XLIV REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. 



which have excited so much curiosity and become the subject 

 of so inau}^ hypotheses, were constructed by the historic Indians 

 of our hxud and their lineal ancestors. 



It is just to say that Schoolcraft, Gallatin, Lewis Cass, and 

 Sir John Lubbock were all along inclined to attribute these 

 ancient works to the Indians, and this opinion has also been 

 entertained by Samuel G. Drake, Lucien Carr, Gen. M. F 

 Force, Thruston, and (notably) Dr. J. H. McCulloh. 



Dr. W. H. Dall, in his translation of the Marquis de Nadail- 

 lac's "Prehistoric America," says: "The Mound-builders were 

 no more nor less than the immediate pi'edecessors in blood and 

 culture of the Indians described by De Soto's chronicler and 

 other early explorers — the Indians who inhabited the region of 

 the mounds at the time of their discovery by civilized man." 



Yet, notwithstanding the ability and , distinction of some of 

 the advocates of this view and the reasonableness and cogency 

 of their arguments, it is to be remarked that the theory that 

 the mounds and other remains of antiquity are referable to 

 mythical vanished races has always been the most populai', 

 and to-day the followei's of Bishop Madison are far less 

 numerous than the followers of Dr. Harris. 



In the hope of adding enough evidence to that already in. 

 sight to enable ethnologists to reach the solution of the problem, 

 the researches recorded in this volume were undertaken. 



The demonstration of the fallacy of Harris's fascinating 

 theory, long cherished and fully accepted by most ethnologists 

 and explorers, has a far wider scope than simply correcting 

 the current conception of pre-Columbian conditions; it enables 

 us to obtain a more accurate view of the historic Indians them- 

 selves and to form some idea of the culture-status of their 

 ancestry and of the lines of environment through which they 

 have descended; to unify and expand the field of vision and to 

 make useful investigations along a svmmetric and homoge- 

 neous ethnic plane instead of wasting time in chimerical and 

 sentimental speculations concerning the unknown. 



The mounds in which the dead were deposited are the most 

 important among aboriginal relics, for they indicate, both in 



