PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS. 273 
These springs were also a great resort of the aborigines and mound-builders, 
.and the ground about the oozing brine, to the depth of three or four feet, is filled 
with the remains of the peculiar earthen vessels used by the mound-builders in 
salt-making. In the woods about, for the whole vicinity is covered with a forest, 
are many mounds and earthworks. From one small mound two of the earthen 
salt-kettles were obtained. They were shaped like shallow pans, an inch and a 
half in thickness and near four feet across the rim. In the vicinity a cavern was 
explored, which proved to have been a strong-hold or retreat for these ancient 
people, for weapons and implements of stone were found. Near the entrance, 
on the smooth white walls of the cavern, were a number of hieroglyphic characters 
deeply cut in the rock, tracks of human feet of unusual size, also of birds; the 
picture of a bird with outstretched wings, representations of the sun, moon, and 
other strange devices. These singular carvings were cut off the rock and brought 
away by the gentleman to add their interest to his great collection. — Alton Tele- 
,graph. 
PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS. 
M. de Nadaillac, who has recently published an excellent work on " Pre- 
historic America," says that in America, as in Europe, all serious proof fails of 
the existence of man at an earlier period than the quaternary. " From the ear- 
liest times," he continues, "themselves so obscure, we see with some astonish- 
ment the civilizations of the old and new world developing themselves, so to 
speak, in parallel lines, following the same phases, and arriving at the same 
results. What have been the relations between these races ? Here, also, we 
are confronted by difficult problems; but though we are often reduced to hypothe- 
sis to explain them, we can confidently affirm that these relations have existed, 
that America has been successively peopled by diverse races of very different 
types. Among the common elements the most important, in number and influ- 
ence, are the Asiatic immigrations. These immigrations of yellow brachycepha- 
lous races are incontestable, and have certainly lasted for ages. The greater 
part have taken place from the islands of the north ; the several peoples of 
Nahuatl races, descending successively toward the south, are the most direct 
•consequences of these migrations. But before the arrival of these Americans 
other men occupied the American continent for a considerable time; the Esqui- 
maux of the north, the Botocudos and Patagonians in the south, may well be 
representatives of this race, crowded back, like the Basques and Finns in our 
own continent, by conquering strangers. We do not seek to conceal how pre- 
carious these hypotheses still are, and what need there is for confirmation of 
the proofs we possess. After long and patient labors we must end in the words 
of the American savant, ' The New World is a great mystery.'" —London Athen- 
.ceum. 
