TRANSACTIONS OP TlIiE SECTIONS. 115 



World ? Mr. Mott maintains that this necessarily implies the power of regular 

 conimunicaiion ■s^^tll larger islands or a continent, the arts of navigation, and a 

 civilization much higher than now exists in any part of the racific. Very similar 

 remains in other islands scattered widely over the Pacific add weight to this argu- 

 ment. 



The next example is that of the ancient mounds and earthworks of the North- 

 American continent, the bearing of which is even more significant. Over the 

 greater part of the extensive Mississippi vallej^ four well-marked classes of these 

 earthworks occur. Some are camps, or works of defence, situated on bluffs, pro- 

 montories, or isolated hills ; others are vast enclosures in the plains and lowlands, 

 often of geometric forms, and having attached to them roadways or avenues often 

 miles in length ; a third are mounds con-esponding to our tumuli, often seventy to 

 ninety feet high, and some of them covering acres of ground ; while a fourth group 

 consist of representations of various animals modelled in relief on a gigantic scale, 

 and occurring chiefly in an area somewhat to the north-west of the other classes, in 

 the plains of Wisconsin. 



The first class — the camps or fortified enclosures — resemble in general features 

 the ancient camps of our own islands, but far surpass them in extent. Fort Hill, 

 in Ohio, is surrounded by a wall and ditch a mile and a half in length, part of the 

 way cut through solid rock. Artificial reservoirs for water were made within it, 

 while at one extremity, on a more elevated point, a keep is constructed with its 

 separate defences and water-reservoirs. Another, called Clark's Work, in the 

 Scioto valley, which seems to have been a fortified town, encloses an area of 127 

 acres, the embankments measuring three miles in length, and containing not less 

 than three million cubic feet of earth. This area encloses numerous sacrificial 

 moimds and symmetrical earthworks, in which many interesting relics and works 

 of art have been found. 



The second class — the sacred enclosures — may be compared for extent and ar- 

 rangement with Avebury or Carnak, but are in some respects even more remark- 

 able. One of these at Newark, Ohio, covers an area of several miles with its 

 connected groups of circles, octagons, squares, ellipses, and avenues on a grand 

 scale, and formed by embankments from twenty to thirty feet in height. Other 

 similar works occur in different pai-ts of Ohio ; and hj accurate survey it is found 

 not only that the circles are true, though some of them are one third of a mile in 

 diameter, but that other figures are truly square, each side being over 1000 feet 

 long, and, what is still more important, the dimensions of some of these geometrical 

 figures, in different parts of the country and seventy miles apart, are identical. 

 Now this proves the use, by the builders of these woi-ks, of some standard mea- 

 sures of length, while the accuracy of the squares, circles, and, in a less degree, of 

 the octagonal figures shows a considerable knowledge of rudimentary geometry 

 and some means of measuring angles. The difficulty of drawing such figures on a 

 large scale is much greater than any one would imagine who has not tried it, and 

 the accuracy of these is far beyond what is necessary to satisfy the eye. We must 

 therefore impute to these people the wish to make these figures as accurate as 

 possible ; and this wish is a greater proof of habitual skill and intellectual advance- 

 ment than even the ability to draw such figures. If, then, we take into account 

 this ability and this love of geometric truth, and further consider the dense popu- 

 lation and civil organization implied by the construction of such extensive syste- 

 matic works, we must allow that these ancient people had reached the earlier stages 

 of a civilization of which no traces existed among the savage tribes who alone 

 occupied the covmtry when first visited by Europeans. 



The animal mounds are of comparatively less importance for our present pur- 

 pose, as they imply a somewhat lower grade of advancement; but the sepulchral 

 and sacrificial mounds exist in vast numbers, and their partial exploration has 

 yielded a quantity of articles and works of art which throw some further light on 

 the peculiarities of this mysterious people. Most of these moimds contain a large 

 concave hearth or basin of burnt clay, of perfectly symmetrical form, on which are 

 found deposited more or less abundant relics, all bearing traces of the action of 

 fire. We are therefore only acquainted with such articles as are practically fire- 

 proof, or have accidentally escaped combustion. These consist of bone and copper 



