ABORIGINAL SACRED ENCLOSURES. 153 



The notions already alluded to as influencing the forms of temples, controlled 

 also the choice of their position, the nature of their materials, and, when they 

 were advanced from their primitive rudeness, the character of their ornaments. 

 The crescent crowns the minaret of the Mohammedan ; the symbolic trident of 

 Siva, the dome consecrated to his worship ; and the cross, in like manner, desig- 

 nates the church of the Christian. The significance of the trident is not less 

 obvious to the Hindu, than that of the crescent to the Turk, or the symbol of his 

 religion to the Christian ; yet to the stranger to each, they would possess no 

 higher value than might attach to them in their character of ornaments. 



Were it necessary to our purpose, the illustrations of the various points here 

 indicated might be greatly extended. Enough has, however, been said to place 

 in a plausible light the fact (which probably no one would be disposed to deny), 

 that the form of the primitive temple was, to an eminent degree, symbolical. In 

 the words of Deane, " The figure of the temple, in almost every religion with 

 which we are acquainted, is the hierogram of its God. The hierogram of the sun 

 was always a circle : the temples of the sun were circular. The Arkites adored 

 the personified ark of Noah : their temples were built in the form of a ship. The 

 Ophites adored a serpent deity : their temples assumed the form of a serpent. And 

 to come home to our own times and feelings, the Christian retains a remnant of 

 the same idea when he builds his temples in the form of a cross ; the cross being 

 at once the symbol of his creed, and the hierogram of his God." — (" Ohservations 

 on Draco7itia, by Rev. J. B. Deane, British Archmologia, Vol. XXV., p. 191.) 



It is the fact that the religious conceptions, the philosophy and physical specu- 

 lations of the ancients, exerted a controlling influence upon the construction of their 

 sacred edifices, that invests those monuments with interest, not only as works of 

 art, but as illustrations of man's primitive beliefs, — his notions of cosmogony, and 

 his philosophy of the earth and heavens. " On every review," observes an eminent 

 author, " and from every region, accumulated proofs arise, how much more exten- 

 sively than is generally supposed the designs of the ancients in architecture were 

 affected by their speculations in astronomy, and by their mythological reveries." — 

 {Maurice, Ind. Antiq., Vol. III., p. 199.) 



Having already taken this brief survey of the character of the various primitive 

 religious structures of various parts of the world, and having indicated the prin- 

 ciples upon which those with the origin of which we are acquainted, sustaining 

 the closest analogy to those of our own country, were constructed, we return with 

 new aids to the investigation of the latter. 



As has already been several times observed, the aboriginal temples, or rather 

 sacred enclosures, of the Mississippi valley are nearly all of regular figures, usually 

 circular or elliptical, sometimes square or rectangular ; exhibiting in this respect, 

 as also in their manner of combination, a uniformity which could only result from 

 a fixed and well recognised design. Nothing can be more obvious than that 

 they were built in accordance with a general plan, founded upon certain definite 

 principles ; and it is impossible to resist the conviction that their various forms 

 and combinations possessed some degree of significance, and sustained some rela- 

 tion to the worship to which they were dedicated. We arrive at these conclur 

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