THOMAS! THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 601 



One leason wliy so little progress has been made in unraveling this 

 riddle of the American Sphinx is that most of the authors who have 

 written ui)on the subject of American archeology have proceeded upon 

 certain assiun])tions which virtually closed the door against a free and 

 unbiased investigation. 



Even the most intelligent writers on this subject connnence or inter- 

 lard their discussicuis with such expressions as the following: 



An aucient ami uiikiKiwii peo]>le left remains of settled liie and of a certain degree 

 of civilization in the vall<'ys of tlie Mississippi and its tributaries.' 



Among tliosc nations who are without recognized descendants are the Monnd- 

 builders, wlio lived east of the Mississijipi.- 



The evidences of the former existen<-e of a prehistoric race linown as the Mound- 

 builders, who at one time occupied the principal affluents of the Mississippi, the 

 Gulf coast, and the region of the Great Lakes, are too conclusive to admit of doubt. 

 These evidences consist of tumuli symmetrically raised and often enclosed in mathe- 

 matical figures, such as the square, the octagon, and circle, with long lines of cir- 

 cumvallation; of pits in the solid ro<k, and rubbish heaps formed in the prosecu- 

 cutiou of their mining operations; and of a variety of utensils wrought in .stone or 

 copper, or molded in clay, which cvivce ii hiowledye of art and melhodictil labor J'oreitjn 

 to the red man.'' 



An ancient race entireli/ distinct from the Indian, possessing a certain degree of civil- 

 ization, once inhabited the central i)ortion of the United States. < 



The monuments described are not the uorii of the Indian tribes fonnd in the conntri/, 

 norof anji tribe reaemlitimi them in instilntionn.^ 



The only evidence we have of the existence of a people conventionally called the 

 Mound-ljuilders, precedintj the modern Indiana in the occupancy of this continent, 

 consist of material relics.'' 



The professor [alluding to Dr. Joseph Jones, author of The Antiquities of Ten- 

 nessee] has clearly shown that the Alnund-builder people and the Indians were distinct, 

 and has .set at rest a question upon which some doubts were still entertained by a 

 certain school of archeologists which has really nev<'r been very strong.' 



And so on in the same strain through most of the works relating to 

 this subject, thus virtually deciding the question before, or without, 

 ]n"operly discussing it. A few have -s'entured the suggestion that pos- 

 sibly these ancient works were due to the Indian race found in posses- 

 sion of the country at the time of its discovery by the Europeans. 

 But this suggestion, instead of receiving serious attention and being 

 properly and thoroughly investigated, has generally been thrust aside 

 as unworthy of consideration. For examiile, one writer dismisses it 

 with the remark : 



I am not aware that the opinion that the red men were the authors of the most 

 extensive works, though maiutaine<l bj- some scholars of high repute, is held by any 

 who have given them personal and thorough examination." 



Another unfortunate and unwarranted assumption which has been a 

 serious stumbling block in the way of the solution of this problem is, 

 that there is such a general similarity in these ancient monuments as 



' Baldwin, AnciCDt America, p. 14. *• Farquharaon, in Iroc. Davenport Acad. Sci., Vol, 



* Lewis U. Morgan, Be.irli'9 Indian Miscellany. u. p. 103. 



p. '243. * Short. North Americans of Antiquity, p. 05. 



-^ Foslcr'a Prcliistoric Races, p. 97. "t'onant. Footprints ni" a Vanished Hare, p iv 



4 McLean. Moinul Bnihlcrs, ji, 13. (preface). 

 'Bancroft. Native Kaccs, iv, ]^. 787. 



