30 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



provisional, and subject to any changes required by new discoveries; but 

 they would at once convey a more definite meaning than the present in- 

 coherent generalization which often exacts a lengthy explanation for a 

 simple statement. 



Even with the above limited signification, the title " Mound Builders" 

 may be eventually found too general in its application. There is suffi- 

 cient difference between the symmetrical enclosures of the bottom-lands 

 or the massive hill-forts, and the smaller or irregular embankments found 

 in the same sections, to justify a supposition of different builders. So of 

 the large mounds, whether earth or stone, and some of the smaller 

 mounds of either material alone or of both combined, or the stone graves 

 or cairns. Still further subdivision may be necessary as the work pro- 

 gresses. With the migratory hab.ts of the native Americans, it is not to 

 be supposed that a single stock or tribe held possession of any section 

 for an unlimited time, or that fertile districts would remain unoccupied 

 for a long period. The dissimilarity observed in the various remains 

 which were at first thrown into a single classification denotes that several 

 waves of population swept over this region. Perhaps the resultant en- 

 tanglement may never be unraveled; but better to be confronted with 

 this difficulty, than to rest content with the partial knowledge that does 

 not recognize its existence. 



An argument in favor of the unity of mound -building people and 

 their entire disconnection from the modern Indian, has been the sup- 

 posed lack of knowledge on the part of the latter concerning these works. 

 The error of this assumption is shown, as specified above, by numerous 

 cases of comparatively recent construction. The Indians found in the 

 Ohio Valley by the whites, having been in the region only three or four 

 generations, no doubt came here long after the departure of the Mound 

 Builders; they could know nothing of them merely from living among 

 their remains, and if any vague record had been handed down from a 

 former age of possible contact, its connection with unaccustomed features 

 in a strange country would probably not have been noticed. 



The Delawares have a tradition — translated and committed to writ- 

 ing more than a century ago — that their tribe in migrating from the west 

 toward the east, came to a great river. The country beyond this was 

 occupied by a people called the Allegwi or Tallegwi, who had many 

 towns. They gave the Delawares permission to pass through their terri- 

 tory; but when a part of the tribe had crossed the fiver, the Allegwi 

 attacked and routed them with great slaughter. Enraged at this treach- 

 ery, the Delawares formed an alliance with the Iroquois, who had, in the 

 meantime, come to the same river farther up. The combined forces 

 crossed and drove back the Allegwi. For many years warfare continued 

 with varying fortunes, but gradually the allies gained ground. The 

 Allegwi built large and strong forts, which they stubbornly defended but 



