that they procured it only in small quantities, 
oe e are} P| 
i Pot aie ? 
__, Sconp Szares, Vol. XI, No. 83.—May, 1851. 
Use of ‘Copper by the American Aborigines. 321 
were early acquairited with the mineral riches of the Northwest, ) 
we may find a satisfactory answer to the first of these questions, 
if not to the last, in the character of the deposits which recent 
explorations have disclosed from the mounds ef the West. Among 
the multitude of relics of art found buried upon the ancient altars, 
or beside the bones of the dead, articles of copper are of com- 
mon occurrence. It is sometimes found in native masses, but 
generally worked into articles of use or ornament. I have taken 
from the mounds, axes, well wrought from single pieces, weigh- 
ing upwards of two pounds each. ‘They are symmetrical, cor- 
responding very nearly in shape with the Mexican and Peruvian 
Some are double-bladed, others gouge-shaped, and evi- 
dently designed to be used asadzes. Besides these, chisels, grav 
ing tools, and a great variety of ornaments, bracelets, gorgets, 
beads, etc., etc., composed of this metal, have been discovered. 
Some of the ornanrents are covered with silver, beaten to great 
thinness, and so closely wrapped around the copper that many 
persons have supposed that the ancient people understood the dif- 
ficult art of plating. 
Some years ago, a mass of native copper, weighing upwards of 
the amount of manufactured copper, implying a large original 
supply, points pretty certainly to the shores of Lake Superior as 
the locality whence the metal was obtained. ‘There are other » 
is found having crystals of silver attached to it,—a peculiar me- 
chanico-chemical combination, known to exist nowhere except in 
this region. This characteristic combination has heen observed 
the mounds, and enables us to identify fully their primitive local- 
ity. The great industry and skill which the mound-builders dis- 
they have left us at the West, warrant us in ascribing the wa 
e In 
excavations, etc., in the mineral region to them. The Indian 
hunter is proverbially averse to labor ; and w 
‘at the surface, or on the banks of streams. Alexander 
* 
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