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306 Aboriginal Monumenis and Relics of New York. 
the plough of the invader exposes to his curious gaze. Their 
cemeteries, marked in very rare instances by enduring monu- 
ments, are now undistinguishable, except where the hand of 
modern improvement encroaches upon the sanctity of the grave. 
The forest-trees, upon the smooth bark of which the Indian 
sonorous language, which still attach to our mountains, lakes, 
and streams, little remains to recall the memory of the departed 
race 
But notwithstanding the almost entire absence of monuments 
of art clearly referable to the Indian tribes discovered in the actual 
possession of the region above indicated, it has long been known 
that many evidences of ancient labor and skill are to be found in 
the western parts of New York and Pennsylvania, upon the 
upper tributaries of the Ohio, and along the shores of Lakes 
Erie and Ontario. Here we find a series of ancient earth-works, 
entrenched hills, and occasional mounds or tumuli, concerning 
which history is mute, and the origin of which has been regarde 
as involved in impenetrable mystery. These remains became a 
‘subject of frequent remark, as the tide, of emigration flowed 
‘westward; and from time to time, various detached notices of 
beforé’the “Literary and Philosophical Society of New York,” 
which was published in pamphlet form, at Albany, in 1818. Mr. 
Clinton in this memoir did not profess to give a complete view of 
the matter; his aim being, in his own language, “to awaken the » 
public mind to a subject of great importance, before the means, — 
of investigation were entirely lost.” It consequently contains 
but little more than notices of such ancient earth-wol s, and 
other interesting remains of antiquity, as had at t ne fallen 
under his notice, or of which he had received e distinct 
. u i : ; cae ey a 
information. Its publi¢ation, however, was without any imme- ; 
publication of McCauley’s History of New York, in 1828. 18 
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