USE OF SILVER BY THE ABORIGINES. 187 



phyry, and other obstinate materials, could be carried on with such aids. The 

 Egyptians, aUhough not ignorant of iron, were compelled, b}^ a variety of circum- 

 stances, to use copper tools, and with these most of their gigantic labors were 

 effected. They must of necessity have had some means of hardening the metals ; 

 yet it is a singular fact, that, with the exception of a few bronze weapons of 

 probably a comparatively late date, the chisels and other implements found in the 

 monuments and at the quarries are pure copper. 



Use of Silver by the American Aborigines. — Granville, as we have seen in 

 the quotation from his voyage on page 177, speaks of finding pieces of silver 

 amongst the Virginia Indians, " grossly beaten," and used for purposes of orna- 

 ment. Having shown that the copper found amongst the Indian tribes of the north 

 was probably obtained from the native deposits around Lake Superior, we have 

 little difficulty in accounting for the presence among them of small quantities of 

 silver, derived from the same locality, where it also exists in a native form. That 

 the silver in use amongst the mound-builders was principally if not wholly obtained 

 there, seems incontestible. In no instance does it appear to have been smelted. 



A variety of silver ornaments were discovered some years ago in one of the 

 mounds at Marietta, Ohio, under very singular circumstances, and in a remarkable 

 connection. The circumstances have been detailed by the accurate pen of Dr. S. 

 P. Hildreth, in a communication to the President of the American Antiquarian 

 Society, dated " Marietta, Nov. 3, 1819." 



" In removing the earth composing an ancient mound in the streets of Marietta, on the margin of the 

 plain, near the fortifications, several curious articles were discovered. They appear to have been buried 

 with the body of the person to whose memory the mound was erected. 



" Lying immediately over, or on the forehead of the body, were found three large circular bosses, or 

 ornamtnts for a sword-belt or a buckler : they are composed of copper overlaid with a thick plate of silver. 

 The fronts are slightly convex, with a depression like a cup in the centre, and measure two inches and a 

 quarter across the face of each. On the back side, opposite the -depressed portion, is a copper rivet or 

 nail, around which are two separate plates, by which they were fastened to the leather. Two small pieces 

 of the leather were found lying between the plates of one of these bosses ; they resemble the skin of a 

 mummy, and seem to have been preserved by the salts of copper. The copper plates are nearly reduced 

 to an oxyde, or rust. The silver looks quite black, but is not much corroded, and in rubbing is quite brilliant- 

 Two of these are yet entire ; the third one is so much wasted that it dropped in pieces in removing it 

 from the earth. Around the rivets of one of them is a small quantity of flax or hemp, in a tolerable state 

 of preservation. Near the side of the body was found a plate of silver, which appears to have been the 

 upper part of a sword-scabbard ; it is six inches in length and two inches in breadth, and weighs one ounce. 

 It has no ornaments or figures, but has three longitudinal ridges, which probably corresponded with the 

 edges or ridges of the sword ; it seems to have been fastened to the scabbard by three or four rivets, the 

 holes of which remain in the silver. 



" Two or three broken pieces of a copper tube were also found, filled with iron rust. These pieces, from 

 their appearance, composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the sword. No signs of the 

 sword itself were discovered, except the appearance of rust above mentioned. Near the feet was found a 

 piece of copper weighing three ounces [now in the Museum of the Antiquarian Society of Worcester]. 

 From its shape it appears to have been used as a pliinib, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a 

 circular crease or groove, for tying a thread : it is round, two inches and a half in length, one inch in dia- 

 meter at the centre, and half an inch at each end. It is composed of small pieces of native copper pounded 

 together; and in the cracks between the pieces are stuck several pieces of silver, one nearly the size of a 

 half-dime. A piece of red ochre or paint, and a piece of iron ore [hetnatite] which had the appearance of 

 having been partially vitrified [polished ?\, were also found. 



