AKCIEKT CIVILIZATION OF AMERICA. 63 



in Yucatan, the first 75 feetliigli and the last two each 60 feet high. 

 These Yucatan mounds were evidently constructed for religious 

 uses as upon the summits of the first two are the ruins of stone tem- 

 ples. On the third the edifice has disappeared, as in all probability 

 those upon the high mounds in this division, beiug built of the 

 same material, wood. 



In one of the mounds of the Ohio Valley there were found the 

 timber-walls of two chambers and arched ceilings, with overlapping 

 stones, precisely like those in Central America. 



The Natchez Indians, on the lower Mississippi, had temples and 

 sacred buildings, in which the " perpetual fire " was maintained. 

 They were sun-worshipers, their chief claiming descent from the 

 sun. Their traditions connected them with Mexico. By some 

 they are classed as the Nahuatl, or Toltee race. 



According to the Central American books, the Toltees came from 

 " Hueliue Tlapalan," a distant country in the northeast, long pre- 

 vious to the Christian era. Here they dwelt in a high state of civ- 

 ilization for a long period, were overthrow^! by the Aztecs, who in 

 turn were conquered by the Spaniards. 



All indications aeem to warrant the conclusion that the mound- 

 builders and the palace-builders, if we may be permitted to use this 

 term, of Mexico and Central America, belonged to the same race. 

 They must have left the United States on or before the advent of 

 the wild Indians. This emigration south may have been voluntary 

 to seek a more congenial clime, or may have been forced by the sav- 

 ages from the north. Fragments would seem to have been incorpo- 

 rated with the Indians, as for instance the Mandan Indians, a sup- 

 posed branch of the Dacotahs. They differed in many respects 

 from the other Indians, being of lighter color and peculiar in man- 

 ners and customs. We suppose the mound-builders came to the 

 United States from the south, entering the country near the Gulf 

 of Mexico, where they were the most populous, and then gradually 

 throwing out colonies, extended their sway, with sparser population 

 to the northward. 



They were eminently an agricultural people. Maize is supposed 

 to have been their chief grain. Having fulfilled their mission 

 here, they returned to Mexico and Central America. 



The time of their disappearance is estimated to be about two 

 thousand years ago. The appearance of the wild Indian is located 



