1879. | Notes on a Lost Race of America. 9 
by the Bengalese, but makes no mention of it in reference to the 
Caribs. It would appear that some similarity existed, or he 
would not have been prompted to make reference to such an odd 
custom practiced near the opposite side of the globe. The 
Egyptians! cut off the nose of the guilty woman, and the man - 
was beaten with rods; this is again, and very remarkably too, 
noticed in the punishment of the Nicaraguans. 
The above references have been collated with the intention of 
illustrating the wide-spread prevalence of this singular and bar- 
barous custom, and for the purpose of inducing the publication 
from others upon the same subject, for the purpose of ascertaining 
to what tribes and families the knowledge of it extended. 
sO; 
NOTES ON A LOST RACE OF AMERICA. 
BY LIEUT. A. W. VOGELES, U.S.A. 
O department of natural history appears at present to attract 
more general interest than that which relates to the pre- 
historic Aborigines of North America; nor is this.to be won- 
dered at, for throughout the extensive valley of the Mississippi, 
and also in the Gulf States, we find numerous mounds and re- 
mains of ancient fortifications; they have, however, been so ably 
described in the different scientific journals, that we shall confine 
the subject of this essay to those of Western Florida, which are 
not so generally known. 
these ancient people no written history remains, nor can 
any reliable account be obtained from the Indians inhabiting the 
States, or from the earliest Spanish explorers. The Spaniards 
are silent upon the shell mounds of Florida, although they visited 
Tampa in 1512. We know only of the existence of these i 
mounds, and of the arts, industries and manner of interment of 
the people who made them, and from these we can only add | s 
a link to the chain of evidence that connects the eastern mounds 
of Florida with those of the western coast. a 
The only group at Tampa, Fla., of importance to the archeolo- _ 
gist, is a series of shell mounds running obliquely across the 
town, commencing on the southern seashore, on the military A 
reservation of Fort Brooke, and extending to ae Hike , 
1 Diodorus Siculus. Lib, i, 
