642 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



all the letter characters of the " cremation scene," as represented on 

 the alhertj pe, may be found on page 1766 of Webster's Unabridged 

 Dictionary, edition of 1872, where the letters of the ancient alphabets 

 of the Old World are figured. A few, it is true, are reversed, and in 

 some instances the form is slightly varied but the resemblance in most 

 cases is very apparent. Tlie reader can make the com])arison for him- 

 self, but special notice may be taken that in the uppei' of the two trans- 

 verse curved lines, near the right-hand end, the two forms of the "Gal- 

 lic O " appear together just as given on the page referred to. He will 

 also observe that in some instances a number of characters in close 

 relation on the tablet are found near together in the dictionary. Here 

 also we find the " 8" so often repeated on the tablet. A photograph 

 or the albertype must be used for this comparison. 



It is true that on this page of the dictionary may be found letters of 

 almost every form; but this comparison not only confirms the state- 

 ment heretofore made, that the inscription must have been made up of 

 letters pertaining to half a dozen different alphabets, but tends to 

 streng then the suspicion that these tablets were prepared and "planted" 

 in order to deceive the members of the academy. 



The theory that the mounds were the work of a lost race of compara- 

 tively civilized people who occupied this country in the far distant past, 

 had taken hold of a hirge portion of our archeologists. Theie have long- 

 been a hope and belief that at some time discoveries would be made to 

 (confirm this. It was also further believed that the mammoth or Amer- 

 ican elephant was still in existence when this civilized race inhabited 

 the country, but satisfactory evidence on these points was wanting. 



The objects and uses of the so-called " altars " found chiefly in the 

 Ohio mounds were unsettled questions. 



Suddenly the archeological world is surprised at finding itself in 

 possession of proof on all these points. A tablet is taken from a 

 mound under the very shadow of one of our leading scientific acad- 

 emies on which is an iiiscrii)tioii of sufficient length to silence all doubt 

 as to its being alpluibetic, and immediately under it is the altar with 

 the smoking sacrifice or burning body on it. Nay, more, on the reverse 

 is the figure of the ('lei)haut. Nor is this all: In the same mound is 

 another tablet with markings for the zodiacal signs, a calendar in fact. 

 But good fortune, not satisfied with this generosity, throws into the 

 hands of the same individual two elephant pipes, so distinct that there 

 can be no doubt as to the animal intended. To clinch this evidence 

 and show that it relates to the true mound-builders, the fairy goddess 

 leads the same hands to a mound which contains a tablet bearing fig- 

 ures of the veritable mound-builders' pipes and ('((jjijcr axe, some of 

 the letters of the other tablet and the sirn symbol. Thanks to the 

 energy of one person the evidence on all these questions is furnished, 

 which, if accepted as credible, nuist forever settle them. 



A consideration of all the facts leads us, inevitably, to the conclu- 

 sion that these relics are frauds: that is, they are modern productions 



