602 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



to .justify the couclusiou that they are the woik.s of oue people, of cue 

 great iiatiou. Scattered through the large majority of works where 

 allusiou is made to this subject ar<^ to be fouud such espressious as the 

 following: 



The differences whicli liavn iiheady been ipointed out between tlie monumeuts of 

 the several i)ortions of tlic valley, of the uortheiu, central, aud southern divisions, 

 are not siiHieieutly marked to authorize the belief that they were the worksof sepa- 

 rate nations. The fraturcs comniiin to all are elpnieutary and identify them asapper- 

 iainini/ to ii sini/le ijrand siixteni.' 



While the character of these striictiin^s, as traced over wide areas, differs In minor 

 particular.s still there is a general uniformity which slamiin the unlhorH us one people, 

 the >iiihjectii of one conlrollini/ iiovernmeni." 



ThiG ancient people, whose remains indicate unity and civilization, m«s/ hare been 

 organized as a nation with a central administration which all recoynised.'' 



They [the mound-builders] were probably one people; that is, compo.sed of tribes 

 living under similar laws, religion, and other institutions. Such variations as are 

 observed in the monuments are only those that would naturally occur between cen- 

 tral and frontier regions, although the animal mounds of the northwest present 

 some difficulties.' 



Short, in his " North Americans of Antiquity," proceeds upon the 

 same theory as, in fact, do the large majority of those who have written 

 upon the subject. Yet, as will soon become apparent to any one who 

 will study the different forms of these works with any care, the only 

 siudlarity between the extremes of form and construction is the fact 

 that they are built of earth. Between these extremes, if the earth- 

 works of the world were classified, would fall nnicli the larger jjortion 

 of both hemispheres. The conical tumuli bear a far more striking re- 

 semblance in form to the mounds of Japan, Siberia, and northern Eu- 

 rope, and some of the burrows of the British isles than they do to the 

 effigy mounds of Wisconsin, the circles and squares of Ohio, or the 

 pyramidal and truncated tumuli of the Southern States. It is proba- 

 bly not going too far to say that if the most skillful engineer of the 

 present day were to undertake the task of building as many different 

 forms of earthworks as his skill could devise, it would be difficult for 

 him to exceed the variety now found. So varied are they that it has 

 been found im])ossible to classify them according to form, except in a 

 very loose and general way. 



Almost every animal their builders were acquainted with has served 

 as a model, and almost every geometrical form from a spiral to a pjTa- 

 mid has been imitated. Examining their internal structure, they are 

 found to be equally varied. 



That there are certain types in form and^construction which prevail 

 in certain sections is true, but the claim that there is throughout a 

 general similarity which stamps their authors as one people, unless 

 this term is used as denoting one race, is wholly without foundation. 



It is admitted that these works and the minor vestiges of art found 



1 Squier and Dnvia, Ane. Mon., p. .101. » Baliiwiii, Aucient America, p. 57. 



2 Fostpr. Prchistdiii- It.iccs. p. 97. « Bancroft, Nativo Races, IV. 785. 



