36 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Near the Cumberland River an idol, formed of clay was found 

 about four feet below the surface of the earth. It is of curious 

 construction, consisting of three hollow heads joined together 

 at the back by an inverted bell-shaped hollow stem. This 

 specimen also has strongly-marked Asiatic features ; the red 

 and yellow colour with which it is ornamented still retaining 

 great brilliancy. Another idol, formed of clay and gypsum, 

 was discovered near Nashville. It represented a human being 

 without arms. The hair was plaited, and there was a band 

 round the head with a flattened lump or cake upon the 

 summit. Numerous medals, also, have been dug up, repre- 

 senting the sun, with its rays of light, together with utensils 

 and ornaments of copper, sometimes plated with silver ; and 

 a solid silver cup, with its surface smooth and regular, and 

 its interior finely gilt. 



But besides these, and very many similar articles, through- 

 out the whole country, and especially towards the west, 

 immense numbers of fortresses of great size have been 

 discovered, with walls of earth, some of them ten feet in 

 height, and thirty in breadth. There is a vast fortress in 

 Ohio, near the town of Newark. It is situated on an exten- 

 sive plain, at the junction of two branches of the Musking- 

 um. At the western extremity of the work stood a circular 

 fort, containing twenty-two acres, on one side of which was 

 an elevation thirty feet high, partly of earth and partly of 

 stone. The circular fort was connected by walls of earth 

 with an octagonal fort containing forty acres, the walls of 

 which were ten feet high. At this end were eight openings 

 or gateways about fifteen feet in width, each protected by a 

 mound of earth on the inside. From thence four parallel 

 walls of earth proceeded to the basin of the harbour, others 



