NOTES. 



A. '•''Native silver .... hammered into leaf, and 

 wrapped around small copper ornaments, p. 67. The silver- 

 coated copper bosses, found by Dr. Hiidreth at the bottom of one 

 of the Marietta mounds, and now in the college museum at Ma- 

 rietta, have occasioned much perplexity. Squire says, in the 

 appendix to his "Aboriginal Monuments of New York :" " These 

 articles have been critically examined, and it is beyond doubt that 

 the copper bosses are absolutely plated^ not simply overlaid, with 

 silver. Between the copper and the silver exists a connection, 

 such as, it seems to me, could only be produced by heat ; and if 

 it is admitted that these are genuine remains of the mound-build- 

 ers, it must at the same time be admitted that they possessed the 

 difficult art of plating one metal on another." 



This inference may not be necessary. It may be that the two 

 metals were found naturally joined, and the compound fragments 

 were simply hammered into shape. Mr. Cyrus Mendenhall, who 

 spent many years on the shores of Lake Superior, tells me that 

 bits of native silver are sometimes found joined with the copper 

 as if welded to it ; and that the miners sometimes hammer out 

 from such fragments rings that have all the appearance of copper 

 rings plated with silver. 



B. Withdrawal of the Natchez to Louisiana . p. 77- Not- 

 withstanding the amount of speculation upon the flight of the 

 Natchez to Louisiana, the locality of their retreat has not been 

 fixed and determined. And yet it seems susceptible of identifica- 

 tion. Du Pratz says the French " went up the Red River, then 



