﻿460 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURVEY. 
  

  

  never 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  find 
  an,\ 
  trace 
  of 
  buffalo 
  bones 
  in 
  any 
  of 
  the 
  mounds 
  

   "which 
  so 
  often 
  contain 
  bones 
  of 
  other 
  animals, 
  nor 
  have 
  I 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  

   ascertain 
  that 
  they 
  hav^e 
  ever 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  such 
  places. 
  At 
  an 
  ancient 
  

   camping-ground 
  ou^tlie 
  Ohio 
  Eiver, 
  about 
  twelve 
  miles 
  above 
  Cin(;in- 
  

   nati, 
  where 
  the 
  remains 
  are 
  covered 
  by 
  alluvial 
  soil 
  of 
  apparently 
  some 
  

   antiquity, 
  and 
  where 
  the 
  pottery 
  (hereafter 
  to 
  be 
  figured 
  in 
  the 
  Memoirs 
  

   of 
  the 
  Survey) 
  is 
  rather 
  more 
  ancient 
  in 
  character 
  than 
  that 
  made 
  by 
  

   our 
  modern 
  Indians, 
  I 
  found 
  bones 
  of 
  deer, 
  elk, 
  bear, 
  fox, 
  &c., 
  but 
  none 
  

   of 
  buffalo. 
  At 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  oher 
  old 
  camps 
  on 
  the 
  Ohio 
  Eiver 
  there 
  

   is 
  the 
  same 
  conspicuous 
  absence 
  of 
  the 
  remains 
  of 
  this 
  animal. 
  These 
  

   evidences, 
  negative 
  and 
  incomplete 
  as 
  they 
  are, 
  make 
  it 
  at 
  least 
  proba- 
  

   ble 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  was 
  unknown 
  to 
  the 
  people 
  who 
  built 
  the 
  mounds 
  

   and 
  preceded 
  the 
  tribes 
  which 
  were 
  found 
  here 
  by 
  the 
  whites 
  in 
  the 
  

   seventeenth 
  century. 
  The 
  same 
  arguments 
  warrant 
  us 
  in 
  supposing 
  

   that 
  the 
  Bison 
  laiifrons, 
  with 
  its 
  contemporaries, 
  the 
  musk 
  ox, 
  the 
  

   elephant, 
  and 
  the 
  mastodon, 
  had 
  vanished 
  before 
  the 
  advent 
  of 
  this 
  

   race, 
  or 
  at 
  least 
  before 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  v,'hich 
  we 
  have 
  evidence 
  in 
  the 
  fossils 
  

   already 
  found. 
  

  

  " 
  I 
  have 
  long 
  been 
  of 
  the 
  opinion, 
  without 
  claiming 
  originality 
  therein, 
  

   that 
  the 
  tribes 
  which 
  built 
  the 
  mounds 
  and 
  shapely 
  measured 
  forts 
  of 
  this 
  

   region 
  were 
  driven 
  to 
  'the 
  southward 
  by 
  an 
  invasion 
  of 
  other 
  tribes 
  

   coming 
  from 
  the 
  northward 
  and 
  northwestward. 
  In 
  the 
  Memoirs 
  now 
  

   in 
  preparation 
  concerning 
  the 
  ancient 
  peoples 
  of 
  this 
  region, 
  it 
  will 
  be 
  

   claimed, 
  on 
  what 
  seems 
  to 
  Mr. 
  Lucian 
  Carr, 
  ethnologist 
  of 
  the 
  Survey, 
  

   and 
  to 
  myself, 
  sufficient 
  evidence 
  that 
  these 
  mound-building 
  peoples 
  

   were 
  essentially 
  related 
  to 
  the 
  Natchez 
  group 
  of 
  Indians, 
  and 
  were 
  driven, 
  

   southward 
  by 
  the 
  ruder 
  tribes 
  of 
  the 
  somewhat 
  related 
  tribes 
  which 
  

   occui)ied 
  the 
  northern 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  Valley 
  when 
  we 
  first 
  

