38-' 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 386 



occupation, and position. of longest quietude, being that por- 

 tion of the Cumberland valley in middle Tennessee. The 

 works along this belt, which we attribute to the Shawnees, 

 consist chiefly of stone graves of a particular type, and 

 mounds; they fail, however, to give any satisfactory evi- 

 dence as to the direction of the movement. Nevertheless 

 there are, along portions of the line, some evidences of a 

 shifting back and forth ; and the minor vestiges of art prove 

 beyond question that the authors were contemporaneous 

 with the builders of the mounds of East Tennessee and 

 North Carolina. 



Although the banks of the Mississippi are lined with pre- 

 historic monuments from Lake Pepin to the mouth of Red 

 Eiver, showing that this was a favorite section to the an- 

 cient inhabitants, yet a study of these remains does not give 

 support to the theory that this great water highway was a 

 line of migration during the mound-building age, except for 

 short distances. It was, no doubt, a highway of traffic and 

 war-parties, but the movements of tribes were across rather 

 than up and down it. We do not assert this as a theory or 

 simple deduction, but as a fact proven by the mounds, what- 

 ever may be the theory in regard to their origin or uses. 

 The longest stretch, where those apparently the work of one 

 people are found on one bank, is that from Dubuque to the 

 mouth of the Des Moines. As we move up and down, we 

 find repeated changes from one type to another. In addi- 

 tion to this, is the intermingling of other types, and indica- 

 tions in most places of successive occupation by different 

 tribes. It is a very natural supposition that the people first 

 reaching the bank of this broad stream, or of any of the 

 other large streams of our country, would continue their 

 course along it, but the mounds give no support to the the- 

 ory. 



A study of this subject ought to lead us to the proper con- 

 clusion, for it is evident that the natural condition of a 

 mound-building people is one of permanency: hence their 

 movements are governed largely by pressure from other 

 tribes, and not by choice. No evidence has yet been found 

 in the mounds pointing to the first comers into the section. 

 On the contrary, all the evidences of migi-ation point at the 

 same time to pressure or obstacles in one or more directions. 

 For example: the mound-builders of Wisconsin must have 

 found some obstacle which prevented them from continuing 

 their course eastward around the southern end of Lake 

 Michigan, while the pressure which drove them from the 

 area they had occupied so long seems to have come from the 

 north-east. 



The singular course of the people who buried in the stone 

 graves south of the Ohio, whether moving eastward or west- 

 ward, can be explained only on the theory of the presence 

 of other tribes to the north and south; and this is probably 

 true, as has been suggested, in regard to the people who 

 travelled from eastern Iowa to Ohio. 



Indications of movements are found in other portions of 

 the mound section, but those mentioned are all which have 

 any immediate bearing on the subject under consideration 

 at present. 



Returning now to the point where we paused in our jour- 

 ney backward along the pathway of the Cherokees, the in- 

 quiry arises, "From what point, or along what line, did 

 they come to their halting-place on the banks of the Missis- 



sippi?" As has already been stated, it is now conceded by 

 linguists that their language is an offshoot of the Huron- 

 Iroquois family, — a relationship long ago surmised by Dr. 

 Barton and Mr. Gallatin. We may therefore, in ans.wer to 

 the above inquiry, though in a somewhat broader sense than 

 given, adopt the language of Mr. Horatio Hale in speaking- 

 of the more closely allied branches of this family: "There 

 can be no doubt that their ancestors formed one body, and 

 indeed dwelt at one time (as has been well said of the an- 

 cestors of the Indo-European populations), under one roof. 

 There was a Huron-Iroquois 'family pair' from which all 

 these tribes were descended. In what part of the world this 

 ancestral household resided is a question which admits of no 

 reply except from the merest conjecture." He adds, how- 

 ever, "that the evidence of language, so far as it has yet 

 been examined, seems to show that the Huron clans were 

 the older members of the group; and the clear and positive 

 traditions of all the surviving tribes, Hurons, Iroquois, and 

 Tuscaroras, point to the Lower St. Lawrence as the earliest 

 known abode of their stock." 



If the evidence presented in this paper be considered suffi- 

 cient to justify the belief that the Cherokees entered the 

 Ohio valley from the west, we are, then, forced to one of 

 two conclusions, which may be stated bi-iefly as follows: 

 1st, That this tribe, breaking away from the family in its 

 eastern home, wandered westward, passing between Lake 

 Superior and Lake Huron into what is now Wisconsin, and 

 onward to the border of the plains, turning thence south- 

 ward to the point on the banks of the Mississippi where we 

 first find them; or, 2d (which is fare more likely), the origi- 

 nal stock was at one time in the distant past located in the 

 region north-west of Lake Superior, and while here the 

 Cherokees separated from their brethren, and moved 

 southward to the banks of the Mississippi, while the 

 latter, being pressed onward, moved eastward, north of the 

 Lakes, to the banks of the St. Lawrence. If this suppo- 

 sition accords with what really was the direction of the 

 movement, then it is highly probable, that, when they 

 reached the Ottawa River, a portion followed down its 

 course, while others turned southward into what is now On- 

 tario, and were in that section when the Lenape appeared on 

 the scene. 



The first of these suppositions presents a movement so un- 

 likely, though not entirely without a parallel in Indian his- 

 tory, that we feel constrained to reject it, so long as there is 

 a theory consistent with the known data that is more simple 

 and reasonable. 



The evidence presented by Mr. Hale in the "Iroquois Book 

 of Rites" leaves no doubt that the earliest known seat of the 

 Huron-Troquois family was on the Lower St. Lawrence; but 

 it is scarcely presumable that their first appearance on the 

 continent was in this eastern region. It is more likely that 

 they had reached this point from some western section, and 

 as they increased in numbers were forced to partially retrace 

 their steps. 



Although it is apparent that the authors of the ancient 

 works east of the Rocky Mountains were substantially in the 

 same culture state, and belong to the same race in the broad 

 sense, yet there are some reasons for supposing (if we in- 

 clude the ancient works of New York under the general 

 term "mounds") that the custom of building mounds origi- 



