THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUXDS. 45 



wards buried in holes or laid together in heaps and covered over with earth. No 

 quarter was given, so that the AUigewi at last, finding that their destruction was 

 inevitable if they persisted in their obstinacy, abandoned the country to the con- 

 querors and fled down the Mississippi Eiver, from whence they never returned. 



The war which was carried on with this nation lasted many years, during which 

 the Leaape lost a great number of their warriors, while the Meugwe would always 

 hang back in the rear leaving them to face the enemy. In the end the conquerors 

 divided the country between themselves. The Mengwe made choice of the lands 

 in the vicinity of the great lakes and on their tributary streams, and the Lenape took 

 possession of the country to the south. For a long period of time, some say many 

 hundred years, the two nations resided peacefully in this country and increased very 

 fast. Some of their most enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the great 

 swamps, and falling on streams running to the eastward followed them down to the 

 ^reat bay river (meaning the Susquehanna, which they call the great bay river from 

 where the west branch falls into the main stream), thence into the bay itself, which 

 we call Chesapeake. As they pursued their travels, partly by laud and partly by 

 water, sometimes near and at other times on the great salt-water lake, as they call 

 the sea, they discovered the great river which we call the Delaware. 



This quotation, altbough not the entire tradition as given by Hecke- 

 welder, will suffice for the present purpose. 



The traces of the name of these mound-builders, which are still pre- 

 served in the name "Allegheny," applied to a river and the mountains 

 of Pennsylvania, and the fact that the Delawares down to the time 

 Heckewelder composed his work called the Allegheny Eiver "Allegewi 

 Sipu," or river of the Allegewi, furnish evidence that there is at least 

 a vein of truth in this tradition. If it has any foundation in fact there 

 must have been a people to whom the name "Tallegwi"' was applied, 

 for on this the whole tradition hangs. Who were they 1 In what tribe 

 and by what name shall we identify them? That they were mound- 

 builders is positively asserted, and the writer explains what he means 

 by referring to certain mouuds and inclosures, which are well known 

 at the present day, which he says the Indians informed him were built 

 by this people. 



It is all-important to bear in mind the fact that when this tradition 

 was first made known, and the mounds mentioned were attributed to 

 this people, these ancient works were almost unknown to the investi- 

 gating minds of the country. This forbids the supposition that the 

 tradition was warped or shaped to fit a theory in regard to the origin 

 of these antiquities. 



Following the tradition it is fair to conclude, notwithstanding the 

 fact that Heckewelder interpreted " Xamaesi Sipu" by Mississippi, that 

 the principal seats of this tribe or nation were in the region of the Ohio 

 and the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains, and hence it is not 

 wholly a gratuitous supposition to believe they were the authors of some 

 of the principal ancient works of eastern Ohio (including those of the 

 Scioto Valley) and the western part of West Virginia. Moreover, there 



' There appears to be no real foundation for the name Allegewi, this form being a 

 mere supposition of Colonel Gibson, suggested by the name the Lenape applied to 

 the Alleghenv River and Mountains. 



