THoMAs.J OUJECTIONS ANSWERED. 6l3 



consicleratiou only in case further investigation should show a probable connection 

 between the monuments of the valley of the MississiiMii and those of Mexico. The 

 extensive tract of alluvial land along the Mississippi opposite St. Louis, now calleil 

 the American Bottom, is the place in which are found the strongest indications of 

 a concentrated i)oi)ulation. 



Although lie admits that "there is nothing in the constructiou of 

 these [anoieut| works or tlie character of the articles found in tliem in- 

 dicative of a much higher civilization than that of the Indians," yet he 

 ascribes them to a different people. The process of reasoning by which 

 he reaches this conclusion need not be quoted, Jis it can be briefly 

 summarized as follows: The nnuiber and magnitude of ancient works 

 indicate a dense population, hence a people depending to a large ex- 

 tent upon agriculture for subsistence — ergo, they could not have been 

 Indians, as Indians relied but little ui)on agriculture for subsistence. 



Although admitting that agriculture was practiced to a limited extent 

 by' Indians, he insists that the population was scattered and sparse 

 because the food supply derived from the chase had not reached its 

 maximum limit at tlie time they became known to Europeans. This 

 may have been true in regard to the buttalo region of the Northwest, 

 but can not be correctly affirmed of the southern section, as will here- 

 after be shown. Moreover his own statements, found elsewhere in the 

 paper referred to, refute his argument, so far as it relates to the south 

 and some other sections. 



Compare-, for examiile, the following: 



Whatever opinion maybe entertained of the respective pojiulation of the four 

 greatsoutheru nations three hundred and one hundred and fifty years ago, it appears 

 certain tliat their Iiabits and social state had not, during that interval, undergone 

 any material alteration. They were j)robabIy as fiTocicms, but less addicted tt; war 

 than the northern Indians. Those of New England, the Iroquois tribes, the Sanks 

 and Foxes, had perliaps made equal progress in agriculture; but, generally speaking 

 the-southern depended more on the cultivation of the soil and less on hunting than 

 the Algoukin Linape tribes. We find the Spaniards under De Soto feeding .almost 

 exclusively on maize and complaining of the want of meat. Two hundred years 

 later, Bernard Romans says, that near one-lialf of the Choctaws have never killed a 

 deer during their lives, and that, whilst in their country, he had but two or three 

 opportunities of eating venison in as many months. Those southern tribes have 

 also remained respectively united together as one nation. The Choctaws and Chic- 

 asaws are the oiily exception of any importance; and the Muskhogees, as has been 

 seen, incorporated, instead of exterminating subordinate tribes." ' 



It is evident from this and abundant proof which can be adduced, 

 not only that the maximum supply from the chase had been reached hi 

 the southern sections, but had long since ceased to afford even a moiety 

 of the food necessary for subsistence. He adds, that the Indians " of 

 New England, the Iroquois tribes, the Sauks and Foxes had i)eiliaps 

 made equal progress in agriculture." That the entire argument is with- 

 out foundation will appear further on. 



But this is not the only inconsistency into which this able author 



' Trans. Am. Ant. Soc, Vol. 2, pp. 107, 108. 



