 

 concerning the solution of which we are so prone to theorize, but 

 they give us a clearer insight into the degree of their advance- 

 ment in certain of the mechanical arts than we have yet possessed. 

 The peculiar wrappings in which the objects are encased make us 

 familiar with their woven and matted fabrics of a different char- 

 acter from any which have been heretofore discovered, and in the 

 singular character of the relics themselves and their coatings is 

 vouchsafed us a curious glimpse of what may have been connected 

 with their superstitions, or perchance their customs of social dis- 

 tinction. The sea shells brought nearly one thousand miles from 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and the copper from the mines of Lake Supe- 

 rior, are witnesses to the far-reaching intercourse of this prehis- 

 toric folk, while even the civilized races of our day can scarce 

 excel them in the skill (as evidenced by these remains) with 

 which they wrought this valuable metal into articles of utility or 

 ornament. 



