ON THE MOUND.BUILDERS' KNOWLEDGE OF METALS. 3 



were eight to ten feet in length and about four feet in width, and were not only 

 finely and evenly woven, but were also of several different colored patterns. 

 While explaining the different specimens, Dr, Palmer made many interesting re- 

 marks upon Indian life of the present time, and compared some of the ancient 

 remains from the caves with similar things used by the present Indians. Many 

 of the things, however, which were found in the bundles were not like those used 

 by the Indians of the present time, and from this fact and from the few inches of 

 cave breccia which had formed over the human remains, and contained thou- 

 sands of bones of bats and small rodents. Dr. Palmer thought there could be no 

 doubt as to the bodies having been placed in the caves long before the Spanish 

 conquest of the country, and he stated that not a thing derived from the Euro- 

 peans had been found in the bundles, nor, so far as he could learn, in any of the 

 burial caves. — Proceedings Boston Society of Natural History. 



ON THE MOUND-BUILDERS' KNOWLEDGE OF METALS. 



BY WM. H. R. T.YKINS. 



I notice that Prof. Reid is being criticised for the statement made in his 

 article in the November number of the Review, that a fragment of a mound- 

 builders' axe found by him had been molded. Now, while it is hardly to be sup- 

 posed that the Indians or " Mound-Builders " had attained such a knowledge of 

 metallurgy as to mold their implements and ornaments of copper, yet it is not so 

 improbable as it may at first seem. A lump of melted metal, or even soft clay, 

 falling into an indentation or cavity would take the form of that indentation, and 

 from such a simple occurrence the Indian or "Mound-Builder" might conceive 

 the idea of molding in a rude way his hatchets and other implements. Many 

 years ago, when residing among the Indians of Kansas, I remember to have seen 

 the young men make small ornaments by cutting figures in wood and filling them 

 with melted pewter .or lead, using a wooden ladle in which to melt the metal. A 

 bowl-shaped cavity, with a lip or channel on one side, was cut in a very green 

 piece of wood; the metal broken up and placed in the cavity, and a fire of hot 

 coals placed upon top of the ladle, instead of under. In this rude and primitive 

 way very passable figures of turtles, birds, horses, etc., were made. I have also 

 seen handles of tomahawks and war-clubs very handsomely ornamented with 

 geometrical figures in silver, in the same way using their old worn-out ornaments 

 of silver for that purpose. But whether the idea of molding was original with 

 them or whether they had learned it from the whites, I never thought at that time 

 to inquire. The question is one of some interest to archaeologists, and no one 

 can yet say positively whether the Mound-Builders did, or did not, use molds, 

 until further investigation has thrown more light upon the subject. Yet it does 

 not seem improbable that a people who had become so proficient in the art of 



