THE MOUND-BUILDEKS. 597 



DIFFERENT OPINIONS. 



Before euteriiig upon tbe disciissiou of the question juoponnded, it 

 will be best to present a brief revie^Y of the different O])inions whieh 

 have so far been published to the world. 



It was not until about the close of the eighteenth century that the 

 scientific meuof the eastern states became fully impressed with the fact 

 that remarkable antiquities were to be found in our country. 



About this time President Stiles, of New Haven, Dr. Franklin, Dr. Bar- 

 ton, and a few other leading minds of that day, becoming thoroughly 

 convinced of the existence of these antiquities, and having received 

 descrii)tions of a number of them, began to advance theories as to 

 their origin. Bartram had come to the conclusion, from personal obser- 

 vations and from the statements of the Indians, that they knew nothing 

 of the origin of certain monuments; that these belonged to the most 

 distant antiquity.' Nevertheless, it is an error to iufer from this, as 

 some have done, that he attributed these works to a highly civilized 

 peoi)le who had become extinct, or, in fact, to any other than the Indian 

 race. Schoolcraft remarked truly : ''■ " Bartram, a writer and traveler 

 of eminent merit as a naturalist, and close observer of the Indian arts 

 and society, who, in 1773, passed through their territories from Florida 

 to the Mississippi, speaks often of the 'Indian mounts or tunuili and 

 terraces, monuments of the ancients,' terms applied by him to Indian 

 nations who had preceded the then existing stocks. Tradition among 

 them had denoted such prior occupants, with manners and customs 

 like themselves, whom they had disphuted. Tlie great Muscoge or 

 Muscogulgee confederacy was then at its height. The Natchez had 

 fallen forty years before. The IJtches had been conquered, and, with 

 the Coosidas and Alabamas, had become a i)art of ' The Nation,' a term 

 coumionly applied to them in the South. He had observed some works 

 of this ancient race of tribes, and particularly a stone sepulchre at 

 Keowe, of which tradition ascribed the origin to these ' ancients.' Yet 

 he closes his travels with this observation: 'Concerning the monu- 

 ments of Americans, I deem it necessary to observe, as my opinion, 

 that none of them that I have seen, discover the least signs of the arts, 

 sciences, or architecture of the Europeans, or other inhabitants of the 

 old world; yet evidently betray every mark of the most distant anti- 

 quity.'" 



lie might have added also that in speaking of the works at '' Apa- 

 lachuda, old town," he says : " Those Indians lia ve a tradition that these 

 remains are the ruins of an ancient Indian town and fortress."-' 



Dr. Franklin in reply to the impiiry of President Stiles suggested 

 that the works in Ohio might have been constructed l)y De Soto in his 

 wanderings. This suggestion was followed up by Noah Webster with 



' " Tiuvi-ls (1791)," pp. 367 mill .liiii. •Uist. Imli.iu Tribes i(1866). Vol. 5, p. 115. ' " Travels, " p. 522. 



