154 Finch on the Celtic Antiquities of America. 



In Messrs. Lewis &. Clarke's Travels there are notlcecT 

 several of these rocks. 



Stone Idol Creek, on the Missouri, derives its name from 

 three rude stones which the Ricaras, a tribe of Indians, 

 worship. Whenever they pass by, they stop to make some, 

 offering of dress, in order to propitiate these sacred deities. 



On the bank of the Chissetaw Creek is a rock which is 

 held in great veneration by the neighbouring savages, and 

 is visited by parties who go to consult it as to their own and 

 nation's destinies. 



The fate of the Mandan tribes depends upon the oracular 

 responses of another sacred rock, whose commands are 

 believed and obeyed with the most implicit confidence. 

 Every spring, and on some occasions during the summer, a 

 deputation from the savages visits the sacred spot where 

 there is a large porous stone, twenty feet in circumference. 



In Major Long's Tour to the Rocky Mountains, it is 

 stated, that the Minnitaree Indians worship the Me-mo-ho- 

 pa, a large, naked, and insulated rock in the midst of a small 

 prairie, about two days' journey from the village of that na- 

 tion. In shape it resembles the steep roof of a house ; 

 and the Minnitarees resort to it for the purpose of propitia- 

 ting their Great Spirit by presents, fasting and lamentation, 

 which they continue for a space of three or five days. 



Under this class of Indian monuments may be arranged 

 the figured rock at Dighton, in the State of Massachusetts, 

 which has been described in various publications ; also the 

 sculptured rocks that occur in many parts of the American 

 continent, at Tiverton, Rutland, Newport, Scaticook, Brat- 

 tleborough, Ohio, Sec. &ic. 



It is to be regretted that a manuscript of the late Dr. 

 Stiles, which is in the possession of the American Acade- 

 my of Arts and Sciences, and contains an account of many 

 of these remains, has not yet been published. 



Perhaps the intricate question of American ancestry 

 might be solved by the annals of Mexico, or the histories of 

 Peru, and a deep research into the books of those coun- 

 tries, would no doubt amply repay the toil. 



Acosta relates that, amongst the ancient Mexicans, wor- 

 sh'p was paid to rocks or large stones, and that in the high- 

 Ways they found great heaps of them, which had been of- 



