217 



SKULLS FROM THE TUMULI OR MOUNDS. 



It is designed on this occasion briefly to inquire into the geographical distri- 

 bution of the mounds, their uses, and the race of people by whom they were 

 constructed. 



In North America there are very few mounds east of the Alleghany 

 mountains. They are extremely unfrequent, if not w^hoUy deficient, throughout 

 the New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, and other states as far as South 

 Carolina, where they are common in the interior : the latter remark is also appli- 

 cable to Georgia and Florida, and all the country which skirts the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Throughout the valley of the Mississippi they are very numerous. Dr. James 

 took measurements of no less than twenty-seven immediately north of the town of 

 St. Louis; Mr. Say counted upwards of thirty on the Kishwaka river, in the north 

 of Illinois ; and the bluffs which border the Wisconsin, about four miles above its 

 mouth, are covered with them.^ They abound much farther north, and are seen 

 as far as the vicinity of Lake Travers, in lat. 46°, which is probably the northern 

 limit of these remains. They are observed up the Ohio and its tributaries to the 

 base of the AUeghanies, diminish in frequency westward of the Mississippi, and 

 are not seen beyond the Rocky Mountains. To the south, they are common in 

 Arkansas, and in Mexico are vastly numerous. In Peru and its ancient depend- 

 encies they are also seen in great number, and even as far south as the country of 

 the Araucos, in Chili. East of the Andes they are rarely seen ; and Humboldt is 

 of the opinion that there is not a tumulus in all Guiana. 



Most of these structures are mere circular mounds of earth, from twelve to 

 twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and six or eight feet high. Others are of large 

 dimensions and imposing appearance ; such is Mount Joliet, in Wisconsin, which 

 is described by Mr. Schoolcraft as of an elliptical form, four hundred and fifty 

 yards in length, seventy-five in breadth, and sixty feet in height.f Mr. Brecken- 

 ridge mentions another near the Mississippi and Cahokie rivers, eight hundred 

 yards in circumference at base, and ninety feet elevation; and from the top of this 

 mound no less than forty-five others are within range of sight.J The Etowee 

 mound, in the Cherokee country, is still larger,^ and that on Grave creek, in 



* Keating, Exped. I, p. 239. tTrav. in the Valley of the Mississippi, p. 330. 



J Views of Louisiana, p. 187. § Amer. Jour, of Science and Art, I, p. 324. 



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