   knew 
  it. 
  All 
  this 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  to 
  have 
  a 
  possible 
  significance 
  in 
  the 
  

   problem 
  of 
  the 
  coming 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo. 
  When 
  we 
  remember 
  that 
  the 
  In- 
  

   dians 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Ohio 
  were 
  much 
  in 
  the 
  habit 
  of 
  burning 
  the 
  forests, 
  

   and 
  so 
  making 
  open 
  plains 
  or 
  iDrairies, 
  and 
  that, 
  as 
  Mr. 
  Allen 
  has 
  well 
  

   pointed 
  out, 
  the 
  buffalo 
  cannot 
  penetrate 
  far 
  into 
  the 
  denser 
  forests, 
  it 
  

   may 
  be 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  this 
  destruction 
  of 
  forests 
  that 
  laid 
  the 
  way 
  open 
  

   to 
  their 
  entrance. 
  The 
  so-called 
  Barrens 
  of 
  Kentucky, 
  the 
  southward 
  

   extension 
  of 
  the 
  Wabash 
  prairies, 
  give 
  us 
  evidence 
  on 
  this 
  point. 
  As 
  

   soon 
  as 
  the 
  Indians 
  were 
  driven 
  away, 
  these 
  Kentucky 
  prairies 
  sprang 
  

   up 
  in 
  timber 
  and 
  are 
  now 
  densely 
  wooded. 
  The 
  same 
  is 
  in 
  part 
  true 
  of 
  

   other 
  prairies 
  of 
  the 
  Ohio 
  Valley. 
  I 
  am 
  inclined 
  to 
  think 
  that 
  the 
  forc- 
  

   ing 
  back 
  of 
  the 
  timber 
  line 
  from 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  is 
  principally 
  due 
  to 
  

   the 
  burning 
  of 
  the 
  forests 
  by 
  the 
  aborigines 
  in 
  their 
  eastward 
  working, 
  

   aided 
  by 
  the 
  continued 
  decrease 
  of 
  the 
  rain-fall, 
  which 
  I 
  believe 
  to 
  have 
  

   been 
  a 
  concomitant 
  of 
  the 
  disappearance 
  of 
  the 
  glacial 
  period.* 
  The 
  

   question 
  of 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  and 
  its 
  relation 
  to 
  the 
  earliest 
  tribes 
  

   of 
  people 
  in 
  this 
  district 
  is 
  made 
  still 
  more 
  complicated 
  by 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  

   there 
  is 
  no 
  doubt 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  an 
  earlier 
  and.closely 
  related 
  species 
  of 
  

   buffalo 
  in 
  thisdistrict, 
  probably 
  coeval 
  with 
  the 
  mammoth 
  and 
  mastodon, 
  

   and 
  possibly 
  with 
  the 
  caribou 
  and 
  elk, 
  which 
  had 
  doubtless 
  disappeared 
  

   before 
  the 
  coming 
  of 
  any 
  race 
  of 
  men 
  that 
  has 
  as 
  yet 
  been 
  identified 
  in 
  

   this 
  country. 
  

  

  " 
  The 
  succession 
  of 
  events 
  in 
  this 
  region, 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  species 
  of 
  bison 
  

   are 
  concerned, 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  somewhat 
  as 
  follows, 
  viz.: 
  — 
  

  

  "1st. 
  The 
  existence 
  of 
  the 
  Bisooi 
  latifrons 
  in 
  company 
  with 
  the 
  mam- 
  

   moth 
  and 
  its 
  contemporaries, 
  — 
  the 
  mastodon, 
  musk 
  ox 
  {Bootherium 
  cavi- 
  

  

  * 
  Notes 
  oil 
  the 
  cause 
  and 
  <j;eological 
  value 
  of 
  variatious 
  in 
  raia-fall 
  ; 
  Proceedings 
  of 
  the 
  

   Boston 
  Society 
  of 
  Natural 
  History, 
  vol. 
  xviii, 
  p. 
  176, 
  ct 
  seq. 
  

  

  